While the Republican Party of Minnesota is organizing voter outreach in Twin Cities Somalli, Hmong and Latino communities, the SW Metro Tea Party, led by freshman state representative Cindy Pugh (R-Chanhassen), has invited Californians For Population Stabilization (CAPS) senior fellow and former INS agent Michael Cutler to speak on Monday, November 4, according to the calendar on the SWMTP's website.
Update: the SW Metro Tea Party website now lists the event more prominently, and the Facebook event page for Cutler's talk pitches the night with this:
Come Join us for our Kick Off of another month full of Information & Activism!
Micheal Cutler will tell us more about his experiences and his viewpoint on Illegal Immigration.
"Current policies and statements by the administration, in my view, encourage aspiring illegal aliens around the world to head for the United States. In effect the starter's gun has been fired for these folks, the finish line to this race is the border of the United States." [end update]
CAPS, which opposes comprehensive immigration reform, has been called an "anti-immigrant hate-group masquerading as an environmentalist organization" by the Center for New Community. The Center notes that CAPS "receives funding from the white supremacist Pioneer Fund," according to a briefing about Cutler by Media Matters.
If the Cutler event is still on (there's no mention of it on the SWMTP's Facebook page), the talk will mark the beginning of a busy week for the far suburban group. Blaze radio personality Doc Thompson will bring his Countdown to Midterm Election Tour to Chanhassen on November 7 and 8.
"The Countdown to Midterm Election Tour" is the rebranded name for the Operation RINO Hunt that the Central Minnesota Tea Party first mentioned in a blog post on September 21. Unlike its near-metro peers, the CMTP is sticking with Doc Thompson's original name in its latest post, Join the RINO hunt in Sauk Rapids!
Who is Michael Cutler and why is BSP posting horrible facts about him?
In July's briefing. Who Are Fox's Newest Experts On Immigration?, Media Matters collected a list of Cutler's ties to anti-immigrant groups. These ties include:
Cutler Is A Regular Contributor To The White Nationalist Social Contract Journal. Cutler is a regular contributor to The Social Contract -- the white nationalist quarterly journal established by notorious nativist John Tanton. A search of Cutler's name at the Social Contract Press shows that he has written at least six articles for the journal since 2009. His most recent article for the Winter 2013 issue is based on his notion that the victims of illegal immigration are American citizens and legal immigrants. He also blames undocumented immigrants for prostitution in immigrants' communities. [Social Contract Press, accessed 7/18/13]
Rocky Mountain News: The Social Contract Press Publishes White Supremacist Authors. The Social Contract Press publishes pieces "by authors who express white nationalist or separatist views," and its editor Wayne Lutton "has also been on the advisory board of the publication of the Council of Conservative Citizens," a white-supremacist group. [Rocky Mountain News, 7/15/06]
- The Council of Conservative Citizens' statement of principles states: "We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races." [Council of Conservative Citizens, accessed 7/19/13]
Cutler Is A Former Fellow For The Nativist Center For Immigration Studies. Cutler served as a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) for at least five years. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the group a nativist organization. [Center for Immigration Studies, accessed 7/17/13, Southern Poverty Law Center, February 2009]
CIS Is Part Of Tanton's Network Of Anti-Immigrant, Nativist Organizations. The group was founded by notorious nativist John Tanton, an anti-immigrant activist with ties to the Federation For American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated a hate group. . . .
Cutler Is A Senior Fellow For The Anti-Immigrant Californians For Population Stabilization. Cutler is a senior fellow for the anti-immigrant Californians For Population Stabilization (CAPS) and regularly posts to the organization's blog. He is also referred to as a "senior writing fellow" in the organization's 2012 annual report summary, released in Spring 2013. The report praises him for increasing CAPS' national profile, stating: "With the particular assistance of Joe Guzzardi and Michael W. Cutler, TV, radio, print and Internet exposure continued increasing, with coverage in more than 200 blogs." [Californians For Population Stabilization, 2012 Annual Report Summary, Spring 2013; accessed 7/18/12]
Center For New Community: CAPS Is "The Anti-Immigrant Hate-Group Masquerading As An Environmentalist Organization." In a post exposing CAPS as an "anti-immigrant hate-group masquerading as an environmentalist organization," the Center for New Community noted that the group receives funding from the white supremacist Pioneer Fund. SPLC lists the Pioneer Fund as a "hate group" and says the fund "has bankrolled many of the leading Anglo-American race scientists of the last several decades." [Center for New Community, 6/29/12; Media Matters, 9/8/11]
Cutler Has Appeared On A Radio Show Linked With The "White Nationalism Codifying" John Birch Society. According to the Center for New Community, Cutler has appeared on the Second Opinion radio show hosted by Donald R. Griffin. Griffin is a member of what CNC called the "white nationalism codifying, conspiracy-convinced John Birch Society" . . .
To learn more about Cutler's views, read the entire post. Cutler has also been a guest on "The Ruthie Report," hosted by Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Report (MinnSIR) and Minnesota Minuteman leader, Ruthie Hendrycks. Hendrycks was Sue Jeffers' running mate in her 2006 Republican primary challenge to Governor Pawlenty.
