Neo-Nazi political trap

In this undated handout photo J.T. Ready is shown with an automatic weapon. Ready is a reputed neo-Nazi who has been conducting heavily armed patrols to catch illegal aliens in the Arizona desert amid the furor over immigration in the state and angering local law enforcement officials who say right-wing radicals are not welcome. The militia said it was emboldened because of the federal government's inability to secure the border, and it has declared war on what it calls "narco-terrorists." (AP Photo/J.T. Ready)

For conservative Arizona politicos, especially those on the forefront of the debate over illegal immigration, connections to hate groups have become an embarrassing pitfall.

Groups whose racist or white nationalist views include vehement opposition to illegal immigration often seek to align themselves with politicians who lead the anti-illegal-immigration movement. But politicians who put themselves in league with such groups — mistakenly or otherwise — usually spend years dealing with the fallout and repairing their images.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu has been one of the state’s most recognizeable foes of illegal immigration since his 2008 election, but for the past few weeks his name has been synonymous with a controversial “pro-white” radio show.

Sen. Russell Pearce has spent years deflecting criticism over a photograph that showed him posing with a self-described National Socialist leader. He also took heat for sending his supporters an e-mail containing a racist tract that originated with a white supremacist organization.

Politicians who get wrapped up with hate groups said it’s nearly impossible to identify which of their supporters are members of hate groups or who have racist ideals.

Many politicians who get caught in the white-power trap, including Pearce and Babeu, denounce any overt connection with white supremacists, saying any association with them was inadvertent.

But watchdog organizations said politicians have an obligation to ensure they don’t associate with extremists, especially when dealing with causes that hate groups have taken up, such as illegal immigration. Others, many times their political opponents, accuse them of being racist themselves or at least actively seeking political support from extremists.

Bill Straus, who works in the Anti-Defamation League’s Phoenix office, said opponents of illegal immigration aren’t necessarily racists. But the issue has become a popular one with hate groups because most illegal immigrants belong to minority ethnic groups, he said.

“They’re hijacking this issue,” Straus said. “And it’s hard not to bump into a politico on this issue.”

Neo Nazi groups and other extremist organizations don’t necessarily share many views with mainstream conservatives, said Rick Herrera, a political science professor at Arizona State University. But they share rhetoric on issues such as illegal immigration, he said, and that attracts some extremists who want to legitimize their views with a skeptical and hostile public.

“If you paint with a broad brush, yeah, they’re both against illegal immigration,” Herrera said. “I don’t know that they share all the views, but they share the broad-brush and popular rhetoric.”

Heidi Beirich, director of research for the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, said it can be difficult to tell whether someone is an extremist or racist, especially because of the way many hate groups give themselves innucous-sounding names that make them appear mainstream and legitimate.

Most recently, Babeu granted an interview to the Political Cesspool, a self-proclaimed “pro-white” radio show on which prominent white supremacists have appeared as guests. The following week, he gave another interview to the conspiracy-theory oriented Alex Jones Show.

Babeu’s spokesman, who arranged the interviews, said the snafus were his fault for not properly vetting the hundreds of interview requests the media-friendly sheriff gets.

Babeu said he’s not a racist. Ironically, media outlets first took note of the Political Cesspool interview around the same time the Anti-Defamation League lauded the sheriff for his opposition to J.T. Ready, the National Socialist leader Pearce posed with in his infamous photograph.

When Ready announced that he would lead armed patrols in Pinal County to search for illegal immigrants and drug traffickers, Babeu announced those citizen patrols were not welcome and urged Ready to stay away.

“I have been very outspoken against hate or bigotry in any of its forms,” Babeu said. “Not only have I been outspoken publicly and privately, I do not keep any friendships or maintain any sort of relationships (with people who promote those views).”

Straus said such incidents could be avoided, or at least minimized, if politicians simply did a little research, and more people are taking his advice. He said the Anti-Defamation League’s Phoenix office has gotten numerous calls in the past few months from politicians who wanted to scrutinize groups that sent them invitations or interview requests.

“I’ve had a couple calls. But I never even got one in past elections,” Straus said. “I think every embarrassing story ramps up the sensitivity to it.”

In May, reporters noticed that Sen. Chuck Gray was following the hate group Stormfront on his Twitter account. A Senate spokesman said Gray does not hold racist beliefs and stopped following the group’s Twitter feed when he learned of its views.

In 2006, Pearce, the illegal immigration hawk who sponsored S1070, posed for a photograph with Ready, whom Pearce endorsed that year in a Mesa City Council race.

