Free Republic

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and Minuteman Co-Founder Jim Gilchrist have been documented lying to America by the Washington Times after false headlines ran on Tuesday proclaiming Mike Huckabee would try to remove birthright citizenship from the Constitution. The article confirms that Huckabee lied on CNN about his campaign being contacted about Gilchrist's false statements and Gilchrist lied in a release about Huckabee's immigration stances. Gilchrist put out a press release on Iowa's election eve, under the fake name of "Perry Emerson" that contained several false statements and embellishments of Huckabee's immigration stances. The release claimed Huckabee would try to reverse...

Story ideas from the Journal of Biological Chemistry By American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Most people wouldn’t consider anthrax toxin to be beneficial, but this bacterial poison may someday be an effective cancer therapy. Anthrax toxin has actually been shown to be fairly selective in targeting melanoma cells, although the risk of non-cancer toxicity prevents any clinical use. To develop a better and safer treatment, Stephen Leppla and colleagues created a mutated antrax toxin that could only be turned on by matrix metalloproteinases (MMP), proteins that are overproduced only in cancer cells. When they tested this mutated toxin...

Noting that he might not agree 100 percent on immigration with Huckabee, the firebrand illegal immigration opponent said Huckabee's recently released immigration plan won him over. "The governor has a plan and I appreciate his plan. That's why I'm supporting him. He's one of the few who's actually brought forth a plan and gone public with it. It shows to me that he's willing to engage in the tough love necessary to fix this problem," Gilchrist said. Gilchrist, whose organization is separate from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, has drawn protests in appearances at college campuses in recent months for...

While ABCÂ’s Chris Cuomo played softball with Columbia University president Lee Bollinger on the upcoming speech of Iranian president Ahmadinejad, CNNÂ’s John Roberts directed tough questions to John Coatsworth, dean for ColumbiaÂ’s School of International and Public Affairs. Roberts opened the interview with a question which summarized AhmadinejadÂ’s record. "Here's a leader who's advocated the destruction of Israel, denied the Holocaust, and is accused by our government, the United States government, of supplying both fighters and equipment to insurgents in Iraq, to kill U.S. troops. Why would you ever want him on your campus?" Coatsworth appeared during the 7 am...

The Minuteman Express News by Perry Emerson Minuteman Project Receives Glowing Financial Audit Report The long-awaited results of a financial audit of the Minuteman Project were presented publicly today with a positive audit report that establishes the integrity of that organization and its president, Jim Gilchrist. The audit firm’s “unqualified” report is the most prestigious and complimentary opinion that can be given to a company by the accounting and audit industry in the United States. The audit was conducted by the Burbank, Ca. CPA firm of Terrence Milaney. “I am elated,” Gilchrist said of the results of the two-month-long audit...

Immigration Sellout, Not Reform The Kennedy-Kyl (K-K) Amnesty bill should be titled An Act to Destroy the Republican Party because it pits President Bush against the majority of the Party that elected him. When Senator Ted Kennedy appeared as the centerpiece of the photo-op announcing it, that told the grassroots all they needed to know about the politics of the deal trumpeted as bipartisan. The Bush Administration has been tone deaf about how offensive are the words comprehensive and compromise. The American people want border security that we can see with our own eyes on television, and they are...

CHAIRMAN PULLEN TO APPEAR ON HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS AND SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRIT HUME TODAY Tune into MSNBC today at 2:00PM local [Arizona] time and catch Chairman Pullen talk about the Senate's immigration bill with Chris Matthews. The show repeats at 4:00PM and 12:00AM. Then check out Special Report with Brit Hume on Fox News at 3:00PM and see another segment with Chairman Pullen on immigration reform.

AZGOP GRASSROOTS ACTION ALERT Dear Friends, It appears that a grassroots movement to stop this legislation may be working. Yesterday, I expressed disappointment on behalf of the Arizona Republican Party at the Senate legislation addressing Comprehensive Immigration reform. Minutes ago, the U.S. Senate delayed further action until at least next month. What happened in the last 24 hours? Your calls, letters, emails and faxes! What seemed to be at first our potentially darkest moments has the potential to become one of our finest hours! According to the latest press reports, there are now just 20 US Senators committed to...

The Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 On behalf of the more than one million registered Arizona Republicans who care very deeply about this state and have a tremendous love for our great nation, I am very disappointed in this new legislation about to be introduced in the U.S. Senate next week. The bill would allow all 12 million plus illegal aliens to remain in this country indefinitely and provides them, as well as their immediate families, a path to citizenship. This is amnesty, as they will be working and living in the United States, while those who...

Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist dropped the remaining portions of his lawsuit against fellow anti-illegal immigration activists today, bringing to a conclusion a legal battle for control of the group. Gilchrist has set up a new organization – the Jim Gilchrist Minuteman Project Inc. – and said he is ready to move ahead with his cause. "I am delighted that rather than spending the next two years in litigation and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of (activists') contributions for attorney fees … I can focus full time on the critical issue of illegal immigration," Gilchrist said in a press...

Minuteman Announces Issuance of Preliminary Injunction And Dismissal of Action The Orange County Superior Court has issued a preliminary injunction that orders former Minuteman Project, Inc. advisory board members Marvin Stewart, Deborah Courtney-Peterson and Barbara Coe to stop diverting or spending Minuteman funds. With this much need relief in hand, Minuteman. announces that it has dismissed its action without prejudice to refile the lawsuit if further misconduct occurs. Minuteman Founder and President Jim Gilchrist stated: “I am delighted that rather than spending the next 2 years in litigation and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions for Attorney fees...

Anti-illegal immigration activist Chris Simcox split from Jim Gilchrist last year, and favors neither side in Gilchrist's current lawsuit. Jim Gilchrist goes back to court Wednesday, this time hoping to convince Judge Randell Wilkinson not to place his Minuteman Project Inc. into an independent receivership while control of the group is litigated. This tussle with former allies isn't the first of Gilchrist's internal conflicts in the battle against illegal immigration. While Gilchrist was running a border-watch operation with Minuteman co-founder Chris Simcox in April 2005, the two had a falling out. Simcox went on to form his own group. Last...

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today joined a cross section of New Yorkers on Ellis Island to announce the creation of an Immigration Coalition that will mount a public education campaign to the vital contributions immigrants make to our nation and to overturn recently enacted federal anti-immigrant legislation and policies. The Mayor was joined by members of the Coalition, which includes business leaders, educators, writers, artists and representatives of community and immigration organizations from virtually every ethnic community in America. Representing the Coalition at the press conference were Manuel Matos, executive director of the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Dennis...

SANTA ANA - A Superior Court judge on Thursday rejected Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist's request to be immediately returned sole control of the anti-illegal immigration group – a ruling that leaves the organization immobilized. Judge Randell Wilkinson also placed restrictions on the three directors tussling with Gilchrist, noting in his order that there were "serious issues concerning the credibility of the claims of both Jim Gilchrist and the defendants…" Gilchrist was ousted from the group in January by the vote of the three directors, who said they were concerned with sloppy accounting and possible fundraising improprieties. The three then...

SANTA ANA – An effort by Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist to regain full authority over his group today found a Superior Court judge encouraging the bickering sides to work out their differences. But Gilchrist of Aliso Viejo called the differences among the leaders of the anti-illegal immigration group "irreconcilable." Judge Randell Wilkinson is expected to rule within a week on whether control should be returned to Gilchrist until a full trial is held.[snip]... ...The three directors said they are still open to reaching an agreement with Gilchrist. But he made it clear such a deal wasn't going to happen,...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - It was a match made in activist heaven. Barbara Coe had toiled for more than a decade against illegal immigration, becoming the gritty grande dame of the movement. Just as progress was sputtering, along came Jim Gilchrist and his two-week Minuteman citizen border surveillance. [snip]....Today, the Gilchrist-Coe partnership lay in tatters. On the eve of congressional debate over legalizing those now in the country without documents - a proposal opposed by Gilchrist and Coe - the fiercest battle for the activists is among themselves.[snip] Internal conflicts began surfacing late last year. Gilchrist bounced a series of...

LOS ANGELES - 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 will likely 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-authored 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...

