Chairman’s Message: A3P Leadership Lobbies 2012 Presidential Candidates
The A3P leadership has begun contacting and meeting with 2012 presidential candidates for the purpose of urging them to support the policies and issues important to us all.
We sent the following emails to the campaign staff of Hon. Newt Gingrich, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Gov. Sarah Palin, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty:
Dear Chief of Staff,
We represent the anti-multiculturalist segment of the Tea Party movement. We are large, well-organized, and politically active. Counted among our leaders are the original organizers of the first tea parties for the Ron Paul campaign and the organizers of two of the largest meetup groups for that effort.
We are meeting with candidates and staff of candidates to determine who we are going to support for the upcoming 2012 presidential campaign. We invite you to contact us to arrange a meeting in Los Angeles to discuss the issues.
Please contact us at your earliest convenience. We look forward to talking with you about your campaign.
Sincerely,
William Johnson
Chairman A3P
Our first lobbying effort was with former Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico who is running for president as a Republican. The meeting took place on Friday, October 22nd, in Los Angeles. In attendance at that meeting were Governor Johnson, Mary Patton, his press secretary, and one campaign aid. There were seven people representing the views of the A3P including myself, my wife Lois, Director Kevin MacDonald, as well as one of the first organizers of the tea party movement, and finally, a senior citizen of high renown and visibility.
The ten of us had lunch together in a hotel conference room. The meeting was cordial. The governor was affable, loquacious, and open, and we all felt free to speak our minds on the current issues of the day. The governor manifested a strong libertarian bent to his beliefs. Moreover, he expressed a desire to cut government spending by 50 percent or more — spread across all government and military programs.
One key area where there existed a sharp difference of opinion was immigration. Gov. Johnson expressed a strong affinity for immigration, amnesty for illegal aliens, and even open borders.
As you can imagine, our group lobbied with sound and fury against those positions. Governor Johnson took the position that all illegal aliens should be given a chance to become documented and legal. They should be able to pay a fee and back taxes and gain admission. After the governor expressed this opinion, one of the A3P members stated: “citizenship in the U.S. should be more than just a Walmart card. A nation is a group of people unified by race, heritage, language, and culture. With all due respect, Governor, your approach will irreparably harm this country.”
The governor politely disagreed and stated that all the studies and reports show that illegal immigrants contribute more to this country than what they take away in benefits.
Our group about burst a collective blood vessel on that one as we vigorously took exception. The governor stood by his statement, so Lois Johnson stated: “Governor, I don’t care what the economics are. My country is not for sale. I look at what has happened to us from the perspective of a mother raising five children. We have no community anymore. I don’t know my neighbors. My children in school study every culture except their own. And when they do study our culture, principles of multiculturalism demand that we are presented in a bad light. My small children have come home from school in tears saying ‘Mommy, I hate being white. Why were we so mean to the Indians and the blacks?’ Governor, in reality, we can’t even speak with so many of those we come in contact with. They don’t speak English.”
The governor’s response was unsympathetic. He said that his parents immigrated to the United States from Russia and they couldn’t speak English, but he assimilated. Lois’s response was in essence that his ancestors were European and as a result he could become a part of the culture without tearing it apart.
At the start of our meeting, I told the governor that the American Third Position was planning on hosting a series of discussions on the issues, particularly immigration and we would like him to participate to present his views. The first time we invited the governor, he said, “I would love to.” Later in the conversation, when I asked again, the governor responded: “I will have to check with my staff and get back to you.” A week after the meeting, the governor’s chief of staff called me and said that the governor would not appear on our forums but that his campaign would still accept our contributions, if we wanted to make any.
All in all, it was a successful meeting. We were able to present these most important positions to a viable presidential candidate. (And we hope to do so with other candidates in the future.) It is most important for us to air our just and proper views with those in authority because in the end, the power of persuasion is on our side.
All of you, please keep up the good work.
Regards,
Bill Johnson
Chairman A3P
Category: American Voice
The A3P is well on its way to being a political force to be reckoned with. With the changing mood of the people and these uncertain times, anything is possible.
Governor Johnson will be speaking at a Tea Party meeting on November 4th in Timonium, MD.
Outstanding