New Mexico Independent: GOP women’s group board quits en masse after Stirman refuses to quit

New Mexico Independent

GOP women’s group board quits en masse after Stirman refuses to quit

All of the members of the Republican Women of Otero County have quit after the embattled head of the group, Martha Stirman, refused to resign her post.

As the Independent’s Heath Haussamen reported, on Oct. 21 the Alamogordo Daily News published a letter in which Stirman wrote, “I believe Muslims are our enemies. … I believe war is a fact of life and we should always win. … I believe there is a moderate and a socialist in this election. I agree with a two-party system, but Obama isn’t a messiah or a democrat. He’s a Muslim socialist.”

Last week, after a firestorm of angry response to Stirman’s letter, the executive board of the Otero County Republican Party and the Republican Women of Otero County asked Stirman to resign.

As the Carlsbad Current Argus reports today:

The executive board of the Otero County Republican Party and the Republican Women of Otero County asked Stirman to resign last week, county GOP Chairwoman Sassy Tinling said. Stirman refused, and Tinling said the rest of the board of the Republican Women’s group immediately gave their resignations to Stirman.

Tinling also said the county party’s executive committee ”has chosen to disassociate itself from the RWOOC as it exists today” and that the Otero County GOP will no longer recognize Stirman’s position on its board.

…”It is unfortunate that Mrs. Stirman used the RPOC and RWOOC as a conduit for her personal views,” said Tinling, who apologized on behalf of the Republican Party of Otero County and its board ”to anyone offended by Mrs. Stirman’s comments.”

Capitol Annex: TX HD 107: Keffer Campaign Launches Racist Mailer Against Allen Vaught

Capitol Annex

TX HD 107: Keffer Campaign Launches Racist Mailer Against Allen Vaught

 

Pictures of an Hispanic man flashing a gang symbol, another Hispanic man in the custody of immigration officials, and an Hispanic male in a kitchen with a rifle adorn the lastest race-bating mailer sent out by ex-state representative Bill Keffer (R-Dallas) in his grudge match against State Rep. Allen Vaught (D-Dallas).

 

The mailer, which was paid for by Keffer’s campaign, alleges that Vaught says the illegal immigration issue is a “political gimmick,” but cites no source to illustrate that Vaught ever made any such statement.

 

Really Robin: Democrat In Ohio Plays The “Race Card” In Cleveland Legislative Election

Really Robin

Democrat In Ohio Plays The “Race Card” In Cleveland Legislative Election

Wow! Raaaaaaaaaaaaacist!! Listen to what Bob Belovich – Democrat running for the seat, and his wife, Barbara Belovich, have to say about Josh Mendel – Republican, and Iraq War Veteran, who currently holds this position. If you don’t have time to listen to it all, start at about 1:47 or so.

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: The race card?

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The race card?

Our picks for the Fort Wayne Community Schools board can be found here.

As expected, we’ve been accused on the Code Blue blog site of playing the race card in remarks concerning candidate Evert Mol.

Race can’t be overlooked in considering candidates in this contest. FWCS is one of the most diverse school districts in Indiana, with a minority enrollment of 46 percent. The percentage is increasing steadily.

It was President George W. Bush who coined the phrase “soft bigotry of low expectations.” A candidate who insists that black students are “weak” in math fails the fundamental test of expecting all students to achieve at high levels. FWCS students deserve board members who believe they can learn and will do all possible to help them succeed, not to write them off.

Hip Hop Republican: Muslim Republican-Muhammad Ali Hasan

Hip Hop Republican

Muslim Republican-Muhammad Ali Hasan

Muhammad Ali Hasan is a young Muslim Republican candidate running for State Representative in rural Colorado. In this pod vc2 producers the Lockerpartners join Ali at the county republican convention on the campaign trail to see how his Muslim identity affects his political strategy and civic aspirations.

video

Blog of the Moderate Left: Arlon Lindner?:

Blog of the Moderate Left

Arlon Lindner?

Remember State Rep. Arlon Lindner, R-Corcoran? Sure you do! He’s the insane former state representative whose political career imploded when he said, well, this:

Charming fellow. To be fair, this wasn’t the only bit of insanity Lindner espoused. He skipped a joint session of the legislature because the Dalai Lama was addressing it, saying, “As a Christian, I am offended that we would have the Dalai Lama come and speak to a joint meeting of our Minnesota Legislature. He claims to be a god-king, a leader of the Buddha religion, which historically has been considered a cult because of its anti-Biblical teachings concerning the one true Holy God, Creator of Heaven and earth and His Son, Jesus Christ.” When DFL State Rep. Michael Paymar, a practicing Jew, objected to the fact that invocations in the House had become sectarian under the GOP leadership, Lindner had said, “You know, we’re told there’s one God and one mediator between God and man. That man is Jesus Christ. And most of us here are Christians. And we shouldn’t be left not able to pray in the name of our God….And if you don’t like it, you may have to like it-Or just don’t come. I don’t come sometimes for some prayers here….We have that privilege, and you need to exercise it. But don’t impose your irreligious left views on me.” Because asking that invocations in a state body be nonsectarian was, evidently, too much to ask.

And of course, there was the letter Lindner’s lawyer sent to Rep. Neva Walker-Black. The problem with that was that there was no Neva Walker-Black in the legislature. There was and is a Rep. Neva Walker, DFL-Minneapolis, the first African-American woman ever elected to the Minnesota State Legislature. She had never been named Black, and had never been married to anyone named Black — indeed, no real explanation was ever offered as to why the letter was addressed to Walker-Black, though it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to connect the dots.

NH Concord Monitor: Janeway, Sanborn debate for state Senate seat

NH Concord Monitor

Janeway, Sanborn debate for state Senate seat

Democratic State Sen. Harold Janeway and Republican challenger Andy Sanborn squared off last night in sometimes harsh tones over the state budget, guns and prison sentencing in their first and only debate last night in Weare.

