Saturday, February 2, 2008

Sacked Paul volunteer: 'I don't have swastikas on'




A former Midland County coordinator of GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul's campaign said he was never asked nor sent a questionnaire about his ties to the Ku Klux Klan.

Randy G. Gray II, 29, a self-described grassroots volunteer who campaigned door-to-door for the Texas Republican, also said he had no formal ties to the candidate's national organization.

"Nobody asked anything," said Gray, who acknowledges membership in the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. "I figure, why volunteer information if they don't need it?"

The Midland resident said he joined the Paul election bandwagon on his own to learn about political activism and because he agreed with the Texas congressman on "90 percent" of the issues.

Leslie Roszman, Michigan campaign coordinator for Paul, said Gray was sent a code of conduct for campaign workers. Gray said that he didn't receive it until "much later."

Roszman said while Gray went "above and beyond the call of duty" to work for Paul, she did not know about Gray's connection to the Klan.

On the Ron Paul 2008 campaign's national Web site, a statement previously attributed to Roszman posted a strongly worded response:

"... Randy Gray was not forthcoming about his background, and he was in clear violation of the campaign's code of conduct for volunteers," it said. "No one affiliated with racist organizations would ever knowingly be allowed to have any role with the campaign. Dr. Paul's philosophy of freedom and individual liberty is the antithesis of racism."

Gray made no apologies Wednesday for his involvement in the Klan.

"I believe in free speech," he said. "I'm conservative, I have libertarian views, but I also have racial views. ...

"I don't fit the stereotype. I don't have swastikas on."

He also disputed the campaign's description of the Klan, and added he has no criminal history.

A background check of Gray turned up no criminal record.

In August, Gray posted a notice on an American Socialist Workers Party Web log announcing his involvement in the campaign. The political party is a white supremacist group.

Daily Kos, a liberal news blog, has claimed Paul campaign coordinators were aware of Gray's Klan ties before Roszman's statement was posted.

Roszman said she knew nothing about Gray's connection to the group.

"The very first time I ever even heard of this is when national called me," she said. "I have been completely unaware of this. I was completely caught off guard."

Gray also acknowledged he was listed as an organizer, recruiter and Klan cable show sponsor on a list of speakers at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Arkansas, the Web site stormfront.org reported.

He said he spoke at the gathering two years ago about using public access "as a means of getting our message out."

"I think people when they think of the KKK they blow it out of proportion about what it's all about," he said.

Gray once submitted a 30-minute television program entitled "This Is The Klan" to Midland Community Television.

A December 2005 Saginaw News story also reported that Gray submitted white supremacist James P. Wickstrom's 90-minute presentation, "The Enemy Among Us," to the MCTV public access channel. Wickstrom, whose Christian Identity teachings maintain that Jews descended from Satan while white Western Europeans descended from Adam, held meetings at a Hampton Township furniture store before an arsonist torched it.

2 comments:

capt said...

“Oh, my goodness, the John Birch Society!” he said in mock horror. “Is that bad? I have a lot of friends in the John Birch Society. They’re generally well educated, and they understand the Constitution. I don’t know how many positions they would have that I don’t agree with. Because they’re real strict constitutionalists, they don’t like the war, they’re hard-money people. . . . ”

Ron Paul

Ivory Bill Woodpecker said...

Michigan, eh? That reminds me of the late Hunter S. Thompson's comment after George Wallace won the 1972 Wisconsin primary that there were just as many mean, stupid bigots in the North as in the South.