Steve King

The Delicate Dance Of Disassociating Oneself From 'White Nationalist' Groups At CPAC

Ryan J. Reilly | February 11, 2012, 8:45AM

Steve King speaks during a CPAC panel on "The Failure of Multiculturalism."

Although much of the attention is on the main stage at each year's Conservative Political Action Conference, it's the side events where the real kookiness occurs. These events can give CPAC organizers and attendees a headache as they try to walk the line between accepting certain groups under the umbrella of the conservative movement, but also trying to make it clear they don't want to associate themselves with some of those groups' more questionable qualities.

Take for instance a session on the dangers of multiculturalism, that included participants from the website VDARE, which has been labeled as a white nationalist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Rep. Steve King was one of those who had to walk the fine line. When questioned about the Southern Poverty Law Center's description of his fellow panelists he first reacted by going on the offensive. "I wouldn't be sitting up on a panel with anyone from the Southern Poverty Law Center," King told reporters. "I'm not in a position to judge people in the fashion they seem to be so free to do."

However, King then danced a delicate series of mental pirouettes. He explained his respect for VDARE's top dog, Peter Brimelow, while holding back from a full-on embrace. Brimelow, he said, was not someone he'd met before the panel, though he had read his books.

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Schaeffer Cox

Judge Won't Toss Weapons Evidence In Schaeffer Cox Case

Jillian Rayfield | February 10, 2012, 5:14PM

Second Amendment Task Force organizer Schaeffer Cox prepares to address fellow gun rights supporters on Thursday, March 5, 2009, at Friends Community Church.

A federal judge will not grant a motion by Schaeffer Cox and other alleged members of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia to throw out evidence obtained from multiple searches, which turned up weapons that are key to the prosecution's case.

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Sovereign Citizens

British Man Using 'Sovereign Citizen' Tactics To Get Out Of Weapons Smuggling Charges

Jillian Rayfield | February 10, 2012, 1:30PM

A British man, who owned a company that sold weapons to the U.S. Department of Defense, is attempting to stall his extradition to America to face weapons smuggling charges by filing hundreds of pages of paperwork containing statements like "I deny that I am a person," and other language consistent with members of the sovereign citizen movement.

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Hutaree

The Conspiracy Videos In The Hutaree's Library

Ryan J. Reilly | February 10, 2012, 6:03AM

Nearly two years after a group of Christian anti-government Hutaree militia members were arrested in Michigan for allegedly plotting an attack on police, new details are emerging in the run-up to their trial.

Defense lawyers revealed that the government's confidential informant in the case was arrested after shooting a gun off seven feet from his wife, stabbed himself with a hunting knife while out on probation and had his wife falsely imprisoned over the incident.

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Oregon

Oregon Senator Stung By Suit Over Combat Camp Cash

Nick R. Martin | February 10, 2012, 5:59AM

Oregon State Senator Brian Boquist / ICI Wyoming

Oregon state Sen. Brian Boquist will charge you big bucks to learn how to dodge a rocket propelled grenade.

But it's what his former business partners say he's doing with the cash that's causing the Republican some problems.

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Mississippi

Mississippi Rep. Wants The Gulf Of Mexico Renamed The 'Gulf Of America' (UPDATED)

Jillian Rayfield | February 9, 2012, 11:10AM

Updated, February 9, 9:16PM

Mississippi State Rep. Steve Holland said later on Thursday his bill was meant as satire, to mock tough anti-immigration bills introduced by his fellow legislators.

The original piece follows:

A lawmaker in Mississippi is pushing to change the name of "the body of water located directly south" of the state, the Gulf of Mexico, to the "Gulf of America."

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FAA

The Drone Next Door: New FAA Rules Will Increase UAVs In National Airspace

Jillian Rayfield | February 9, 2012, 6:15AM

A new set of laws will require the FAA to ease up on the rules governing domestic drone use -- and to find a way to integrate them into national airspace alongside regular aircraft.

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Utah

Utah Newest Front In GOP Battle Against Unions

Nick R. Martin | February 9, 2012, 6:07AM

The Utah State House of Representatives, January 2012

Republicans in Utah have opened up the next front in a battle against public unions being waged in statehouses throughout the nation.

A bill introduced last week in the Utah legislature would ban government employees from collectively bargaining on any issue except for wages and health benefits. The proposal would bar unions from having a say in things like training, equipment and disciplinary procedures.

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Islam

Report Finds Radical American Muslims Are Not Such A Big Threat

Jillian Rayfield | February 8, 2012, 4:42PM

In 2011 there was a "relatively low level of radicalization among Muslim-Americans" and that number has been continuously decreasing over the last couple of years, according to a report by a professor at the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security.

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Alaska

Wasilla Councilman Recalled After He Drunkenly Trashed Hotel Room

Jillian Rayfield | February 8, 2012, 12:14PM

Members of an Alaska Tea Party group successfully pushed for a recall of Wasilla City Councilman Steve Menard, after he admitted to drunkenly trashing a hotel room he was staying in during a trip on city business.

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Sue Myrick

Sue Myrick Retires: So Long, And Thanks For All The Muslim-Baiting

Eric Kleefeld | February 8, 2012, 12:07PM

Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) announced on Tuesday that after 18 years in Congress she will retire.

With a safe Republican seat in Congress, it really does seem plausible that this was simply a retirement based on a desire to move on in life, after such a lengthy time of service.

But in the process, Myrick leaves behind a lengthy record -- of some amazing comments about alleged Muslim infiltration of the United States. So before we lose the chance, let's relive the memories.

