John Elway may have given $1000 dollars to Congressman Tom Tancredo last year, but that’s nothing compared to the attention one of his donors has been getting.
Since 2000, Tancredo has received money from one individual-one individual who is now being criticized by watchdog groups for his connections with white supremacists.According to Federal Election Commission records, a man named John Tanton from Petoskey, MI, has given the Colorado representative a total of $3,000, with the most recent donation being from December of 2005.
Recently, Tanton was the subject of a study put forth by the Center for New Community, a civil rights group based in Chicago. The report found that one of Tanton’s outlets, the Social Contract Press, was being edited by Wayne Lutton, who the Center claims is an “ardent white nationalist.”
Tanton is the publisher of the Social Contract Press, and according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, another watchdog group, he is the “puppeteer” behind numerous immigration groups throughout the country-some of which the Law Center considers to be hate groups.
In a leaked 1986 memo Tanton made statements that were criticized as being racist. One example is Tanton’s words regarding white power and identity:
Another Tanton corporation, U.S Inc, was also found to have given $48,000 dollars to the group Defend Colorado Now since 2005, which is a significant amount of the total given in the past two years.
7/18/06 UPDATE: Companion story here >> Another Tancredo Donor Linked To White Power — ed.
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