For Congressman Tom Tancredo “It’s About the Money”
Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado, a failed Republican presidential candidate and zealous sponsor of the Border Fence, was in Brownsville giving a sanctimonious deaf ear to local leaders. The self proclaimed patriot has had an interesting past. While still in college during the Vietnam War, Mr. Tancredo was an vocal and fervent supporter of the War but when it came time for his physical prior to induction for military service he claimed “depression” which barred him from military service. Apart from being the poster boy for anti-immigration paranoia, his career has been noted for many odd behaviors including surrounding himself with men dressed in Confederate uniforms and holding a picture of Robert E. Lee, while decrying the evil of immigration ( a very strange behavior for a man whose grandparents were Italian immigrants). In 2006 his scheduled speech before the Miami Rotary Club was cancelled because he proclaimed Miami was a city taken over by “thugs and separatists” and said there was no difference between Miami and Havana. He stated that Miami was a “third world country”.Many noted Republican leaders such as President Bush and former Representative Tom Delay have rebuked him in public and made him persona non grata. He was a “Catholic” until he proclaimed the Pope was not showing sufficient anti-Muslim sentiment and further stated that the Catholic Church wants illegal immigration in order to increase their membership roles after which he became a protestant evangelist.
A review of his most recent financial campaign reports indicates that he raised almost 2 million dollars in the last election cycle. According to records from Federal Election Commission and other watch groups, Mr. Tancredo has raised over 7 million dollars with his hate messages. Interestingly about 90% of his campaign contributions come from single issue voters of which about 50% are from Colorado and 50% out of state. So from a financial point of view, it is clear that he uses this zealous anti-immigration rhetoric as his meal ticket for without it he would have no funding.
An interview he gave to M.E. Sprenglemeyer of the Rocky Mountain News on June 24, 2007 is very revealing of his true motivations. When asked why he was running he answered:”here’s one reason: because we will not be able to get any money to stay in the race for any length of time if that’s the case. You know, you do have to have some money to make this thing work. Certainly, the immigration issue has helped out. In the last week, it would be actually, not this last week but the week before, we raised over $200,000 in one week, and much of it of course was as a result of what was happening in the Senate with that immigration bill. So… And that all can happen because people are mad and they see you as the champion. And who knows, maybe even if you’re still polling at this level, they still see you as the champion, the person that’s gonna make that issue all the way through, and you can continue to do it. I don’t know. Certainly, if you don’t have the money we can’t even make the plane ticket, the plane fare to Dubuque.”
The Congressman gave an interview with The Right Wing News to John Hawkins in which he said about South Texas:” There are places right now in East LA & Southern Texas that you would not honestly — there is absolutely nothing that you would say makes them part of the United States of America. They are a separate country — it is (like a) separate country — right now, at this moment.”
A political con-man using anti-immigration sentiment as a ticket for political gain. The Congressman should have visited the Vietnam Memorial in McAllen on his last visit to the Valley.Why am I not surprised?
We tried to contact Mr. Tancredo but were told at his Washington office that his press secretary was off in Colorado.