8 Former Republicans Who Ditched the Extremist GOP

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Several politicians have decided the GOP is too extreme, too intolerant and too cringe-inducing to bother with.

 

February 7, 2014  |  

 

 

With the Republican Party at historically low approval ratings, seemingly unable to win major national elections, and suffering a continuing string of embarrassing statements on women, some GOP figures are deciding that the R after their names is more a hindrance than a help.

Here are eight politicians who have decided the GOP is too extreme, too intolerant, and too cringe-inducing to bother with anymore (three of them left just in the past couple of weeks).

1. Jimmy LaSalvia: 

“Today, I joined the ranks of unaffiliated voters,” the founder of GOProud announced on his website two weeks ago. “I am every bit as conservative as I’ve always been, but I just can’t bring myself to carry the Republican label any longer.”

LaSalvia labored for years to preserve a space for LGBT conservatives within the GOP’s shrinking tent. But watching the Romney campaign tack right in the primaries only to flail about during the general campaign was too much for the Republican to stand.

Lambasting the party for its “tolerance of bigotry,” LaSalvia said he gave up hope that party leaders would ever be able to squash the intolerance in its ranks. Until it did, LaSalvia said, it stood no chance of winning elections.

“I am an independent conservative,” LaSalvia wrote, adding: “That sounds much better than ‘gay Republican.’”

2. Pablo Pantoja: 

LaSalvias not alone in objecting to the Republican Party’s “culture of intolerance.” That was exactly what convinced former Republican National Committee Florida Latino outreach director Pablo Pantoja to ditch the party only a year after attaining his position. Born in Puerto Rico and a veteran of the Iraq War, Pantoja rose quickly through the ranks of the Florida GOP before the immigration debate brought out a nasty streak in his compatriots.

“The discourse that moves the Republican Party is filled with this anti-immigrant movement and overall radicalization that is far removed from reality,” he wrote in a letter to the Florida Nation, referring in all but name to Jason Richwine’s Heritage Foundation study that connected conservative immigration policy to claims about Hispanics’ lower IQ rates.

“Republican leaders have blandly (if at all) denied and distanced themselves from this but it doesn’t take away from the culture within the ranks of intolerance. The pseudo-apologies appear to be a quick fix to deep-rooted issues in the Republican Party in hopes that it will soon pass and be forgotten…When the political discourse resorts to intolerance and hate, we all lose in what makes America great and the progress made in society.”

It wasn’t just party leaders, either. Pantoja said his average conversations as outreach director were turning ugly. “I did have conversations about immigration where increasingly I had to defend the fact that the people most affected were human beings,” he said in an interview with Salon.

Pantoja joined the Democratic Party, and commemorated his departure from the GOP with a contribution to the ACLU.

3. Sue Wagner: 

Former Nevada state senator and gaming commissioner Sue Wagner was a Republican for 73 years before she decided last week she’d had enough. The first woman in Nevada ever elected to lieutenant governor changed her registration to “no party” after the GOP charged too far to the right.

“I did it as a symbol, I guess, that I do not like the Republican Party and what they stand for today,” Wagner told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “I’ve been a Republican all my life. My dad was active [in the GOP] in the state of Maine where I was born. It was more of a moderate, liberal Republican Party.”

“It’s grown so conservative and Tea Party-orientated and I just can’t buy into that,” she said. “I’ve left the Republican Party and it’s left me, at the same time.”

Wagner was a vocal opponent of the GOP’s 2010 senatorial candidate Sharron Angle, whose campaign torpedoed the party’s chances of taking out Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), and with it control of the Senate. After Angle said pregnant teens could “turn a lemon situation into lemonade” by declining to get an abortion, Wagner called the comments "the most extreme anti-abortion position I've ever heard."

4. Neena Laxalt: 

Coming to your senses must be contagious. Just days after Wagner ditched the GOP, Neena Laxalt, a lobbyist and daughter of a longtime Nevada Republican family, changed her registration to non-partisan.

The daughter of Paul Laxalt, who served as Nevada’s governor and then for two terms as a U.S. senator, Laxalt was a Republican for 30 years before Wagner’s move encouraged her to drop the party.

“Nevada is traditionally a crossover state anyway,” she told the Associated Press. “People tend to look at individuals often and not just party…My father could not have won some of his races without crossover voters.”

