Established in 1993 as FAIR PAC, the US Immigration Reform Political Action Committee (USIRP) provides financial support to immigration reform political campaigns. This year, in addition to contributing $58261.21 to US House and Senate candidates, USIRP has been paying a white nationalist to help run the PAC.
According to records filed with the Federal Elections Commission, USIRP paid Peter Gemma a total of $7740.00 for "clerical and administrative work" thusfar in 2004. He also received a $500.00 payment from USIRP in 2003 for "Direct mail production." ![](http://bdi.newcomm.org/images/stories/gemmaatafbnp.jpg)
According to his bio, Gemma is "an award-winning freelance writer who has penned more than 100 commentaries for USA Today. He served as a senior staff member on the 2000 Buchanan presidential campaign." Left out of the biography is his current position as head of "Design, Marketing, and Advertising" for the Council of Conservative Citizens newsletter, the Citizens Informer. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) is the largest white nationalist group in the United States today. The CCC is the modern incarnation of the Citizens Councils of America, more commonly known as the White Citizens Councils of the 1960's. The Citizens Councils fought to maintain segregation and actively promoted white supremacy. Today, all of the Council of Conservative Citizen core issues are racially charged: official recognition of Confederate battle flags, preserving monuments to the Confederacy, attacks against affirmative action and non-white immigration. In writing about immigration, the Citizens Informer has complained that minorities were turning the U.S. population into a "slimy brown mass of glop" - an act likened to "genocide." Gemma has a history of white nationalist activism: · In Arlington, Virginia on Feb. 24, 2004, Gemma spoke at a meeting of the Holocaust Denial outfit, the Institute for Historical Review, where he introduced IHR head Mark Weber. · At the June 20, 2003 Council of Conservative Citizens conference Gemma delivered speech ridiculing African-Americans entitled The Latest Indignity: Reparations. · In 2002, Gemma attended the "Real History" Conference of British Holocaust Denier David Irving in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the August 30 - September 2 event, Gemma handled the money for the Occidental Quarterly table. · In 2000, Gemma shared the platform with white supremacist notables including David Duke and Don Black at an American Friends of the British National Party event in Virginia. As of the Oct 15, 2004 FEC filing deadline, USIRP had contributed $25,500 to 20 Federal candidates running in the November General Election. This year, they also contributed $31761.21 to 14 primary candidates in 12 states. The current USIRP president is Mary Lou Tanton, wife of Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) founder John Tanton. The treasurer is longtime FAIR board member William Chip. |