Sixteen members of the Lyndon LaRouche organization have filed petitions to run on the Democratic ticket in the June 7 Iowa primary for state legislative and U.S. congressional seats.
The LaRouche candidates are running under the organization’s official name, the National Democratic Policy Committee, which is known to espouse wild conspiracy theories that are often anti-Semitic.
This is the largest number of LaRouche candidates to file in any Iowa election to date, according to Daniel Levitas, research director of Prairiefire, a Des Moines-based farmers rights advocacy group that monitors right-wing, racist activity in the farm belt.
This was corroborated by Joe Shannahan, Iowa Democratic Party legislative director, who said that only three LaRouche candidates ran for office in 1986.
Racist discourse and anti-Zionist statements and literature are often included in LaRouche campaign rhetoric, which includes calls for mandatory testing for acquired immune deficiency syndrome and talks about international drug conspiracies and intrigues by the International Monetary Fund.
The LaRouche organization operates in the United States, Canada and Latin America, frequently taking advantage of areas experiencing economic distress.
In March 1986, the country was stunned by an upset victory of two LaRouche candidates in the Illinois gubernatorial primary, in which the handpicked running mates of Democratic candidate for governor Adlai Stevenson 3rd were defeated by virtually unknown LaRouche candidates Mark Fairchild for lieutenant governor and Janice Hart for secretary of state. Stevenson had to undergo a complicated procedure to run as an independent.
LaRouche himself is currently standing trial in Boston for credit-card fraud.
The Iowa Democratic Party has disavowed the LaRouche candidates and is urging Democratic voters to ignore these candidates.
‘PEOPLE FROM THE TWILIGHT ZONE’
At a news conference Monday at the Iowa state legislature, Democratic Party state Chairwoman Bonnie Campbell called the LaRouche candidates “people from the twilight zone,” who are “poison to our political process.”
She said, “In any instance where a LaRoucher ends up on the ballot for general election, we will encourage voters to not support that candidate.”
At the same news conference, the speaker of the Iowa state House of Representatives, Donald Avenson, a Democrat, outwardly supported Republican incumbent state Rep. Kenneth DeGroot against LaRouche candidate Glen DeVries, who is uncontested on the Democratic slate.
The 16 LaRouche candidates who are running for state and federal legislative positions are
For Iowa Senate: Gary Genazzio of Davenport and Larry Hiemstra of Leighton;
For Iowa House of Representatives: Carl Shold of Fort Dodge, Raymond Egan of Algona, Marilyn Woodin of Clarion, Gene Schenk of Davenport, Jerry Gravett of Bloomfield, Howard Wellemeyer of Colesburg, Katherine Staub of Reasoner, Barbara Miller of Ottumwa and Glen DeVries of Harris;
For U.S. Congress: Ronald Kirk of Drakesville, for 1st Congressional District; Juan Cortez of Cedar Rapids, 2nd Congressional District; James Cox of Grinnell, 3rd Congressional District; Maurice Stoutenberg of Des Moines for 4th Congressional District; and Mathilda Timmermans of Maurice for 6th Congressional District.
Genazzio and DeVries are running uncontested on the ballots in heavily Republican areas.
Cortez, who is black, previously ran for U.S. Senate in 1986 on a LaRouche platform that promised relief to distressed farmers and workers.
POOR SHOWING IN CAUCUSES
The LaRouche organization began its Iowa campaign at the Democratic presidential caucuses Feb. 8 with a very poor showing, but used the caucuses to launch a strategy to gain media attention, said Levitas of Prairiefire.
LaRouche activists have canvassing door-to-door in rural areas, distributing literature at traffic intersections and handing out of condoms in front of hospitals as part of the their campaign for mandatory AIDS testing.
There has been “no overt anti-Semitism or racism” in the current LaRouche campaign so far, said Levitas. “By and large, people are oblivious to the fact that NDPC candidates are tied to LaRouche.”
He accused the LaRouche organization of using “political guerrilla tactics” in an attempt to “try to destabilize the political establishment of the Democratic Party.”
“We’re going to draw as much public exposure as we can,” to the fact the LaRouche candidates are running, said Shannahan of the Democratic Party.
He said the party would review the nominating petitions carefully and would challenge their legality if they found discrepancies in signatures. He said the party would also call people to verify that they had indeed signed the petitions to run the LaRouche candidates.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
