Stoney Cooks

Stoney Cooks

Stoney Cooks is a U.S. activist.

Czechoslovakian trip

In 1967, Cooks was one of 41 Americans who traveled to Czechoslovakia to meet with representatives of the North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong.

The American delegation included members of Students for a Democratic Society and other leftist groups. According to one participant, the meeting had been initiated by the North Vietnamese, and the Americans "were expected not only to oppose the war in Vietnam but also to favor, on balance, an NLF (National Liberation Front) victory."

Andrew Young

Cooks served as part of the Jimmy Carter administration, as executive assistant to Carter's ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young, for whom he had worked in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and when Young was elected to Congress in 1972.

Support for communist front

Stoney Cooks was among sponsors of a U.S. Preparatory Committee for the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students held during 1973 in East Berlin. The committee operated from the offices of the offcial youth front for the Communist Party USA and its promotional literature was printed by a firm characterized by the Attorney General of the United States as "reliably known to be owned by the Communist Party."

Appointment to United Nations representative post

On may 12 1978 U.S. President Carter announced the appointmentof Stoney Cooks as Representative of the United States to the 45th Session of the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations, to be held in New York from May 15 to June 9.

Cooks, 35, was described as executive assistant to UN Ambassador Andrew Young. From 1972 to 1977, he was administrative assistant to then-Congressman Young. From 1970 to 1972, he was executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Working for Gary Hart

In the 1984 elections Cooks worked for early Democratic Party contender Gary Hart.

Stoney Cooks, was described by theWashington Postas "deputy campaign manager for Hart and a principal link to the Jackson campaign."

BCCI controversy

In 1990 the Bank of Credit and Commerce International forgavea $150,000 loan to Andrew Young's dormant consulting firm, freeing him from a personal obligation to make $32,000 in annual payments on interest and principal, according to Andrew Young, former Mayor of Atlanta, Congressman and United Nations Ambassador.

The gesture was typical of the style of the bank, which spent millions around the world in efforts to influence public officials. B.C.C.I. was seized last month by financial regulators in seven countries after the Bank of England uncovered evidence of widespread fraud, drug trafficking and money laundering.

[[Mr. Young said he regarded the debt forgiveness as belated payment of $50,000 in annual retainer fees that the bank had promised his consulting firm while he was Atlanta's Mayor. Mr. Young was Mayor from 1982 to 1990 and remains one of Georgia's most influential public figures]].

According to Young, the loan to Andrew Young Associates initially came from a $175,000 line of credit obtained from the National Bank of Georgia in 1982, the year Mr. Young became Mayor. He said it was secured by liens on his house and the house of Stoney Cooks, his longtime business and political associate.

Mr. Cooks said in an interview that the amount of the debt was $165,000, not $150,000. He said that the negotiations were not prompted by a desire to refinance his house but by a wish to be compensated for services that he said were in fact performed by the firm. He went to B.C.C.I. in late 1989, he said, and dealt with a Mr. Jamil, whose first name he said he could not recall.

According to Cooks "There was a period of work with no compensation...When I inquired, I was told that I should recapitulate all the hours and involvement and travel. I was asked whether or not it was O.K. for it to be applied to the outstanding debt.

Employed by Sheila Jackson-Lee

In 2006, Stoney Cooks served as Sheila Jackson-Lee's chief of staff and administrative assistant: