Tony Perkins, FRC: (1) Knew About Pages (2) Was Involved With CCC and KKK

Part 1
In the wake of Foleygate, Tony Perkins as the president of the Family Research Council hit the airwaves attacking "tolerance and diversity" as the culprits.  Perkins hate campaign was so over the top that Mark Pelavin, Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism has called on him to apologize. 

In an interview with Chris Matthews yesterday, Perkins first claims that "this is all shocking." But then in the very same interview, Perkins reveals that he knew of Foley's interest in young boys from ex-pages on his own staff.

Perkins may try to weasel out of this one, but as Part 2 demonstrates, he has a track record of lying.
Raging Dem diaried on DK about Fox News knowing about the Foley emails. In a comment to that diary, tonyaky pointed out that Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council learned about Foley from ex-pages on his very own staff:

Here's an excerpt from an interview Chris Matthews of Hardball did with Tony Perkins of the Family Research council:

  MATTHEWS:  Do you think the leadership of the House should have acted when they saw that Mark Foley was spending an inordinate amount of time hanging around pages, just seemingly too interested in them?  Is that enough for action? 

  PERKINS:  Yes, I think there is, because in talking to some pages, you knowGÇöIGÇÿve had people now on staff that used to be pages, and it was widely known to watch out for him, that he liked boys.  And the questionGÇöand this question I asked ...

Here's a little more context to that statement by Perkins.

How outraged are Christian conservatives by Mark FoleyGÇÿs exploits, if you want to call them that, and the slow response of the Republican Congressional leaders?  And come November, what impact will this have on their voting this November.  To find out, we turn to Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council.

Tony, thank you, sir, for joining us.

Just your whole position on this, just let us know.

TONY PERKINS, PRES., FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL:  Well, I think itGÇÿs premature to call for the speaker or the leadership to resign.  I think that may brush all this under the rug.  I think we need to get to the heart of this matter.  And this is shocking.  I mean, this concerns people all across the country, when teenagers cannot be safe in the halls of government, you have to ask the question, where can they be safe at in this country.

MATTHEWS:  Do you think the leadership of the House should have acted when they saw that Mark Foley was spending an inordinate amount of time hanging around pages, just seemingly too interested in them?  Is that enough for action?

PERKINS:  Yes, I think there is, because in talking to some pages, you knowGÇöIGÇÿve had people now on staff that used to be pages, and it was widely known to watch out for him, that he liked boys.  And the questionGÇöand this question I asked ...

MATTHEWS:  Well, was the reputation hanging on him that he bothered boys, that he spent too much time chatting with them, or tried to seduce them?  What was the reputation?

PERKINS:  Well, the reputation that he was a homosexual and that he liked to flirt and be very friendly with boys.  And so pages were warned to watch out for him.  And the question is, what did the leadership know?  When did they know it?  What did they do.

And what did they not do and why?  Were they afraid to take action out of political reasons, for fear of maybe losing a seat?  Or were they fearful of being labeled gay bashing for approaching a gay member of Congress?

MATTHEWS:  How do you know that?

PERKINS:  How do I know what?

MATTHEWS:  How do you know they had that fear?  How do you know they had that fear of gay bashing?

PERKINS:  No, I said thatGÇÿs the question.  That is a question that needs to be answered.  Why did they not take decisive action with what they knew?  And that question needs to be answered, and I think in large part, the answer to that question determines the effect this has upon voters.

I mean, this isGÇöChris, I mean, you understand.  This is shocking, and I think people when they stop and they look at it, though, they shouldnGÇÿt be totally surprised.  When we elevate tolerance and diversity to be the guidepost of public life, I mean, this is what we get, Congressmen chasing boys down the halls of government. 

How can Tony Perkins claim this is shocking if he was among those who already knew about it?  Directly from pages. Also to repeat the obvious, tolerance and diversity are NOT about tolerating - and remaining silent about - sexual predators.  That's called enabling.

Why didn't Tony ask the leadership what they knew?  When Tony was writing to Hastert et al about Terry Schiavo, why didn't he make this at least a little P.S.?

Part 2
In June 2005 Bill Berkowitz was writing about Perkins behavior surrounding the Terry Schiavo case.

Americans United's executive director, the Rev. Barry Lynn, had special words for FRC's Perkins:

"During the controversy Perkins repeatedly issued Schiavo commentaries that referred to her husband as 'estranged,' despite the fact that Michael Schiavo was caring for her, and [he] mention[ed] the 'questionable circumstances' surrounding her collapse, clearly implying foul play."

"I've worked in Washington a long time, but I've never seen anything as manipulative as what Perkins and the FRC did over Terri Schiavo," Lynn said. "They took a terminally ill woman and turned her into a political tool to gain leverage in Congress."

Recalling the Schiavo incidents makes it very clear that Perkins, originator of "Justice Sunday," was far from a nonentity in the sphere of Congressional influence. With his leverage in Congress, why didn't Perkins mention the problems pages were having with Foley? 

But this is also where the connections to the CCC - and the KKK - are noted.

One of the most disturbing features not listed on Perkins' resume was his involvement in securing the mailing list of Ku Klux Klansman David Duke for a Louisiana Senate campaign he managed in 1996. Four years ago, reporter Max Blumenthal revealed in an April 26, 2005 article for The Nation,

"Perkins addressed the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) GǪ the successor to the White Citizens Councils, which battled integration in the South."

Blumenthal wrote that in 1996, while Perkins was running the campaign of longtime conservative Woodie Jenkins, the right-wing Republican candidate for the US Senate in Louisiana, he "paid former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke $82,500 for his mailing list."

Blumenthal explained:

For years, Jenkins had been grooming Perkins as his political successor. "To Jenkins, Perkins was like a son, and the feeling was and is mutual," wrote former Jenkins staffer Christopher Tidmore. In 1996 Perkins cut his teeth as the manager of Jenkins's campaign for US Senate. It was during that campaign that, in an attempt to consolidate the support of Louisiana's conservative base, Perkins paid David Duke $82,000 for his mailing list. After Jenkins was defeated by his Democratic opponent, Mary Landrieu, he contested the election. But during the contest period, Perkins's surreptitious payment to Duke was exposed through an investigation conducted by the FEC, which fined the Jenkins campaign.

Six years later, in 2002, Perkins embarked on a campaign to avenge his mentor's defeat by running for the US Senate himself. But Perkins was dogged with questions about his involvement with David Duke. Perkins issued a flat denial that he had ever had anything to do with Duke, and he denounced him for good measure. Unfortunately, Perkins's signature was on the document authorizing the purchase of Duke's list. Perkins's dalliance with the racist Council of Conservative Citizens in the run-up to his campaign also illuminates the seamy underside of his political associations. Despite endorsements from James Dobson and a host of prominent CNP members, Perkins was not even the leading Republican in the senatorial race.

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