Cutting The Ties That Bind: Who Was Connected To The Council of Conservative Citizens and Why It Matters

"We utterly condemn Roof's despicable killings, but they do not detract from the legitimacy of some of the positions he has expressed."

-Earl C. Holt III, Leader of Council of Conservative Citizens

Since it was revealed in Dylann Roof's "manifesto" that on of the chief influences of his actions was the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, politicians are now scrambling to divest themselves of any association with the group listed by the SPLC as a racist hate group.

FEC filings reveal that, since 2012, Holt [Council of Conservative Citizens] has contributed $8,500 to one of Senator Ted Cruz's political action committees, $1,750 to Senator Rand Paul's RandPAC, and $1,500 to former senator Rick Santorum. According to the New York Times, he's also donated money

to Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Senator Jeff Flake, Senator Rob Portman, Representative Steve King, former representative Michele Bachmann, former representative Todd Akin, and Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign fund.

Past members of the CCC were Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond and Mississippi governor Haley Barbour. Also connected to the group was Trent Lott, who has had a lapse of memory concerning the five times he spoke to the group (!?). The CCC once boasted 32 members in the Mississippi legislature. It was, in effect, a puppet master of

politicians.

So people are trying to cut the strings, whitewashing themselves with returned donations and denouncements. So what?

But wait ... THERE'S MORE!

Besides Lott, the two people who cannot extricate themselves from the CCCs past are Mike Huckabee and Family Research Council's own Tony Perkins.

In 1993, Mike Huckabee, then the Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas, agreed to speak at the CofCC's national convention in Memphis, Tennessee in his pursuit of the Governorship of Arkansas. By the time of the CofCC convention, Huckabee was unable to leave Arkansas. Instead, he sent a videotaped speech, which "was viewed and extremely well received by the audience,"ACCORDING to the CofCC newsletter. However, following his success in the election, in April 1994, Huckabee withdrew from a speaking engagement before the CofCC. He commented, "I will not participate in any program that has racist overtones. I've spent a lifetime fighting racism and anti-Semitism."

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