Politics

Second Amendment Lobby Successful in Midterms

Written by Brian Schultz

On November 2, the Second Amendment Lobby made its usual show of support for a staggering number of candidates. Whether or not Americans made a conscious decision to vote on this issue, the results show that gun rights groups endorsed a vast number of congressional candidates elected on Tuesday. The coming years will continue to prove that Second Amendment lobbyists, and their ever broadening program, are a stolid force in U.S. politics.

The NRA proved to be as active as ever this election, with over 300 endorsements for congressional candidates nationwide. Of these, only 51 lost in decided elections. The NRA Political Victory Fund did name a surprising number of democrats in its list… Read more

Immigration

ALIPAC Endorses NumbersUSA Candidates

Written by Rebecca Poswolsky

Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) co-endorsed nearly all of the NumbersUSA candidates running in the 2010 election.  The North Carolina-based group leader, William Gheen,  took time out of his busy schedule last week to do an interview with American Free Press, a blatantly anti-Semitic organization founded by infamous holocaust denier and white supremacist Willis Carto.”

Upon closer look, ALIPACs midterm stance is merely a shadowy facsimile of NumbersUSA‘s own neo-conservative ticket.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, “Gheen’s rhetoric demonstrates an agenda that goes beyond the enforcement of immigration laws.  He regularly demonizes immigrants as drunk drivers, gang members, invaders, murderers, and disease-carriers.”  Politico… Read more

Politics

Liberty Central PAC has a Mixed Night

Written by Jessica Acee

Liberty Central, a radical right Tea Party group, supported 150 candidates for House and Senate in yesterday’s mid-term elections, with almost 60% winning their seats.

Liberty Central is a newly created and richly endowed lobbying group founded by Virginia Thomas, a Washington lobbyist and consultant to the Heritage Foundation.  Liberty Central’s online forums showcase conversations on topics such as “banning Islam” and “Marxist Obama,” and the group ardently supports Republican insurgent candidates like Rand Paul and Christine O’Donnell, both winners on Tuesday.

Liberty Central’s slate of candidates also includes Lou Barletta, Mayor of Hazelton, Pennsylvania, which as a city is a near no-go zone for immigrants, and Joe Miller,… Read more

Politics

Beleaguered Minutemen Civil Defense Corps Endorsed Winners

Written by Jill Garvey

Unlike many of the organizations that make it their business to promote hostility against immigrants, the Minutemen Movement has had a challenging few years. Notably, the John Tanton Network managed to edge its controversial agenda further into conventional media streams, while the Minutemen were pushed further into the fringe.

Undoubtedly, the very lowest point came when minutemen member Shawna Forde murdered a little girl and her father in a bizarre plan to steal from immigrants to raise money for her own minuteman spin-off group. The Minutemen Movement is known for its aggressive border vigilantism, and that made it hard to duck criticism when violence against immigrants came to light. Infighting among some… Read more

Politics

Elected Anti-Gay Politicians Will Undermine Rights

Written by Amy Spicer

During this midterm campaign season social issues were ignored by Republicans and Democrats in favor of the economy. Gay marriage, which swayed many voters two years ago, was jettisoned by Republicans in favor of anti-Obama rhetoric. For those in who still fight for equality, gay rights shouldn’t be dismissed as a back-burner issue.

Groups like the National Organization for Marriage, major funders of campaigns opposing same-sex marriage, have been clear that although they don’t consider gay marriage “the number 1 issues these elections [it’s] still important and Republicans abandon it at their peril.”

This election marks the first time since the 1990s that no state ballot included a measure to ban gay marriage, but… Read more

Politics

Candidates Tied to White Nationalism Gain Ground in 2010 Elections

Written by MJ Olahafa

With 96 members as of 2010, the House Immigration Reform Caucus (IRC) was founded by Tom Tancredo, a xenophobic politician from Colorado who passed the reigns to Brian Bilbray of California, another politician fiercely hostile to immigrants, after an ill-fated run for President in 2007. Bilbray is a former lobbyist for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organization which is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its ties to white nationalists.

Tom Tancredo’s run for governor of Colorado in 2010 was unsuccessful as well. He lost by a 13% margin to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Bilbray (incumbent) won the California Congressional District 50 House… Read more

Politics

The Tea Party’s Wins Could Devastate Progress

Written by Cloee Cooper

Last night, dozens of Tea Party-backed candidates were elected to the Senate and House.  For some of the candidates, the Tea Party’s support gave them the campaign funds and exposure to win.  For others, being affiliated with the Tea Party may have hindered their chances of being elected.  One thing is certain though, the strength of the Tea Party was confirmed in the 2010 midterm elections.

In April 2010, some segments of the Tea Party drafted a “seal of approval” for candidates running in the midterm elections.  The seal was intended to encourage candidates to uphold “fiscal policies that limit government, restrain spending, promote market reforms in health care – and oppose ObamaCare.”

Politics

When New York’s Controversy becomes America’s Dilemma

Written by Pattrick Stanton

The proposed thirteen story Islamic community cultural center to be located about two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center has become a hair-trigger issue for many House and Senate candidates.  The debate even became a focal point in the Second Congressional District of North Carolina after now-winner Renee Ellmers created an entire television advertisement denigrating her opposition, Bob Etheridge, for not maintaining an opposition stance against the building of the Islamic Center.  Unfortunately, the pressure inherent in this single-issue smear campaign seems to have pushed former representative Etheridge to speak out against the center.  In the end, Ellmers won by less than one percent.

Of the 141 candidates opposed, only Marvin… Read more

Politics

The Tanton Network’s Seven Sisters Fare Well in Election 2010

Written by Stephen Piggott

During the 2010 election cycle, the issue of immigration was a driving factor. Though many of the groups encompassed in the John Tanton Network are not legally allowed to endorse candidates, that hasn’t stopped members of the most powerful movement against immigrants from throwing their support behind hundreds of candidates. A few of the Tanton Network’s key leaders even entered themselves into races.

Below is an outline of how the seven politicians most closely aligned with the John Tanton Network, deemed the seven sisters, fared in last night’s election.

Kris Kobach is the new Secretary of State for Kansas. Until last night, Kobach was employed by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), the legal… Read more

Politics

Vote: It Does/n’t Matter. Organize: It Does.

Written by Rev. David L. Ostendorf

I once stood in line for hours on a cold, miserable day to vote for a candidate whose defeat in a national election was of the historic proportions that pollsters had indicated it would be.  The guy stood not a chance.  The winner took the country down a pathway to his own oblivion, to say nothing of the disastrous and deadly impact he left in his wake.

Ever since that day, in particular, I have had to squelch the nagging sentiment that I have encountered countless times in others as I worked the phones, canvassed, caucused, or otherwise encouraged folk to support a candidate or to vote—the sentiment that “voting doesn’t matter.”  Regardless of who… Read more