The president of the Illinois American Agriculture Movement has issued a statement repudiating any relationship between the AAM and perennial Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche.
Admitting that there had been an initial attraction to LaRouche’s political organization, AAM president Tom Curl said, “In some terms they can be convincing but we did a little deeper study and found that we though they were an extreme group that we did not want to have an affiliation with.”
Curl went on to warn Illinois farmers not be seduced by LaRouche politics. LaRouche supporters were canvassing farmers, Curl told Charles Lindy, producer of “Growing Aware,” a farm news program aired throughout the midwest.
AAM believed LaRouche politics could pose a threat among farmers disillusioned with the Reagan Administration’s current handling of the farm crisis. He urged farmers to remain active within the mainstream of the American political system.
LaRouche candidates have been seeking to enlist financially troubled farmers for several years. A recent report by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith stated that “LaRouche’s followers have been making a systematic effort to influence farmers’ organizations, notably the American Agriculture Movement.”
During LaRouche’s 1984 Presidential campaign, Tommy Kersey, who the ADL referred to as an AAM organizer from Georgia, expressed his admiration for LaRouche. Kersey has also expressed support for the activities of other extremist organizations including the anti-Semitic, paramilitary group Posse Comitatus.
In November 1985, Kersey participated in an armed protest in Georgia during which approximately 25 armed men held off local authorities who were charged with foreclosing a farm. The group displayed signs which denounced the “ZOG” — a term popular in right wing circles, denoting the “Zionist Occupation Government.”
David Fenter, national director of the AAM, appeared disturbed that Kersey was still being referred to as a member of the AAM. “We have no officer in Georgia,” said Fenter, “and we have no relation with Kersey or the extremist groups he associates with.”
According to Fenter, AAM will not allow LaRouche or any of his candidates to participate in AAM events. “We want to have nothing to do with that kind of extremism,” he said.
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