Two years later, Pearce invited further criticism when he sent out a mass e-mail containing a racist diatribe from the National Alliance. Pearce said he read only the first few paragraphs, which decried bias in the media, and didn’t know about the white supremacist screed that followed against “miscegenation or at the rapidly darkening racial situation in America,” the “Jewish ‘Holocaust’ tale” and the “Jew-controlled entertainment media.”

Pearce, who said he was unaware of Ready’s racist beliefs in 2006, said the criticism is unfair and motivated by a desire among Democrats to slander conservatives.

“These people are out of control, over-the-top lefties doing everything they can to hurt good people,” Pearce said. “Good honest people make honest mistakes.”

Pearce said there’s no confluence of opinion or shared values that bring mainsteam politicians like him together with outspoken racists like Ready. The problem, he said, is that when someone meets as many people as he does, and gets as many e-mails and interview requests as he does, it’s nearly impossible to identify the extremists.

“Some groups may be more obvious than others. But there’s no way to know. You meet hundreds and hundreds of people,” Pearce said.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a civilian border-watch group that garnered international media attention when it formed in 2005, frequently faced accusations of racism. Bob Wright, who headed up the group’s New Mexico chapter, said racists, Neo Nazis and other extremists sometimes tried to join the group.

It’s impossible to ascertain the core beliefs of each individual in a crowd of people, Wright said. But he was always on the lookout for indications of racist leanings, such as certain words or phrases that raised red flags.

“You have people who were politically naïve. You have people who have this cartoon vision of life. And then you have really evil people like J.T. Ready or anyone else who claims to be a National Socialist,” Wright said. “They have a failed position that cannot be justified, so they try to attach that to a position that can be justified.”

Beirich said some politicians simply look for support wherever they can get it, even if that means courting groups with overtly racist views. Others say such incidents, even if they’re as inadvertent as politicians claim, are simply unavoidable due to the harsh anti-illegal immigration rhetoric that the politicians spread.

Rather than legitimize their agenda, however, hate groups often end up casting doubt on mainstream views or politicians like Pearce and Babeu.

Beirich said the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist group, is a perfect example of a hate group that uses mainstream politicians to legitimize itself. It also illustrates how associating with extremists can harm a politician’s career.

Former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott was one of numerous politicians who spoke at Council of Conservative Citizens events in the 1990s, though the group’s reputation and beliefs were well-known in the Mississippi Republican’s home state.

Like many others, Lott suffered little or no ill effect from his association with the group, though the Republican National Committee later sought to ban members from attending the group’s events.

But when Lott came under attack for praising former U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential campaign — Thurmond ran on a staunch segregationist platform — the damage was compounded because of his association with the Council of Conservative Citizens. Lott stepped down as Senate majority leader as a result of the incident.

“When it was first revealed in the press … it didn’t take Lott down at the time,” Beirich said of Lott’s speeches at council events. “But a couple years later … that past came back to bite him hard.”

Racist and extremist organizations often dispute the notion that they discredit mainstream anti-illegal immigration views, and often say their views are more mainstream than many people want to admit.

James Edwards the co-host of the Political Cesspool, said far more Americans and public officials agree with his beliefs than would admit in public. Edwards claims that Babeu knew exactly what his radio show was about, but claimed ignorance and distanced himself because of political pressure. Babeu and his press secretary deny the accusation.

“I think conservative elected officials like Sheriff Babeu do fundamentally agree with us, without doubt, without question,” Edwards said. “And I think there are many more like him that do. But they are faced with quite a bit of pressure from the media.”

Ready said many mainsteam politicos share some of his views, but simply aren’t as outspoken about them as he is because of the political pressure and media attention they face.

Ready, who is currently running a civilian patrol group in Pinal County aimed at catching drug traffickers and illegal immigrants, said Pearce was well aware of his beliefs when they posed together for a picture. He accused Pearce of distancing himself for the sake of political expediency.

“The difference is maybe the fact that I’m vocal on the same views,” Ready said.

In the end, such incidents don’t usually do long-term damage to politicians’ careers. It’s embarrassing, Herrera said, “but how long has Russell Pearce been in office?”

The david duke factor

At least one extremist is embracing his ability to besmirch a politician’s name. When David Duke endorsed J.D. Hayworth in his GOP primary battle against Sen. John McCain, he said he was looking to punish, not praise.

Duke said he supports Babeu and was upset with Hayworth’s call for McCain to distance himself from the sheriff and stop running campaign ads featuring the two of them. Duke said in his “endorsement” that he wanted to subject Hayworth to the same kind of guilt by association.

“I say this to Hayworth,” Duke wrote on his website. “You want to criticize Babeu for going on a pro-white show. Well here is a political endorsement from David Duke! Do you want to criticize yourself for being endorsed by me?”