On-Again, Off-Again FAIR Principal is On Again
The name of , which from the 鈥檚 (FAIR) list of its board of directors in the days following a major April 17 story outlining Tanton鈥檚 racist views, has just as quietly returned. This time, the 77-year-old FAIR founder and architect of the modern anti-immigration movement is listed as a member of FAIR鈥檚 national board of advisors.
The Times story had described Tanton as a currently serving member of FAIR鈥檚 board 鈥� a reasonable claim, given that the group鈥檚 website listed him as such and that the Times reporter had been speaking to FAIR officials about Tanton for months and they never mentioned that Tanton had left. Speaking with the Times for an April 27 about the disappearance of Tanton鈥檚 name from the list, FAIR President Dan Stein said that Tanton left the board two months before the article came out. He backed up his claim by forwarding reporter Jason DeParle, the Times reporter who wrote both articles, a Feb. 3 E-mail in which Tanton announced to the board that he would not seek re-election after his current term expired.
In his comments for DeParle鈥檚 first story, Stein described Tanton as a 鈥渞elatively inactive鈥� board member 鈥� but did not say that he was about to depart. That fact was also not included in FAIR鈥檚 press release from the day after the Times story appeared, in which Stein reviled the front-page feature as 鈥渞ecycling decades-old baseless allegations, quoting out-of-context statements, and implying guilt by association.鈥� The release claimed FAIR does not discriminate on the basis of 鈥渞ace, creed, color, religion, gender or sexual orientation.鈥�
What it didn鈥檛 do is mention Tanton, who Stein in 2009 called a 鈥淩enaissance man鈥� of wide-ranging 鈥渋ntellect,鈥� or Tanton鈥檚 longstanding white nationalism. That may well be because Stein and FAIR clearly .
Stein told DeParle that he had not mentioned Tanton鈥檚 retirement from the board because he didn鈥檛 consider it newsworthy 鈥� even though DeParle鈥檚 entire front-page piece was about Tanton, as Stein clearly knew well in advance. 鈥淚 would certainly object strenuously if you characterized this somehow as a byproduct of external pressures,鈥� Stein added in his remarks to DeParle.
It is no secret that Tanton, elderly and suffering from Parkinson鈥檚 disease, has been retreating from public life in the past couple of years 鈥� and it鈥檚 entirely plausible that he chose not to seek re-election to the board for this reason. But given the brouhaha over its disappearance, the unannounced return of his name to FAIR鈥檚 website (albeit as a member of a different advisory body) is as mystifying as its original removal.
