Terrelldemocrat had a question on the open thread over at
Tkos a couple of days ago about an immigration reform organization quoted by one of the Lege candidates,
Kemper "Bear" Gleason. I'm assuming he's the Democratic candidate, though I couldn't find any party affiliation on his website. The incumbent Republican is
Betty Brown.
The organization he quotes on immigration issues is FAIR, Federation for American Immigration Reform, to whose site I will not link based on what I've found with my crack investigative staff (okay, Mr. Google and Mr. Yahoo).
If you'd like to read what I found out, join me on the flip.
According to this
site, FAIR has some anti-immigrant stances of note. It has a bit of info on how FAIR was formed that's rather surprising:
FAIR was created following a factional split in Zero Population Growth led by John Tanton. Along with Sidney Swensrud and Sharon Barnes, Tanton founded FAIR in 1979. FAIR's links to other local and national organizations that are stridently anti-immigrant, anti-Latino, and supremacist have undermined FAIR's own credibility and led to questions about the underlying agenda of its restrictionist approach to immigration. Referring to FAIR and associated groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center concluded an article on immigrant hate groups stating: "Opinion polls consistently show that a majority of Americans believe that immigration needs to be cut below current levels, although that does not imply that they support the ideas of white supremacists or other bigots.... The danger is not that immigration levels are debated by Americans, but that the debate is controlled by bigots and extremists whose views are anathema to the ideals on which this country was founded." (12)(21)
At least one of the leaders seems to be on a "reconquista" tack that definitely has racist tones:
Along with a few other FAIR board members, Tanton founded a nationalist organization called WITAN--short for the Old English term "witenagemot," meaning "council of wise men." In 1986 Tanton signed a memo that went to WITAN members that highlighted the supremacist bent of Tanton and FAIR. (12)(21) The memo charged that Latin American immigrants brought a culture of political corruption with them to the United States that that they were unlikely to involve themselves in civil life. He raised the alarm that they could become the majority group in U.S. society. What's more, he asked: "Can homo contraceptivus compete with homo progenitiva?"
According to Rightweb(which I found on a Google search, but appears to be a progressive focused organization) FAIR has also received money from the odious Richard Scaife, which would certainly disqualify them as an unbiased source in my book.
And the cherry on top of the distasteful sundae is this from the Southern Poverty Law Center:
The far right reacts to September's terror with anti-Semitic hatred, threats and conspiracy theories "On its Web site, FAIR reran a highly controversial advertisement featuring side-by-side photographs of Osama bin Laden and former U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.) under the headline, "Why Is a U.S. Senator Trying to Make It Easy for Osama bin Laden to Export Terrorism to the U.S.?" FAIR originally ran the ad in 2000 because Abraham, the only Arab-American in the Senate, was backing legislation to allow more skilled workers visas to work in the United States. The ad was condemned nationally."
In all fairness, Candidate Gleason may not be aware of the background of this organization.
But if you happen to be in Legislative District #4 it does seem a fair question to ask.
Cross posted at TexasKos.