Tony Perkis' Hate Group Ties Become Issue in Congressional Primary Campaign

For a number of years Tony Perkins, the head of designated hate group, Family Research Council, has been living well disseminate lies and disinformation and fomenting hatred and bigotry.   Now, as Perkins tries to potentially run for Congress, this saga of hate and bigotry has become an issue - as has Perkins' past cozy relationship with David Duke and the KKK.   Obviously, it would be a sweet irony if Perkins' trafficking lies and hatred came back to bite him in the ass big time.  Right Wing Watch looks at developments playing out in Mississippi.  Here are details:

State Sen. Dan Claitor, a Baton Rouge Republican, threw his name into the race for Louisiana’s 6^th Congressional district this week. That’s the same district that Tony Perkins has been openly coveting. Perkins, of course, is head of the Family Research Council, an anti-gay hate group.

It wasn’t by coincidence, then, that Claitor expressed concern about another potential candidate who has “questionable associations with certain hate groups.” As Lauren McGaughy reported in the Times-Picayune, Claitor also likened Perkins to former Louisiana state legislator and KKK Imperial Wizard David Duke and cautioned that he doesn’t want the state to “become the focus of the national media because we have extremists running for a particular office.”

The reference to Duke is an interesting one. Perkins, to be sure, is no David Duke. But he did purchase Duke’s supporter list in 1996 and then tried unsuccessfully to cover it up. He was later fined by the Federal Elections Commission.

Then in 2001, Perkins was photographed addressing a gathering of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens. The group, a direct descendant of the segregationist White Citizens Councils of the 1950s and 1960s, has called African Americans a “retrograde species of humanity.” Perkins, who later denied knowledge of the group’s racist views, spoke in front of a Confederate flag (seen here [above], courtesy of Right Wing Watch):
As we’ve detailed, Perkins and the FRC are viciously anti-gay and falsely link pedophilia and homosexuality to portray gays as sexual predators.

Perkins spends most of his time in D.C., but he has worked to create the impression that he still lives in Baton Rouge.
It’s encouraging that Perkins’ record of extremism is drawing scrutiny even before he enters the race. He’s going to find, if he hasn’t already, that attacking gays is no longer a form of career advancement.

Racism and homophobia are both alive and well in Mississippi, but one can only hope that Perkins' trail of lies, hate and bigotry proves to much for even Mississippi.