reported<\/a><\/strong> that businessman Art Halvorson, who is challenging Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Blair) for his seat in the 9th district, has accepted the endorsement of a founding member for a white supremacist think tank.<\/p>\nFranklin County GOP Chairman Dwight Weidman brought to attention Halvorson\u2019s support from James B. Taylor, a former board member and and vice president of the National Policy Institute (NPI).<\/p>\n
In the mission statement on their website, the NPI aims \u201cto elevate the consciousness of whites, ensure our biological and cultural continuity, and protect our civil rights. The institute \u2026 will study the consequences of the ongoing influx that non-Western populations pose to our national identity.\u201dJarring statement aside, civil rights group the Southern Poverty Law Center called the NPI one of the leaders in the world of \u201cacademic racism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Halvorson\u2019s campaign defended themselves, stating that Taylor is no longer a member of NPI, which was confirmed for PennLive by the organization\u2019s executive director Richard Spencer. The campaign also believed that Weidman was only bringing this up to show support for Shuster when the Franklin County GOP doesn\u2019t endorse during primary elections.<\/p>\n
Weidman, though, said he is only concerned about transparency for voters. \u201cIt concerns me because it goes to the judgment of someone like Halvorson,\u201d he said. \u201cI warned him that it doesn\u2019t show good judgment to take an endorsement from someone with such extreme views. If he didn\u2019t know, it would be one thing. But he was warned.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to PennLive, Halvorson\u2019s campaign denounced racism and claimed he would never knowingly associate with someone who had such beliefs. \u201cThe Shuster campaign is trying to rehash this old story for purely political purposes to discredit a surging Halvorson campaign right before the primary on May 20,\u201d his office said.<\/p>\n
\u201cArt Halvorson decided to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jim Taylor despite his past ties to racist organizations. That is unfortunate,\u201d Shuster\u2019s campaign manager Sean Joyce told PoliticsPA. \u201cHalvorson\u2019s decision to double down on this endorsement and defend Jim Taylor is even more disappointing.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\nWhen the Chambersburg Public Opinion interviewed Taylor during his write-in campaign to represent Franklin County in the state Senate in 2012, Taylor noted that he had not been involved with NPI for years. He emphasized that he especially would not be involved at that time because of \u201cwhat they have on their website now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spencer labeled Taylor\u2019s statement as insincere, saying that while it\u2019s true Taylor is no longer a member, NPI is still the same organization it was back when it was founded in 2005. This was the time period when Taylor was on the board of directors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea that [NPI] has diverted from its mission is ridiculous,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cIf [Taylor] didn\u2019t know what this organization was about, then he is one of the most absurdly naive individuals on the face of this earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor has also been tied to a group similar to NPI. He was the executive director of America\u2019s PAC when it donated $5,000 to the Charles Martel Society, as reported by The Public Opinion. The society was founded in 2001 by William H. Regenery, who is coincidentally also a cofounder of NPI.<\/p>\n
Weidman said he believes it would be prudent for Halvorson to admit that accepting Taylor\u2019s support was merely a mistake.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to try to come together more and not split ourselves one way or another,\u201d he said. \u201cI know Art, and as county chairman I want to keep things clean and good in these races. [Halvorson] is not a bad guy, but I do think he has had a serious lapse in judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here’s something curious. Remember how the white supremacist National Policy Institute held a secret…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-so-called-qalt-rightq"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/archive.idavox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/images_jim-taylor-and-art-halvorson-at-lincoln-day-dinner.png\")
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