"..With 1,200 volunteers accepting Gilchrist's call and a handful of closely-picked advisors assisting the MPP, Gilchrist spearheaded the largest minuteman assembly since our Founding Fathers in 1776. But unbeknownst to Gilchrist, there were some foxes in the hen house. Three of the MMP's advisors, and Gilchrist's close friends, decided that Gilchrist had overstayed his welcome as MMP's president. Last week, Marvin Stewart, Barbara Coe, and Debra Courtney, a.k.a. Debra Peterson voted to remove Gilchrist from the post he has served since MMP came into existence and transfer authority of the MMP's bank accounts, email lists, Web site and letterhead to...

SANTA ANA - The Minuteman Project shot into the national spotlight shortly after it was formed two years ago, but now a bitter dispute over its leadership threatens to tear the anti-illegal immigration group apart. Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court last week after the group's board of directors fired him and his executive director over allegations of mismanagement and fraud. Gilchrist alleges in the lawsuit that the firings were illegal and that board members also illegally spent Minuteman money, seized its Web site and stole 20,000 pieces of letterhead.For their part, the board...

Jim Gilchrist, the Orange County accountant who gained national recognition as the co-founder of a citizen border patrol group, will ask a judge this afternoon to issue a restraining order in order to regain control of the Minuteman Project. Earlier this month, Gilchrist was removed by his board of directors, which accused the charismatic anti-illegal-immigrant figure of abusing his power. Minuteman Project officials said they will detail their allegations at a press conference later this afternoon. The rift, Gilchrist said, "could very well bring an end to the entire Minuteman Project. There are groups around the country with the name,...

A behind-the-scenes power struggle over control of the Minuteman Project spilled into an Orange County courtroom Monday with ousted co-founder Jim Gilchrist asking a judge to give him back control of the citizen border patrol group. Superior Court Judge Randell L. Wilkinson said he would issue a ruling within a few days. Gilchrist, 58, a national figure in the fight against illegal immigration, was removed as president of the Minuteman Project this month by its board of directors, which accused him of abusing his power and leaving more than $400,000 of the organization's money unaccounted for. Gilchrist, a retired accountant...

. Contact: Robert Vasquez, Media coordinator 208-989-4260 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MINUTEMAN PROJECT, Inc., CHANGES LEADERSHIP FEBRUARY 24, 2007 "The MINUTEMAN PROJECT, Inc.," (MMP) was a concept created to defend the sovereignty of the United States of America. The organization created sought to empower American citizens in the exercise of their constitutional rights to demand redress of grievances from the government's failure to enforce United States Immigration law. While "The MINUTEMAN PROJECT, Inc.," recognizes the efforts and contributions made by Mr. Jim Gilchrist at the inception of the organization, the MMP Board of Directors has determined that a change of leadership...

Eileen Garcia didn't plan to spend her retirement this way, but, nonetheless, she has become a thorn in the side of the city of Laguna Beach, which she contends is misusing taxpayers' money by running the controversial day labor center. The Laguna Beach resident, who is a well-known anti-illegal immigration activist and member of the controversial Minuteman Project group, recently agreed to an interview with Coastline Pilot Editor Tony Dodero to discuss what is driving her on this crusade and why she believes the press and some members of the public have painted an inaccurate picture of her and those...

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, under fire for a lack of financial accountability, spent nearly $450,000 last year for volunteers to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border -- about $31,000 more than it collected in donations and registration fees -- according to a report released yesterday.[snip]... [snip].... While the IRS papers document MCDC collections and expenditures through Dec. 31, a reported donation total of $418,493 is significantly less than the $1.6 million MCDC President Chris Simcox told The Washington Times in July that the group had collected in donations since its April 2005 creation. That figure was said to include $1 million...

Students stormed the stage at Columbia University's Roone auditorium yesterday, knocking over chairs and tables and attacking Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the border between America and Mexico.

Minutemen Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist spoke at Columbia University tonight. He tried to speak, that is. During his remarks, a mob of students stormed the stage and sabotaged the event. Every Columbia U. alum should be assailing the administration. Gilchrist is owed an apology. This is a disgrace. The staff of the Blue and White, a Columbia Univ. undergrad magazine liveblogged it at "The Bwog" and took photos. Here's one: A bit of their report: STUDENTS WITH A BIG YELLOW SIGN JUST CAME ONTO THE STAGE. The sign says, "There are no illegals." Students rise en masse from the audience...

