Chronology of 1988 Bush Campaign Controversy
by Chip Berlet
PART 2 – The Bush Counterattack
9/15/88–With the resignations out of the way, the Bush
counterattack begins. Bush spokesperson Mark Goodin denounces
Bush’s political enemies for disseminating “reckless allegations”
Although he claims the Bush campaign has not seen the Bellant
report, Goodin says “The campaign has been unable to substantiate
any of the allegations…They are some of the most reckless
allegations levelled against anybody… .This has the
unmistakable stink of Boston Harbor.” Bush campaign supporters
begin to refer to the charges as “Sasso-like attacks,” and tell
reporters the Bellant report is part of a Dukakis dirty-tricks
effort. In fact, Political Research Associates has no ties to the
Dukakis campaign and had moved to Cambridge from Chicago the
previous summer, but the smear sticks. Most major media drop the
story.
9/15/88–For those newspapers still covering the story, the
Bush campaign’s statements start to unravel. reports that Florian Galdau says he
had never been asked to
resign and had no intention of doing so. According to the
newspaper, Galdau “said he had never signed a statement issued by
the Bush campaign in his name and that of four others whose
resignations the campaign announced.” Says Galdau, “I did not
resign. Why should I resign? I don’t want to resign. I was
appointed [to the Bush committee]…and I don’t think they have
the right to ask me to resign.”
Galdau’s son, Florin: “[The Bush campaign] called my father
[on Sept. 12] and denied they had any information whatsoever on
any of the allegations made [against] him. Neither [the caller]
or anyone else in the Bush campaign asked my father to
resign–and he did not resign…If they ask him to resign, he
will tell them to go to hell.”
Meanwhile on a Cable Network News program Jerome Brentar
insists he never resigned from the Bush ethnic panel; and he
denies that the Nazis deliberately gassed Jews during the
Holocaust.
Bush spokesperson David Sandor quickly responds: “This is
obviously in conflict with what we have said. We stand by what we
have said… .We didn’t force them to resign… .George Bush
is their friend. They will continue to support him. They stand by
their statement.”
9/16/88–Jerome A. Brentar tells the he is “definitely still in the
campaign, still in the
coalition… .I was asked to step down. I told them that I’ll
step down if they send me a letter outlining why I have to step
down, what I did wrong to earn this degradation… .Until I get
such a letter, I feel I’m still part of the Coalition.”
The Bush campaign finally takes its only stand relating to
the actual issues involved, and issues the following statement:
“Jerome Brentar and this campaign disagreed… .We were at
fundamental odds over some very important beliefs in this
campaign toward racial and religious tolerance, and he was asked
to step down… .as far as we’re concerned he’s no longer part
of this campaign.”
9/18/88– reporter David Lee Preston
reports that since 1969, several dozen alleged Nazis, fascists
and anti-Semites have held leadership posts in the Heritage
Groups Council. He quotes Allan A. Ryan, Jr. (now with the legal
office of Harvard University but formerly director of the Justice
Department’s OSI war criminal probe) as saying he had read
Bellant’s report and found it to be “well documented and
reliable.”
Preston also reports that in 1972 a convicted Nazi war
criminal Boleslavs Maikovskis of Minneola, N.Y. served on the
advisory board of the Latvian-American section of the
Republican’s Heritage Council for the Re-Election of the
President.
9/22/88–In the Republican
National Committee’s Kathryn Murray admits she has not read the
evidence contained in the Bellant report, but claims the report
is “filled with ridiculous charges” and “insults all ethnic
Americans.” Murray says the RNC has no intention of examining
evidence of the extremist background presented against anyone in
the report. The paper, however, reports ADL has evidence backing
charges against four of the persons resigning from Bush campaign.
The quotes Albert Maruggi, RNC
press secretary, saying there were no plans to investigate the
backgrounds of any of the ethnic group members cited in the
Bellant report. Incredibly, four of the Bush ethnic panel members
who resigned, Guarino, Slavoff, Galdau, and Pasztor, are still
active in the RNC’s Heritage Group’s Council.