If this keeps up, Nevada’s not going to have any Republicans left.

5. Carlo Key: 

Wagner isn’t the only Republican to feel the party has left her rather than the other way around. That same sentiment was voiced by Texas Judge Carlo Key when he quit the party last October.

“For too long the Republican Party has been at war with itself,” Key said in a video announcing his exodus. Citing “pettiness and bigotry,” Key blasted the GOP for demeaning his constituents based on race, economic status and sexual orientation. He made no bones about the fact that the driving voice for this ideological extremism was his fellow Texan, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).

“I will not be a member of a party in which hate speech elevates candidates for higher office, rather than disqualifying them,” Key said. “I cannot place my name on the ballot for a political party that is proud to destroy the lives of hundred of thousands of workers over a vain attempt to repeal [the Affordable Care Act] a law that would provide healthcare to millions of people throughout our country.”

Key will run for reelection as Democrat in 2014, joining Wendy Davis and the Castro brothers as part of a rising tide of young, competitive Texas Democrats.

6. Jim Campbell: 

The GOP’s stalwart opposition to healthcare reform has lost it legislators before. When both of Maine’s senators signaled opposition to what was still called the Affordable Care Act, it was the last straw for Maine State Rep. Jim Campbell. “Nobody has all the answers, but the Republican Party has none when it comes to healthcare reform,” he said at the time.

“I became a Republican because I believed the party stood for something,” he continued. “I hope to send a message to the Republican Party — and the Democratic Party — that enough is enough; it is time to stop blocking progress in the hope of partisan gain.”

7. Chad Brown: 

The former co-chair of the Polk County Republican Party of Iowa resigned from his post and left the party last August. Brown said he was put off by everything from Republican figures’ oft-repeated desire to eliminate the Department of Education to the party’s response, or lack thereof, to Representative Steve King’s (R-IA) hateful comments about immigrants.

Calling the Republican Party the “party of subtraction,” he wrote last week that “the GOP was founded on the ideas of expanding the rights and freedoms of Americans, but today it seems only interested in protecting the interests of rich, white men.”

“My opinion is the ‘Duck Dynasty Wing’ of the Republican Party has taken over the GOP, and they're not about to retreat in their war on science and common sense,” he continued.

The Iowa GOP’s loss is very much the Democrat’s gain: Brown has taken his talents straight to the Polk County Democratic Party of Iowa Central Committee.

8. Roger Stone: 

The youngest member of Richard Nixon’s Campaign to Re-elect the President and the National Director of Youth for Ronald Reagan (he was appointed to the latter by Paul Laxalt, Neena Laxalt’s father), Roger Stone left the party for which he’d worked so hard last year, after he found it had irrevocably changed.

“Sadly, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan wouldn't recognize today's Republican Party,” Stone wrote in a Huffington Post guest op-ed. “The GOP went from being a Main Street party under Ronald Reagan to being the Wall Street Party again under both Bushes… Meanwhile social conservatives in the party demand litmus tests on issues like abortion and gay marriage equality from those who share their conservative economic and foreign policy views, making a cohesive coalition of social and economic conservatives ultimately impossible.”

Deflated by Mitt Romney, embarrassed by Newt Gingrich and creeped out by Rick Santorum, Stone found nothing in the modern Republican Party to inspire him. Now based in Florida, Stone dumped the GOP and registered as a libertarian.

The parting words of his post would be seconded by everybody in this list: “Goodbye, Grand Old Party.”

10 Reasons Russia Is a Much Crueler Place Than the Cuddly Snowy Image It's Projecting at Sochi

Inside Russia's anti-gay laws, corruption and crackdowns on dissent.

http://www.alternet.org/world/awful-russian-policies?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

 

February 11, 2014  |  

 

The Winter Olympics being held in Sochi, Russia was supposed to be the country’s moment in the sun, an opportunity for strongman President Vladimir Putin to bask in the glory of having the world’s eyes on his country.  

“This is, without a doubt not only a recognition of Russia’s achievements in sports, it is, there is no doubt, an assessment of our country,” Putin said in 2007, in the aftermath of the International Olympic Committee’s choice to hold the games in Sochi. “This is an acknowledgment of its growing capabilities, first and foremost in the economic and social spheres.”