On the evening of Wednesday, October 4th, join us in Roone Auditorium to see Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen Project. The Minutemen will speak on the threat posed by illegal immigration, the current state of our open border and what needs to be done to secure our nation. As one of the nation's largest and most important grassroots organizations, it is truly our honor to host this event. Again, that's October 4th in Roone Aldridge. Doors will open ~7:45

All, My NG unit redeployed a couple of days ago from spending the summer augmenting the US Customs and Border Patrol in Arizona. We covered 160 miles of border from Nogales to Lukeville.Let me tell you that the immigration problem is quite a bit more considerable than the media has portrayed. When I deployed to the border, I was fairly ambivalent to the whole issue. However, within the first few days of being down there, I saw that undocumented aliens (UDA) and drug runners are causing significant problems, everything from trampling well-worn foot paths (literally thousands of these paths) in...

Graf Receives Wide Support from National GOP (Tucson, AZ) Randy Graf, the Republican nominee to replace retiring US Congressman Jim Kolbe, was pleased to announce that the national Republican Party and its leaders have come together to support his campaign. After winning the Republican Primary for the Eighth Congressional District of Arizona on September 12, 2006, Randy flew out to Washington, D.C. the following day to meet with national party leaders who have pledged their support and promised to help Randy’s campaign collect the needed resources in order to win the general election on November 7, 2006. Among those who...

A Minuteman Boosts Border Overhaul Reform An Arizona win puts immigration back in playBy Angie C. Marek Posted Sunday, September 17, 2006 DAVID BUTOW-REDUX FOR USN&WR Randy Graf's supporters in Tucson on primary night TUCSON, ARIZ.-A few weeks ago, it was became suddenly clear that the Republican free-for-all primary in the southeastern corner of Arizona was anything but ordinary. Randy Graf--a former golf pro, state representative and cowboy-boots-clad founding member of the Minutemen border group--had vaulted into the lead with his focus on fixing what he called the "security crisis" at the border. Opponents attacked him as extreme, and...

Welcome to the Minuteman Project The Minuteman Project and "Operation Sovereignty" by Jim Gilchrist, Founder of The Minuteman Project and Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D.From all over the nation, volunteers of The Minutemen Project are loading up their lawn chairs and binoculars, preparing to head to Laredo, Texas to join us on the border for Operation Sovereignty. From 9/11 until the November Election Day, The Minutemen Project plans to bring to national attention the threat to our national sovereignty that this massive invasion of illegal immigrants represents. As co-authors of Minutemen: the Battle to Secure America's Borders, we have sought to...

Anti-Immigration Movement Newspapers Inflated Minuteman Numbers, Report Finds Minuteman co-founder Chris Simcox made big promises but didn't deliver much. A new study of media coverage shows that a large number of daily newspapers wildly exaggerated the number of volunteers who actually took part in the Minuteman Project, a vigilante "citizens border patrol" operation that took place in southeastern Arizona over the month of April 2005. The report, "Creating the Minutemen," is based on an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) analysis of 581 articles and editorials printed in major U.S. newspapers between January 2005 and February 2006. The ACLU has been...

Committee talks border securityBy Jonathan Clark Herald/Review SIERRA VISTA — Three members of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee peppered a panel of local and regional law enforcement officials with questions about border security and surveillance during an open hearing on Thursday. What they heard was that Southern Arizona remains a hotspot for smuggling activity, and that while the potential exists for terrorists to penetrate the nation’s porous southern border, there is little evidence that they are doing do. During his opening remarks, ranking committee member Rep. Rick Renzi, a Republican from Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, told the audience that human-...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - More than a year after their first stakeouts on the U.S.-Mexico border, Minuteman civilian patrol volunteers are divided and questions are being raised about whether their movement's influence is on the wane. The Minutemen leaped into the media spotlight in April 2005 when its force of housewives, office workers and veterans camped out in lawn chairs in southern Arizona to spot illegal immigrants crossing from Mexico. Sixteen months later, the founders of the movement have split acrimoniously, and questions swirl over how a breakaway group spent a reported $1.6 million in donations. Dubbed vigilantes by President Bush...

