MeckGOP Scrubs Voter Guide Of Candidate Linked To White Supremacists
The Mecklenburg Republican Party found itself in an awkward position last month, when it had to revise its official 2012 Voter Guide that included a candidate who had posted upwards of 4,000 messages on a white supremacist website.
Thousands of the MeckGOP Voter Guides that were printed and distributed originally listed Doug Hanks as the party’s recommended candidate for soil and water conservation supervisor. Hanks made headlines seven years ago when his bid for a city council seat was derailed after his racist writings made a media splash and drew national attention and scorn. The postings ascribed to Hanks denigrated Jews, blacks and non-whites, while advocating for the creation of ethnically cleansed political enclaves.
“I have gone from being simply proud of my heritage (racialist), to realizing it is okay to dislike others who are not of my own race, be it because they are inferior, or attempting to subjugate my own race to attempt worldwide economy,” Hanks wrote. “So now I am not only a racialist, but also a full blown racist who believes in White Separatism.”
After his writings became public, Hanks claimed his views were being misrepresented by the media and that his postings on the white supremacist website Stormfront were part of research he was conducting for a book. Hanks ended up withdrawing from the city council race and ranking GOP officials at that time roundly condemned his candidacy.
Hanks is back on the ballot this year, running against Jennifer Krupowicz Frost, the incumbent vice chairman of the Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors.
So how did Hanks end up on the MeckGOP Voter Guide? Multiple calls to Chairman Gideon Moore for an explanation were not returned, but a party insider offered that it was due to an “accidental lack of vetting” and that the oversight had been corrected, with Hanks’ name scrubbed from a revised version of the voter guide, while the party had disavowed any connection to the candidate.
Hanks might have slipped by party officials, but his candidacy didn’t escape notice from Gray Newman, the current chairman of the Mecklenburg Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors. Newman confronted Hanks during a tense exchange at a recent meeting of the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum.
“You’ve made some statements in the past that are very troubling,” Newman said, and proceeded to give a few examples that included this one from Hanks: “When blacks start acting equally, only then will they enjoy the benefits of being treated equally. I treat a rabid dog differently than a healthy one. In fact, this gives me a terrific idea. Let’s treat all blacks like the rabid beasts they are and yell at them, ‘here, boy.’”
“Would you care to comment on those (statements)?” Newman asked.
“I sure would,” Hanks replied. “This came up seven years ago and I addressed it then. I went on the John Hancock Show and explained what was going on. I’m an author and I’m an actor … I made a mistake. I admit that and I explained that before.”
But Hanks had some more explaining to do when he was pressed during the same meeting by Wayne Powers, a Republican running for at-large county commissioner.
“I think in perspective we have to talk about the thousands of postings on white supremacist websites, sir, thousands,” Powers rebuked Hanks. “What does that say about your judgment? In doing research you then became an activist spreading hate, rather than just reviewing it and reporting on it.”
Hanks replied: “When I was researching the book, obviously dealing with White Nationalists you have to garner support. You can’t do that by coming in and making a few random posts.”
Hanks wrote a book called “Patriot Act,” which according to its synopsis “foretells of a future where a Zionist-controlled government eliminates all freedom and individual thought; where patriotism is akin to terrorism, and being proud of one’s heritage is criminal.” Hanks also wrote “The Workbench AR15 Project,” which details the “processes necessary to finish an 80% complete AR15 casting or forging into a complete rifle that requires no Government paperwork.”
“Yes, it continued for a short while after the book was done,” Hanks said of his postings on white supremacist websites. “Again, when the book is cut off you can’t just stop. Since then, I have not been on that (Stormfront) site in many years. I have not been on other sites in many years.”
Yet the website for the Crescent Ridge Dawn Redwoods Preserve, a reforestation project Hanks says he created and has touted during his campaign, is listed under the “about me” section of a YouTube page for dahanks1:
Below are screenshots (NSFW) of comments where ‘dahanks1’ holds forth on everything from Big Brother, race relations, and the death of Freddie Mercury, to guns and Hanks’ acting career:
Several ‘dahanks1’ comments respond to videos about the white-power rock band, Max Resist:
David Lane, it should be noted, was a leader of the White Nationalist movement who coined the slogan “14 Words” to describe his views: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children.”
Meanwhile, and in that vein, ‘dahanks1’ provides feedback on a recent “Arizona Stormfront Family Nights” event:
Not exactly banner campaign material for somebody originally listed in the MeckGOP Voter Guide as the preferred candidate for Mecklenburg Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor.
Here’s candidate Hanks at the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum; the video freezes at the beginning, but the dialogue with Newman and Powers goes live near the 02:24 mark ~
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