The world’s eyes are certainly on Russia, as hundreds of athletes from around the world travel there to compete in sports ranging from freestyle skiing to ice hockey to figure skating. But instead of acknowledging Russia’s achievements, the Sochi games have sparked a deluge of negative press aimed at Putin’s regime. (The U.S. is only somewhat better on gay rights and other issues than Russia. As Ian Ayres and William Eskridge wrote in the Washington Post, eight U.S. states have provisions similar to Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law.) From virulently anti-gay laws and corruption to crackdowns on dissent, Putin’s Russia is a dark place for many of its citizens. Here are 10 of the worst things to come out of Russia recently.

1. Gay Propaganda Law

Russia’s brutal targeting of its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population has attracted the lion’s share of press coverage and activist initiatives around the world related to the Olympics. The first anti-gay law passed in the Russian legislature last year and was signed by Putin on June 30. The bill bans “propaganda” about “non-traditional” sexual relations around children. It is written so broadly that it effectively bars any positive discussion of gay rights or any action labeled as gay around children. The legislation imposes fines of up to $156 for an individual and $31,000 for media organizations, and could also lead to the arrests of LGBT people.  

The law also applies to foreigners. If non-Russians are seen as spreading pro-gay messages, they could be fined and detained for up to 14 days and then expelled from the country. On July 22, the first foreigners were taken into custody for violating the bill. Four Dutch citizens were arrested for filming a documentary and interviewing Russian youth on gay rights.

As Jeff Sharlet wrote in a GQ magazine cover story this month, the bill is a way of bolstering Putin’s populist credentials. The Putin-backed initiative is as much about gays as it is about “the unstable price of oil and Putin's eroding popular support...The less prosperity Putin can deliver, the more he speaks of holy Russian empire, language to which the Russian Orthodox Church thrills,” wrote Sharlet.

2. Russian Adoption Law

On July 3, Putin signed into law a bill barring gay couples from adopting Russian-born children. In addition, the legislation bans the adoption of Russian children by any parents who live in a country where marriage equality is the law. In a statement released after the bill was passed, the Kremlin said: “The measure is aimed at guaranteeing a harmonious and full upbringing for children in adoptive families.” The legislation was supported by right-wing American evangelicals like the National Organization for Marriage president.

3. Foreign Agents Law

In 2012, a law was passed targeting non-governmental organizations that receive money from abroad. It forces NGOs in Russia working on issues ranging from LGBT rights to corruption to register as “foreign agents” with the government. Since its passage, Russian authorities have investigated thousands of nonprofits suspected of being “foreign agents.” Some organizations have suffered hefty fines. A few groups that could not withstand the fines were forced to shut down over the law.

“The 'foreign agents law' was designed to stigmatize and discredit NGOs engaged in human rights, election monitoring and other critical work,” Amnesty International’s John Dalhuisen said in a statement last year. “It is providing a perfect pretext for fining and closing critical organizations and will cut often vital funding streams."

4. Anti-Gay Violence

The anti-gay laws have contributed to an environment in Russia where being gay is seen as a crime. The legislation has institutionalized homophobia, and LGBT activists say the bills are encouraging violence against gays. In September 2013, the Guardian reported that activists told the newspaper, “the legislation has emboldened rightwing groups who use social media to ‘ambush’ gay people, luring them to meetings and then humiliating them on camera—sometimes pouring urine on them.” Gay teenagers have been particularly targeted.

5. Environmental Destruction

The building of the Sochi Olympic village has thrown a spotlight on the deleterious effects to the environment that often come with large-scale projects. Forget Russia’s claims that the Olympics would be “green.” The Russian Olympic Village, the accommodation center for the Olympics, has led to the loss of wetlands that were home to 65 species of birds. Parts of the national park in Sochi, known for its diverse animal and plant life, has been destroyed. A large forest was completely wrecked.  

The quality of life for residents in Sochi has decreased, with some 2,000 families forced to resettle. The dumping of construction waste and building of power lines have caused landslides, and in one village, drinking wells were destroyed. Pollution and construction have damaged the Mzymta, Sochi’s largest river. On top of all that, there’s the usual negative impact from travel, massive construction and hospitality services.

