Washington Post: Minuteman Project In Turmoil Over Financial Allegations
Along with the Republican Party, former Representative Gil Gutknecht gambled in the last election that concern--generated by talk-radio fearmongering and agenda-driven focus groups-- about immigration and border security would trump the public's growing common sense about the handling of the Iraq War. He lost.
Having learned nothing from Gutknecht's failed wager, State Senator Dick Day has said he will make the immigration debate a keystone of his campaign.
The wisdom of this strategy is questionable, given national polling that shows that 59% of the American people believe that illegal immigrants who have been here for 2+ years should be allowed to keep their jobs and apply for legal status (hat tip Atrios).
Populist-baiting Republicans aren't the only ones who've left the immigration poker table with empty pockets. Financial troubles now dog the Minutemen Project, the country's most public anti-immigration group. Today's Washington Post reports Minuteman Project In Turmoil Over Financial Allegations:
The Minuteman Project, an anti-illegal-immigrant organization that has monitored the southern border, is embroiled in a nasty legal fight over accusations of financial improprieties that has splintered the group and probably will sideline it during the busiest time of the year for border crossing.
Former leaders of the Minuteman Project accuse founder Jim Gilchrist, 58, of using $300,000 of the group's money to support his pet causes, including promoting a book he co-wrote and funding an unsuccessful run for Congress in a 2005 special election. Last month, saying they are the group's board of directors, they took over the Minuteman Project Web site and bank accounts, and fired Gilchrist as president.
Gilchrist fired back with a lawsuit accusing his former associates of defamation. He maintains that they have no standing to fire him from the California-based organization. He also accuses them of hacking into the Minuteman Project's Web site, stealing a donor database and pilfering his personal stationery, all of which the organization relies on to raise money.
"This crisis has put us in a tailspin," Gilchrist said in an interview. The organization had planned to mobilize members in coming weeks when Congress again takes up immigration legislation, he said, but it has canceled its plans because he is busy dealing with legal issues.
The fallout from this rumpus is reflected in MN-01 politics, which is home to Minnesota's sole Minutemen affiliate. In Minnesota, the state group aligned with the Minutemen, Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform, has added the term "Independent" to its full title: Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform/ Independent Minutemen. It may signal it is in the non-Gilchrist faction.
The group has close but contentious ties with the Republican Party of Minnesota. Last year, Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform endorsed Gil Gutknecht, and Ruthie Hendrycks, the group's president, was Sue Jeffers' running mate in a primary challenge to Governor Pawlenty. Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform is supporting Tom Tancredo 2008 bid for president.
Given the group's willingness to buck GOP leadership in the state while staying aligned with the party, this situation presents an interesting challenge for the Republicans. Observers speculate when (and how) the Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform crowd and its allies in Albert Lea, Owatonna and Austin will go on record as objecting to Senator Coleman's record on immigration issues (see grade here). So far, immigration "reformers" in Minnesota have been respectfully silent about the Republican senator, unlike some of their peers elsewhere.
Will the 1st CD GOP allow its candidate to campaign against Walz on an issue that could be damaging to Senator Coleman's own bid for re-election? The Senator's record clashes with Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform's agenda, and the stakes at the MN-01 table are high indeed.
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