Wisconsin lawmakers accept donations from white supremacists

By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher

Email, it appears, has the potential to make fools out of us all, even governors.

Today an email arrived from scottwalker.com with the alarming heading, “URGENT: CORRECTION NEEDED.”

We have been taught that capital letters mean shouting. Why would the governor be shouting at me? I haven’t said anything derogatory about his administration in at least a week.

I opened up the email to find this friendly greeting.

“County,”

Hmm, does the governor think my first name is “County” and my last name is “Line”?

The message went on:

“Last week Governor Walker emailed asking for your support as he thinks about whether or not to run for President of the United States. 
 We have not heard from you and that didn’t seem right.”

Really? It seems right to me. I have never donated a dime to any candidate of either party in my life, although I have made a few small donations to Mother Jones magazine to help fund its investigative journalism. Does that count?

Then the email spelled out what was at stake should I fail to fire off a check.

“The Governor might not run if people like you don’t support him.”

So is that a threat or a promise? Not sure.

But should I waffle, the email included suggested amounts in case I was incapable of determining that on my own.

“Your donation of $10, $35, $75, $100, $250 or even $1,000 will show him you are on the team and give him the resources to travel the country and share his conservative vision as he decides whether or not to run.”

Quite frankly, it’s positively frightening to think that Mr. Walker’s decision to throw his hat in the presidential ring would rest on me. And if Mr. Walker knew me, he would no doubt agree.

But as we learned this week, Mr. Walker as well as Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Johnson are not particularly fussy about where the money comes from, as long as it comes in.

This week, all three will return donations from Earl Holt III, who since 2011 has given $3,500 to the Walker campaign.

Oh, yeah, presidential candidates Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul also were recipients of Holt’s contributions.

Holt is the head of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group identified as a white supremacist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The South Carolina terrorist shooter who gunned down nine black citizens credited Holt’s group as the source of racist information he posted to a website registered in his name.

Holt argues that his group played no role in the murders allegedly perpetrated by Dylan Roof.

“The CofCC is hardly responsible for the actions of this deranged individual merely because he gleaned accurate information from our website,” Holt said.

So what “accurate information” did Roof read?

Well, here’s an example from their mission statement.

“We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called ‘affirmative action’ and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races.”

And that is the mild stuff. Go to some of Holt’s other postings on message boards, and the sentiments are so loaded with obscenities and vitriol against African-Americans and Jews that I would never print them in this newspaper. It might be instructive, though, for readers to get a sense of just how much racial hatred still plagues this country.

The only reason anyone ever donates to a campaign is because they believe the candidate, if elected, would govern in a way that supports his or her interests, philosophy and causes.

I guess if I were a candidate who received money from Earl Holt III, I would be looking in the mirror and asking myself why this slime bucket would be interested in supporting my campaign. And then I would give it back right then and there and not wait for the media to uncover the donation years later.

Then I would take the time to read and study the following words from Abraham Lincoln,

“Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it, ‘All men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read, ‘All men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.’ When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty — to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”

♦ ♦ ♦

There will be no issue of the County Line next week. Happy July 4!

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