Although smiling and sometimes laughing at each other’s jokes, the pair, a study in contrasts, didn’t shy away from attacks. At one point, citing Janeway’s call for reviewing sentencing guidelines, Sanborn accused Janeway of being soft on crime.

“I guess my question to Harold is: How many people does he feel he needs to let out of prison to balance the budget?” asked Sanborn, who has called for greater sentences for violent offenders.

“This is sort of the Willie Horton kind of attack,” Janeway said quietly. Horton, a convicted murderer serving time in Massachusetts, was released on furlough before committing armed robbery and rape in 1986. George H.W. Bush used the Horton case during the 1988 presidential race to undo the campaign of Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis, who was Massachusetts governor at the time of Horton’s release.

Janeway said a significant number of nonviolent offenders who are in prison for offenses like bad checks or parole violations could potentially be penalized with GPS bracelets, allowing the state to save money and better target its prison budget.

Greensboro NC News-Record: Doug Clark: Race becomes an issue in High Point ward election

Greensboro NC News-Record: Doug Clark

Race becomes an issue in High Point ward election

There’s an undercurrent in High Point’s Ward 2 City Council race: Beat the white guy.

He’s Pride Grimm Jr., one of five candidates running for a seat from the east-central district. The other four are black, as is a fifth who filed but quit his campaign.

Ward 2 was drawn explicitly for the purpose of electing a black representative, and it always has. Ron Wilkins, the longtime councilman for Ward 2, is retiring this year

…

Let’s do the math: With six names on the Ward 2 ballot, someone theoretically can receive as little as 17 percent of the vote and win.

Consider again the voter registration numbers for Ward 2, by race: 65 percent black, 30 percent white, 5 percent other or no response.

Suppose voters follow race: Grimm gets 30 percent. Maybe the other candidates divide the black vote. In that scenario, Grimm wins. For the next two years, the white minority candidate represents one of High Point’s two black-majority wards.

…

Grimm says they’re “trying to play the race card,” adding: “If that’s all they have to stand on … I think the people of Ward 2 are definitely smart enough to see past that.”

Grimm says race doesn’t come up when he campaigns door-to-door whether the residents are white or black. He’s visited black churches and been greeted with “nothing but openness and acceptance.” He lives in a mixed-race neighborhood where people get along fine.

“I don’t see a bunch of racism in Ward 2 except from the people I’m running against,” Grimm told me, excluding Jerry Mingo.

I hope he’s overstating the situation, although racial politics can turn ugly.

I understand the background. Before the ward system, black candidates seldom stood a chance of winning a High Point City Council seat. Most other offices were out of reach, too. Forty years ago, or even less, black voting was suppressed.

But times are changing for the better, as the likely election of Barack Obama as president will show.

High Point has changed, too. It’s been nine years since Al Campbell, who is black, won an at-large City Council seat with well over 60 percent of the vote. He lost the 2003 mayor’s race to Becky Smothers, but Becky Smothers beats everyone.

The City Paper: Editorial: Opposition to English Only needs to be heard

The City Paper: Editorial

Opposition to English Only needs to be heard

Metro Councilman Eric Crafton wants to debate Mayor Karl Dean on the merits of the English Only proposal Nashville voters will address in a special election with a half-million dollar price tag.

Certainly, this city needs to have some kind of public discourse on the subject of whether or not Nashville should become the largest municipality in the country to make its government business take place only in English.

Then there is the flip side of the English Only equation, the much-less-organized opposition. Despite such political heft as the majority of the Metro Council, the mayor, most every consequential immigrant leader in the city and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the English Only opposition is not showing the same signs of life as the proponents.

That is disturbing. The city’s newspapers have reported on this brewing political battle ad nauseum — this one included. We have condemned English Only repeatedly on our editorial page, as have publications of every type citywide — print and digital.

Latina Lista: One sheriff empathizes with his constituents, the other calls Mexicans “trashy”

Latina Lista

One sheriff empathizes with his constituents, the other calls Mexicans “trashy”

Here’s a tale about two sheriffs with two very different views of the communities they serve. One saw the hurt and panic of his constituents and made a bold stand. The other sees the hurt and panic of his constituents and feeds it with callous and inflammatory remarks.

Some will argue that any comparison between the two is like comparing apples and oranges. But in highlighting the differences in how both of these men treat their constituents, it underscores the fact that there are times when humanity takes precedence over rule of law. And it’s an official who can see the bigger picture that understands when that must happen.

Illinois Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart has taken the bold stand of refusing to evict anymore people from their homes in Cook County, which also includes the city of Chicago.

…

North Carolina’s Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell doesn’t hold any empathy for the Latino, or as he says, Mexican, residents of his community. In an interview with a local reporter last month, Sheriff Bizzell expressed his frustration with the local Latino community in no uncertain terms.

In private conversations, Bizzell reveals that his deeper concerns, and those of his constituents, are as much about changing demographics as about crime.”How long is it going to be until we’re the minority?” he said one night in August, as he drove the darkened streets of Smithfield.

 

Because of this fear of change, Bizzell didn’t mind being quoted in the same article saying “Mexicans are trashy,” or that they are “breeding like rabbits.”

He resents how some of the men get drunk and end up fighting with one another, never taking into consideration that anyone who is miles from home and family and whose days are spent working from dawn till dusk will take advantage of any outlet to ease their loneliness.

No, to Sheriff Bizzell Latinos disrespect him and his officers. How does he know this?

He demonstrated his point by waving, from inside his cruiser, to a man walking through a trailer park. When the man gave a blank stare, Bizzell said smugly, “See. They hardly ever wave back. It’s like you’re the enemy.”