Business community favors immigration reform
A flurry of reports are falling across Minnesota and national media about the determination of business groups to defund the Tea Party and Republicans who rode into office on it. Typically of this coverage? Today's report by Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik, Some business groups signaling they've had enough of tea party.
That coverage focuses on the federal shutdown and quarrels about the debt ceiling, but there's also a split between the business community and the SW Metro Tea Party's anti-immigrant stances. On October 5, the Strib's Joy Powell reported in Diverse crowd, 2,000 strong, seeks immigration reform:
. . .Bill Blazer of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce said reforms could ease worker shortages for many diverse Minnesota companies as baby boomers retire at a rising pace. . . .
Earlier, in September, former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, who now heads the pro-Republican Minnesota Action Network, sent two back-to-back weekly messages touting comprehensive immigration reform. In Minnesota Jobs, Coleman wrote:
Earlier this spring the American Action Network released a report that showed that an overhaul of immigration laws could boost gross domestic product growth by a percentage point each year over the next decade and produce tax revenue that would reduce federal deficits by a combined $2.5 trillion.
More recently, the American Action Network released a report showing the job gains that could be realized, district-by-district, state-by-state by achieving immigration reform.
In Minnesota it is estimated that almost 42,000 new jobs would be created if immigration reform were implemented.
To put that in perspective, since July, for the year, a total of about 56,000 private sector jobs were added in Minnesota.
Coleman favors increased border security and mandatory E-verify use by all United State employers, as he states in the column. The next week, Coleman wrote in Immigration Reform:
Achieving immigration reform is going to be very tough. Those who oppose immigration reform believe there needs to be a reset by which those who are here illegally simply need to leave and re-apply to become American citizens.
That thinking is as unrealistic as those who suggest we give those here illegally blanket amnesty. . . .
Does this mark Coleman as a RINO? As we noted in September's Central MN Tea Party & "Chanhassen" to host Doc Thompson's Operation RINO Hunt, talk of comprehensive immigration reform was the trigger that launched Doc Thompson's tour:
The rant begins around 1:59 as Thompson introduces Operation RINO Hunt, a self-described "desperate" measure to "punish":
Any Republican who supports these wrong ideas--maybe it will spread beyond the idea of immigration--but certainly now as part of this immigration bill, that any Republican that supports this bill, ANY immigration bill that has any even remote hint with of amnesty, that they will be targeted for a loss in their next election. And I wll do everything I can within my power to see them kicked out of office.
Coleman's middle way would likely be deemed a "hint of amnesty," since he's willing to work out some cautious path to citizenship.
Placebaiting? Urban recruitment vs exurbian anti-immigrant and anti-Somali talk
Bluestem is struck by the smart organizing intent (if not implementation) on the part of Republican leaders to recruit members in Minnesota's communities of color and immigrants. There's the Liberty Minority Alliance (the Facebook page is more active than the website), organized by Dan Severson and state senator Dan Hall, as well as efforts such as Aguilar Productions' October 12 Latino Voter Outreach Conference. To get a sense of the latter, watch CD4GOP's set of Youtubes documenting the conference. As part of a larger series on political engagement by Somali-Americans, MinnPost's Marlys Harris also examined Republican organizing efforts in metro Somali communities.
However a person might judge the effectiveness of these well-intentioned efforts, they're a far cry from the decidedly ugly anti-Somali handouts circulated at tea parties in central and southern Minnesota by Minneapolis' ACT! for America chapter leader Debra Anderson. Anderson also used the Central Minnesota Tea Party blog to promote opposition to a mosque and community center proposed in St. Cloud. The SW Metro Tea party has heard the stories of "legal" immigrants, yet invites in talent like Cutler.
While no elected official is closely associated with the Southern Minnesota Tea Party, the same cannot be said of the SW Metro Tea Party and the Central Minnesota chapter. Pugh founded the SW Metro Tea Party and continues as an organizer for it (she is one of three welcoming visitors to the group's website), while Jim Newberger is also involved with the Central Minnesota Tea Party. Pugh has made a name for herself as a scourge of Muslims, and prior to being elected, noted "ILLEGAL ALIENS - (the CO$T!)/AMNESTY! - Outrageous!" as one of her three greatest concern on her Patriot Action Network profile from 2011.
Bluestem cannot help but notice that the conservative anti-Somali and anti-immgrant activities are taking place in exurban and outstate areas, while the bulk of the outreach to immigrant communities in occuring in the metro (headquartering Cafe Con Leche Republicans in Lyon County is an exception).
This sort of place-baiting is a foolish game to be playing with New Americans, who have high rates of social media adoption. The old strategy of playing metro against Greater Minnesota may not work if news of immigrant bashing in Little Falls, Chanhassen and St.Cloud circulates on Lake and Robert Street.
Photos: Screenshot of the November 4 Mike Cutler event on the SW Metro Tea Party page (above); This isn't the first Tea Party meeting where Cutler has spoken; this one's from 2012 via Lewis Heaton Books (below).
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