A Texas firm that manages hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps says it has not been authorized to divulge a detailed accounting of the funds, despite assurances by the MCDC's top official that it would do so. Maureen E. Otis -- president of American Caging Inc. in Stafford, Texas, an agency hired to collect, deposit and disburse donations to the civilian border-patrol group -- told The Washington Times that neither MCDC President Chris Simcox nor the group's board of directors had given her permission to "disclose any numbers." Mr. Simcox, who has been...

Border barrier moving forward 9 August 2006By Jonathan Clark Sierra Vista Herald/Review BISBEE — Plans by the Minuteman Civilian Defense Corps to build a border barrier on the Bisbee-area ranch of Richard Hodges are moving forward, with groundbreaking on the project likely to begin later this month, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. “We’re getting ready to survey, we’ve got bulldozers and materials ready to go, and we’ve got the camera company ready to test camera systems down there,” said Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair. “Everything is pressing forward.” The civilian anti-illegal-immigration group had initially hoped to break ground on the fence in...

August 03, 2006, 9:03 a.m. A Compromised Plan By The Editors Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, both Republicans, are making a last-ditch effort to bridge their party’s divide on immigration and pass a bill this year. We agree that the country, and the Republican party, would benefit if a sensible immigration plan were passed soon. The Pence-Hutchison plan isn’t one. The pro-amnesty Republicans have responded more favorably to the plan than the enforcement-first Republicans, and both sides are reading the plan correctly. Its central component is to allow illegal immigrants to continue...

Recently, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Inc. (MCDC), and our fiduciary accountability has been called into question in reports in the Washington Times newspaper. Its editors continue to misrepresent the facts and have purposely based their reports and editorials on information that is inaccurate. They continue in their attempt to hold us to a different and improperly applied fiduciary standard than any other non-profit in the country. Jerry Seper and Wes Pruden seem not to understand the first, most basic matters of non-profit accounting and regulatory obligation. Further, Pruden absurdly describes Seper’s reporting as “careful, rigorous” when Seper has not...

The first thing a Minuteman has to learn is to keep his powder dry. The bigger the powder magazine, the bigger the risk of getting it all wet. This is the lesson that Chris Simcox, the president of the volunteers on the border, who have almost single-handedly aroused the nation's conscience about the tide of illegal immigration, seems to have missed in basic training. The "powder" is the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Americans have contributed to the Minutemen, who have been exceedingly helpful to the U.S. Border Patrol. The careful, rigorous reporting of Jerry Seper in The Washington...

Press Releases :: July 26, 2006 Will Adams, 202.226.6997 Tancredo Introduces Bill to Halt Illegal Alien Voting WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Chairman of the 104-Member House Immigration Reform Caucus, introduced a bill that would penalize states which refuse to require proof of U.S. citizenship for voting. Under the Voter Integrity Protection Act (VIP Act), states would need to see a valid photo ID proving U.S. Citizenship for voting or those states would have their federal highway funding cut by as much as 40 percent. “In some parts of our country, all residents are granted a de facto...

Pence-Hutchison “Compromise” Induces Illegal Aliens to Leave By Letting Them All Stay Plan Compromises the Security of the Middle Class by Putting Business in Charge of Immigration Policy Washington, DC—In a desperate effort to “get something done” on immigration before the end of the congressional session, two normally sober members of Congress have hatched a plan that is vague on details when it comes to securing America’s borders and protecting American workers, while containing specific promises to millions of illegal aliens. The plan offered by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) would require that the...

Compromise would allow unlimited immigrants By Charles Hurt THE WASHINGTON TIMES July 26, 2006 The latest proposal in Congress for a "guest"-worker program would allow unlimited immigration of eligible workers during the first three years and allow them and their families to remain here indefinitely. Offered by two Republicans, the plan is criticized by proponents of stricter immigration laws. They say the program would tilt the nation's immigration system toward millions of uneducated, unskilled workers. [...Snip] Detractors are skeptical that President Bush would provide an honest assessment of border security and questioned the commitment of Mr. Pence and Mrs. Hutchison...

