September 21, 2010: New York GOP Distances Itself from Candidate with Racist, Anti-Semitic Views

Jim Russell. [Source: SourceWatch (.org)]The New York State Republican Party denounces a Republican candidate for the House after learning that he has espoused racist and anti-Semitic views. Jim Russell, who represents the GOP in the 18th District of New York State race against incumbent Nita Lowey (D-NY), wrote an article for Occidental Quarterly around 10 years ago that stated his opposition to “miscegnation” (“mixing” of different races) and criticized the assault on the “Western continuum” by Jews, blacks, and other minorities. He also praised the anti-Semitic theories of poet T.S. Eliot, quoting Eliot’s belief that “the population should be homogeneous” and the need for “eugenics” to protect “the West” from minority infiltration. “While liberals and universalists constantly yammer about ‘bringing us all together,’” he wrote, “and how ‘diversity is our strength,’ it may be suggested that the biological function of human language and culture is just the opposite, that is, to keep discrete groups apart.” The article was posted on Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke’s Web site, though it has recently been removed. New York GOP spokesman Alex Carey says “[t]here are kooks attracted to any parties,” and adds that Russell’s decision to run as a Republican has nothing to do with the Republican Party or Republican principles. Carey says state GOP leaders were not aware of Russell’s essay, and says, “We strongly condemn all of Jim’s comments and certainly stand by none of what he wrote, which was racist and ethnocentric.” The Westchester County GOP chairman will meet with Russell soon, Carey says, “and if he can explain this somehow they’re going to continue looking into this—and if he can’t they’ll cut him loose.” Carey acknowledges that even if the GOP drops Russell from its line on the ballot, Russell will still be a candidate. Russell is running on a campaign platform opposing immigration and a housing desegretation settlement in Westchester; he has said Westchester’s “neighborhoods have to be protected” from desegregation. In his 2001 article, he called desegretation “destructive.” Russell’s campaign manager, Frank Morgenthaler, says the scrutiny on Russell’s racial views is “mud-slinging.” Morgenthaler adds: “We’re in a situation now where our country is on the brink of death almost. That’s a heck of a lot more important than any articles or any spin that the incumbents want to put on it.” [Salon, 9/20/2010; Politico, 9/20/2010; Salon, 9/21/2010] Russell is considered a longshot candidate. [Politico, 9/20/2010]