Mr. Hart, not you Smitty...
Posted on 03/09/2006 10:40:06 AM PST by SmithL
A Republican candidate for Congress in 2004, repudiated by the GOP for his support of eugenics and talk of "favored races," has again made it onto the ballot in Tennessee.
But evidently not for long.
James L. Hart, 62, who marched with Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, will be the subject of a Republican Executive Committee meeting March 25 for a vote on whether he is a "bonafide Republican," or should be stricken from the ballot in Tennessee's Eighth Congressional District.
Hart won 8,227 votes in the Republican primary election in 2004 and went on to collect 59,853 votes in the general election won by incumbent Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn., with 173,623 votes.
Hart said Tuesday that the effort to toss him off the ballot is positively undemocratic. He qualified Feb. 1 by obtaining the signatures of 25 registered voters, as required by Tennessee election law, according to the state Division of Elections.
"What would prevent an executive committee of 66 people from deciding that George Bush was not a bonafide Republican and throwing his name off the ballot despite the votes of thousands of Americans?" Hart asked in a statement faxed to news organizations.
Hart received a letter last month from GOP political director Randy Stamps stating that the party executive committee questions his status as a Republican.
"In 2004, the Committee denounced your candidacy and made it abundantly clear that your views are not consistent with the values of the Republican Party," Stamps wrote. "You should anticipate that the committee will act consistent with the actions taken in 2004."
In 2004, the party drafted a write-in candidate, Dennis K. Bertrand, when it became clear that it couldn't take Hart off the ballot. Bertrand won 2,253 votes in the primary and just 91 in the general election.
Again this year, Hart maintains a Web site, jameshartforcongress.com, that includes his "Eugenics Manifesto." It reads in part: "Equality is man's most dangerous myth. All men do not have an equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Only the ethical, moral and law abiding have a right to liberty; only the productive and creative have a right to life; and only the wise have a right to the pursuit of happiness."
Hart said Tuesday that he intends to fight his expulsion and has hired lawyer Richard Barrett of Learned, Miss., the founder of the white supremacist Nationalist Movement.
Barrett said he is optimistic he can persuade the committee that it would be "ill advised" to remove his client from the ballot and said that, if it does, "we'll see them in court.
"The man is a Republican."
The most disturbing part of this story is the number of people - almost 60,000 - who voted for him.
The rat will make hay on this if they don't kick him out. Let's hope they get this done quickly.
Consider that John Tanner is the incumbent, and it's believable.
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