Friday, May 29, 2009

Executive Director Of Tancredo's PAC Guilty Of "Karate Chop" Assault On African-American Woman

by Matt Finkelstein

Yesterday, former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo attacked Judge Sonia Sotomayor for being a member of the National Council of La Raza, absurdly likening the civil rights organization to "a Latino KKK without the hoods or nooses."

Tancredo's outlandish cries of racism are difficult to take seriously considering his own well-documented bigotry. However, the conservative blog Little Green Footballs has flagged a lesser known story demonstrating Tancredo's embrace of intolerance. Apparently, the executive director of Tancredo's anti-immigrant Team America PAC (also executive director of Pat Buchanan's group, The American Cause) pled guilty to "verbally and physically assaulting a black woman" and will be sentenced in July. According to the Factual Proffer from the case:

Had this case gone to trial, the Government's evidence would have shown beyond a reasonable doubt the following facts:

On July 7, 2007 at approximately 7:15 p.m., at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [Redacted], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, "[N*****]," as he delivered a karate chop to [complainant's] head. Ms. [Redacted]'s [redacted] attempted to detain defendant, but defendant was able to escape. Ultimately, the defendant was stopped and arrested by Secret Service officers.

The defendant, Marcus Epstein, is still featured prominently on Team America's website nearly two years after the crime. So, it's evident Tancredo is only "concerned" about racism when it furthers his bigoted agenda. (Though there is absolutely nothing racist about Sotomayor or La Raza.)

Click here to read more official documents from the case.

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