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Ted Stevens

Judge Demands Report On Prosecutorial Misconduct In Ted Stevens Case Be Made Public

Ryan J. Reilly | February 8, 2012, 10:20AM

Former Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)

A federal judge in D.C. ruled Wednesday that an unredacted copy of an independent report on prosecutorial misconduct during the federal investigation of the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) has to be made public by March 15.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said the report written by Henry F. Schuelke "chronicles significant prosecutorial misconduct in a highly publicized investigation and prosecution brought by the Public Integrity Section against an incumbent United States Senator."

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Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Hasn't Delivered On Cash He Promised Fellow Border Hawks

Nick R. Martin | February 8, 2012, 6:21AM

When Sheriff Joe Arpaio launched his own federal political action committee last year, he vowed to move beyond his role as just a national leader for immigration hardliners. He wanted to become one of their more serious sources of campaign cash.

But months after announcing the creation of Joe PAC, the Arizona sheriff's desire to become a major financial backer for the movement is far from reality. Instead, it has been consumed by his own bid for reelection.

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Proposition 8

Proposition 8: What Happens Next?

Jillian Rayfield | February 8, 2012, 6:18AM

Now that a Ninth Circuit panel has ruled that California's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, it seems inevitable that the ruling on Proposition 8 will eventually be appealed to the Supreme Court. But whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear it is another story.

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Paul Clement

Why South Carolina's Voter ID Suit Could Be Bound For The Supreme Court

Ryan J. Reilly | February 8, 2012, 6:05AM

Paul Clement is the former Solicitor General of the United States and the guy conservatives go to when there's a Supreme Court case on the line.

So it's not surprising that it was Clement's signature that ended up on the complaint filed on behalf of the state of South Carolina this week, in a suit against Attorney General Eric Holder over DOJ's decision to block the state's voter ID law because of the disparate impact the state's numbers show it will have on minority voters.

It's a suit that supporters hope will not only enshrine South Carolina's voter ID requirement as the unquestioned law of the state, but that will also do away with federal restrictions placed on states like South Carolina because of their clear history of racial discrimination.

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Proposition 8

Ninth Circuit Rules Prop 8 Is Unconstitutional

Jillian Rayfield | February 7, 2012, 12:59PM

Gay rights activists celebrate following a federal court's overturning of Prop 8, California's same-sex marriage law.

A federal appeals court in California has upheld a lower court's ruling that Proposition 8, the state's ban on gay marriage, is unconstitutional, writing that the law "serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples."

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Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Agrees To Cooperate On Discrimination Probe

Ryan J. Reilly | February 7, 2012, 9:55AM

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Updated Feb. 7 2:20PM

After claiming the allegations of civil rights violations by his Maricopa County Sheriff's Office were part of President Barack Obama's reelection bid, Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office said in a statement Monday that they had agreed to work together with the Justice Department to "develop a document that addresses any agreed upon improvements needed."

Both Arpaio and DOJ are "committed to avoiding unnecessary and expensive litigation by the creation of an enforceable agreement which will lead to sustainable reforms and positive results for all citizens of Maricopa County," according to a statement from the Sheriff's office.

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Southern Republican Leadership Conference

Did Major GOP Group Skip Out On $200K Hotel Bill?

Jillian Rayfield | February 7, 2012, 5:54AM

The organizers of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference are being sued by a South Carolina hotel for allegedly skipping out on a $200,000 tab. An attorney for the conference says the charges are "spurious, and not very well thought out."

The Charleston Place hotel in SC filed suit in the Charleston County Court of Common Pleas last week, claiming that the SRLC has an outstanding balance of $227,872 for the conference they held this year from January 19-22.

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Jack Abramoff

Jacked! Reform Movement Splits On How To Handle Abramoff

Ryan J. Reilly | February 7, 2012, 5:51AM

Jack Abramoff speaks before Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group, in Washington, DC on February 6, 2012.

If one thing was clear at a Monday event held by the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen, it's that good government types are split into two camps on the subject of Jack Abramoff. There are those who think his perspective as the world's most notorious lobbyist give him valuable ideas on how to fix the system, and there are those who think he's - frankly - full of it.

Six cameras, about as many photographers and rows of reporters packed into a room at Public Citizen lined with historic photos of founder Ralph Nader (a connection Abramoff found ironic, given how he'd opposed Nader's work during his career) for a chat between President Rob Weissman and Abramoff.

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House Ethics Committee

Office Of Congressional Ethics Found Vern Buchanan Failed To Disclose 17 Corporate Positions

Ryan J. Reilly | February 6, 2012, 3:56PM

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) failed to disclose income on his disclosure forms and didn't report 17 positions he held at various companies and organizations from 2007 through 2010, according to an Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) report released Monday.

The report was issued to the House Ethics Committee on Nov. 8 but disclosed publicly on Monday. The House Ethics Committee said in a statement that it had decided to "gather additional information necessary to complete its review."

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Pete Hoekstra

Civil Rights Commissioner Calls Hoekstra Super Bowl Ad 'Blatantly Racist'

Ryan J. Reilly | February 6, 2012, 12:40PM

A member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has written a letter to Rep. Pete Hoekstra asking him to stop airing an ad featuring an Asian American actress pretending to speak broken English.

"I urge you to stop airing this offensive ad immediately and to reconfigure your website to remove the smear of ignorance and bigotry that permeates every page," Commissioner Michael Yaki wrote in a letter sent to Hoekstra on Monday morning.

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ACLU

ACLU Wants Info On Drone Strikes Against U.S. Citizens

Jillian Rayfield | February 6, 2012, 11:52AM

The ACLU is suing the federal government for the release of records related to the program of using unmanned drones for "targeted killing" of U.S. citizens overseas.

On Wednesday, the ACLU filed in U.S. District Court in New York to force the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, and the CIA to release records on overseas drone use, in compliance with a Freedom of Information Act request.

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