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Wed Jun 23, 2010 at 10:27:17 AM EDT
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| UPDATE: Full e-mail text posted here X-Posted at YAF Watch, Daily Kos Republican State Senator and current Secretary of State Candidate Michelle McManus recently listed hate-group leader Kyle Bristow endorsement in an e-mail to supporters.
The e-mail, sent June 17th, covers issues such as McManus support for an Arizona-style anti-immigrant bill submitted by Republican State Kim Meltzer (who also has ties to Bristow) and her ‘perfect score’ on a Tea Party questionnaire.
The e-mail list a number of endorsements of various Republican Party officials. Kyle Bristow, former vice Chair for the 12th district, is listed third from the top on the list, after former State Senator Mat Dunakiss and Gerald Law, but above one state committee members and Wayne and Mackinac county chairmen. Why should a former chair of a county district place above current county chairmen? The McManus campaign did not respond to an e-mail inquiry. |
| Philip.R.Moon :: SOS Candidate Michelle McManus list hate group leaders endorsement |
Kyle Bristow, currently a law student at the University of Toledo in Ohio, has been a controversial figure since his chairmanship of the Michigan State University chapter of Young American for Freedom landed MSU-YAF on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate group map in 2007.
In the Winter 2007 edition of its quarterly Intelligence Report the Southern Poverty Law Center did an in depth report on the group and it ideology of hate. Among the group’s activities was hosting Holocaust Denier Nick Griffin, leader of the white nationalist British National Party.
Recently Bristow has faced criticism from his peers at the University of Toledo Law School. Above The Law, a tabloid blog of the legal profession, did a story on the controversy as several screenshots of comment by Bristow circulated among the student body.
Bristow’s activities got him recalled from his seat in MSU student government in October 2006 and eventually disowned by the MSU College Republican Chair Ben Morlock.
The political repercussions do not appear to have extended far beyond the MSU campus. Immediately after MSU-YAF was listed as a hate group by the SPLC, Michigan Republican Chairman Saul Anuzis defended Bristow, calling him “Exactly the type of kid we want”.
Kyle Bristow, left, with Saul Anuzis
Anuzis, who proudly talks up his family’s honor of being named “Righteous Among Nations” for saving Jews in Lithuania during the Holocaust, has never taken back that support, even after Bristow hosted Holocaust-denier Nick Griffin and attempted to host a hate speech at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.
Kyle Bristow (in cowboy hat) with Nick Griffin
The acceptance of Bristow’s endorsement and his high placement on the list of endorsements is only part of the concerns about Sen. McManus. In her e-mail McManus proudly proclaims “Voters need to look no further than the bill Rep. Kim Meltzer and I have introduced to help law enforcement fight illegal immigration in Michigan, which is modeled after the bill the Arizona Legislature successfully passed earlier this year.”
Rep. Kim Meltzer, who introduced the bill, with Kyle Bristow
McManus also proudly proclaims “I just filled out the 21-page, 80-question candidate survey from the Tea Party of West MI and answered in the affirmative on every question”. The Tea Party has not given an endorsement yet.
McManus is not the first Republican to try and use cultural wedge issues for a job that amount to motor vehicle registration and administering elections. Candidate Paul Scott launched an early letter in his campaign proclaiming "I will make it a priority to ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license in any circumstance".
Michigan is a state that only two years ago was targeted by a Machiavellian "Lose Your Home, Lose Your Vote" disenfranchisement attempt by local party officials. Neither McManus nor Scott address issues regarding the safe keeping to voters right in the turbulent foreclosure crisis Michigan still faces. |
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