Hutchison-Pence Immigration Proposal is Discriminatory Amnesty 7/26/2006 7:11:00 PM Contact: Caroline Espinosa of NumbersUSA, 202-543-1341, Caroline@NumbersUSA.com WASHINGTON, July 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- NumbersUSA today condemned the Hutchison-Pence plan for amnesty based on national origin, virtually unlimited foreign workers, and a path to citizenship for those who have broken our laws. "The Hutchison-Pence proposal caters primarily to the big business and cheap-labor lobbies as it would allow importing unlimited workers under indentured servitude-like conditions," said NumbersUSA Executive Director Roy Beck. "This bill should be called the 'Chamber of Commerce Bill' since its members and cheap-labor allies are the real beneficiaries of...

Gilchrist is on with Mark right now and Davis is taking him to task for his defense of Corsi's NAU theories. "Kook nonsense" is what Davis called it, and Gilchrist backed off, saying he would take Mark's words under advisement. Now, Gilchrist is saying that he split with Simcox because he did not want to use the same consultants Simcox was using, but refused to tell Davis why. He said there is a lack of accountability in Simcox's organization and many are there to see how much money they can earn. "Country before mood swings" is what Gilchrist said.

Things don't look good down at the southern border where the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps has supposedly been using gobs of citizen donations to build a fence to keep out illegal aliens. The Washington Times, which has supported the project (as have I), editorializes today: As supporters of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, we were disheartened to read Jerry Seper's front-page article Thursday about questions and criticisms of President Chris Simcox's management of the organization. According to the article, the volunteer group has not made any financial statements or fundraising records public since April 2005 -- circumstances that have strained...

As supporters of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, we were disheartened to read Jerry Seper's front-page article Thursday about questions and criticisms of President Chris Simcox's management of the organization. According to the article, the volunteer group has not made any financial statements or fundraising records public since April 2005 -- circumstances that have strained relations between Mr. Simcox and several of his top employees, some of whom have resigned in protest. Mr. Simcox must resolve these problems quickly. Failure to do so would only encourage the organization's critics -- who have made no secret of their desire to see...

PALOMINAS — Back in the 1970s, it was a major event when a Mexican cow would wander on to Jack and John Ladd’s borderfront ranch in Palominas. But after tightened border security in San Diego and El Paso began to funnel illegal immigration though Arizona in the early 1990s, holes began to appear more regularly along the 10 miles of barbed-wire fence separating the ranch from Mexico. The holes, cut by individual migrants or blasted out by fence-crashing vehicles, also created an easy passageway for cattle. So, in an effort to keep Mexican cows out and their own cows in,...

Minutemen put trust in their finance firms By Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES July 21, 2006 The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps' top leaders signed a letter yesterday saying they have "complete confidence in the professional firms" hired by MCDC President Chris Simcox to oversee the organization's finances, citing criticism from within and outside the group as "utterly without merit." The letter, posted on the Minuteman Web page (www.minutemanhq.com) applauded Mr. Simcox's decision to employ "accredited and experienced professionals to assist the organization in management of our finances." "There are those both within the border security movement and actively opposed to...

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps' top leaders signed a letter yesterday saying they have "complete confidence in the professional firms" hired by MCDC President Chris Simcox to oversee the organization's finances, citing criticism from within and outside the group as "utterly without merit."     The letter, posted on the Minuteman Web page (www.minutemanhq.com) applauded Mr. Simcox's decision to employ "accredited and experienced professionals to assist the organization in management of our finances."     "There are those both within the border security movement and actively opposed to it who, for ideological reasons or in advancement of personal ambition, wish the Minuteman Civil Defense...

WASHINGTON, July 20 (AP) — The leadership of a civilian border patrol group is facing questions about how it has spent donations collected over the past 15 months. Some members of the group, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, say they have no idea how much money has been collected since the group was created in April 2005. They are also questioning what the money has been spent on and why it has been funneled through a charity based in Northern Virginia and headed by Alan Keyes, the conservative commentator. The members say money promised for supplies like food, fuel, radios,...