The Sochi Olympics are no anomaly: Russia’s general environmental record is nothing to praise. Oil and gas development in the Arctic have threatened indigenous people and contaminated rivers. Russia’s air is thoroughly polluted, much of it due to factories.

6. Corruption

Corruption, including bribes, vote-rigging and abuses of power, is a major problem in Russia. Its rank on the Corruption Index, published by Transparency International, is 127, out of 175 countries ranked. Bribery is the main form of corruption in Russia. Businesses pay extra cash to the government to grease the wheels for their projects. Bribes are also used to stave off the inquiries of the government. Individual Russians are forced to bribe higher-ups to get into universities, shoo away cops or obtain passports.

The Sochi Olympics process has been laden with corruption. In January, Gian Franco Kasper, a member of the International Olympic Committee, estimated that a third of the $50 billion spent on Sochi has been siphoned off. A former Russian government official estimated that between $20-$30 billion went to embezzlement and kickbacks. Oligarchs close to Putin have received government contracts to build facilities like the ice rink and journalist center.

7. Targeting Journalists

Russia is no haven for the press. Since Vladimir Putin assumed power in 2000, dozens of journalists have lost their lives on the job. Many were slain by contract killers, and the Russian police and judiciary have done a poor job at catching the culprits. Since 1992, at least 56 journalists have been killed.

Beyond the killings is the general harsh climate for the press in the country. Opposition bloggers have been arrested. Journalists fear gathering information from organizations the government dislikes. Visas have been denied to journalists critical of Putin.

Thousands of journalists have traveled to Sochi to cover the Olympics, but they are confronting a government bent on obstructing the press. A presidential decree made clear that “journalists will be central targets of the extensive surveillance program introduced by Russian authorities in Sochi,” as the Committee to Protect Journalists notes. Local Russian journalists “prefer to cover Sochi the way they would cover a deceased man: in a positive light or not at all... both official repression and self-censorship have restricted coverage of sensitive issues in the run-up to Sochi,” the committee reports.

8. Crackdown on Dissent

The jailings of members of the band Pussy Riot and Greenpeace activists have made international headlines over the past year. Both cases highlight Russia’s relentless crackdown on activism and dissent. The recent release of Pussy Riot members, Greenpeace activists and the tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, widely thought to be moves made to improve Russia’s image before Sochi, are deviations from the norm.

In June 2013, Putin signed a law mandating prison time for anybody who “insults” the feelings of religious people. Protesters who participated in a 2012 demonstration in Moscow have been targeted for jail. In the run-up to Sochi, Human Rights Watch said Russian authorities have intimidated and harassed “organizations, individuals, and journalists who criticized the local government.”

9. Abusing Migrants

Since 2009, thousands of migrant workers from Central Asia and other countries have traveled to Sochi to assist in the building of facilities for the Olympics. But hundreds of them have been denied pay and were expelled back to their countries after they finished their construction jobs. Bosses cheated workers out of their money by underpaying them. Employers also required migrant workers to work long hours with few days off, and took away passports and work permits.

The abuse of migrant workers is part of a larger crackdown. In July 2013, authorities in Moscow started detaining people who looked non-Slavic. Thousands of people were taken into custody. Some were expelled, while others were held in prisons under inhumane conditions.

10. Russia’s War on Terror

For over a decade, Russia has been engaged in its own war on terror against separatists in Chechnya and Dagestan, two mostly Muslim federal subdivisions of the country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, separatists in Chechnya renewed their struggle for independence. Violent attacks on Russia have become an inseparable part of that struggle. The roots of their grievances lie in attempts by Russia to incorporate the republics, which are ethnically and religiously distinct from much of the country.  

The first Russian war on Chechnya against separatists lasted for two years. Though the first war ended in 1996, the conflict was transformed into one between Islamist militants and Russia. The second war in Chechnya, which eventually encompassed Dagestan, was also brutal. Thousands of people, many of them Chechen civilians, were killed. Russian security forces’ conduct has been characterized by torture, executions and forced disappearances.

The large-scale wars are over for now, but Dagestan and other Northern Caucasus regions still have active Islamist groups operating, which have carried out attacks on Russia. In response, Russian authorities continue to deploy a heavy hand, especially in the run-up to Sochi.

Alex Kane is AlterNet's New York-based World editor, and an assistant editor for Mondoweiss. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.