9/27/88–The carries an Alan Dershowitz
column where Dershowitz reveals he has independent knowledge of
some of Bellant’s charges. “I first heard about the presence of
Nazis in the hierarchy of the Republican Party as far back as
1970” In the course of working on the New York governor’s race,
Dershowitz says he “learned that several members of a Republican
`Captive Nations Committee’ were Nazi sympathizers who had been
personally involved in the Holocaust in Europe, as well as with
racist and neo-Nazi groups in America.”
9/27/88– columnist Pete Hamill in a column
titled “George Bush and his fascist fan club” quotes Menachem
Rosensaft, president of the Labor Zionist Alliance and leader of
the International Network of Children of the Holocaust:
“He accepted their resignations. And he said he was against
anti-Semitism. But when they were gone, an aide said the charges
against these men were `unsubstantiated and politically
motivated.’ Clearly Bush wanted them out once they were exposed,
but he still wants the votes of their constituency.”
9/29/88–Ron Kauffman, Northeast political director for the
Bush Campaign tells the newspaper the Bellant
report is “totally outrageous.” Mark Goodin, Bush Campaign
spokesman, denounces Bellant’s report and says people who
voluntary resigned from campaign “vigorously defended” themselves
against the charges. “We were not able to substantiate any of the
allegations…These individuals maintain fierce opposition to
the charges. We certainly accept that explanation.” [At no time
during the controversy did the Bush campaign contact Political
Research Associates or Russ Bellant].
11/1/88 Author Charles R. Allen Jr., an expert on the
emigre Nazi network, questions the candor of Bush when he
“professed ignorance of [the] pro-Nazi backgrounds” of the ethnic
campaign supporters. In a article, Allen produces
a 1983 photograph of George Bush shaking hands with Yaroslav
Stetsko, then leader of the pro-Nazi Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of
Nations>. The photo was taken at a White House reception. Bush
signed the photo: “To the Honorable Yaroslav Stetsko with best
wishes–George Bush.” Allen also produced a 1976 RNC memo in
which Bush, as RNC Chair, is reported to have reviewed the past
work of the Republican Heritage Groups Council and set goals for
the coming year.
11/4/88 The reports charges
concerning the background of Bush ethnic coalition leader Akselis
Mangulis. Even before the story appears in print, the Bush
campaign announces Mangulis has resigned, although the woman who
answers the phone at the Mangulis residence tells reporters Mr.
Mangulis was not asked to resign and would not resign.
*** Mangulis, a Latvian member of CAN, is accused of
belonging to the Latvian Legion which during WWII was conected to
the Nazi SS.
Prior to the election, the charges in Bellant’s report are
not covered in the , ,
, or . Coverage was
extensive in the Jewish daily and weekly press, as well as
alternative weeklies and monthlies, but for most of the country
the story was never examined outside coverage of the initial
resignations.
Following the election, on November 19, 1988. the ran an Op-Ed page column by Russ Bellant.
part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.
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Archive/File: people/b/bellant.russ bellant.a04
From oneb!cs.ubc.ca!destroyer!caen!uunet!olivea!sgigate!sgi!cdp!
cberlet Mon Dec 14 13:13:58 PST 1992
Article: 8148 of alt.conspiracy
Path: oneb!cs.ubc.ca!destroyer!caen!uunet!olivea!sgigate!sgi!cdp!cberlet
From: [email protected] (NLG Civil Liberties Committee)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: Bellant: Old Nazi Networks in US
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 12 Dec 92 02:29:00 GMT
References: <[email protected]>
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Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cberlet Dec 11 18:29:00 1992
/* Written 9:11 pm Dec 8, 1992 by cberlet in igc:publiceye */
/* Written 8:30 pm Dec 6, 1992 by cberlet in igc:p.news */
/* Written 7:43 pm Mar 7, 1990 by nlgclc in igc:publiceye */
Bellant: Old Nazis/Appendix 4
