Maryland County Commission Hires Extremist Blogger
So what do you do when you鈥檝e successfully saved the planet from efforts to save the planet? If you鈥檙e ultra-conservative blogger James Simpson, the answer is: Get paid. And by government no less.
Simpson, who has written numerous articles for conservative websites including American Thinker, has railed against what he and other right-wing conspiracy buffs claim is an odious plan by the United Nations to undermine capitalism and U.S. sovereignty while prodding for One World Government. The program is called the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), based on a U.N. sustainable-development plan approved in 1992 known as . It endorses global strategies to protect air quality, stop deforestation, protect fresh water sources, maintain biodiversity, and more.
Simpson was ecstatic when voters in Carroll County, Md., a mostly rural county northwest of Baltimore, overwhelmingly approved a Republican clean sweep of all five county commission seats last November. The sweep was led by Richard Rothschild, who campaigned on a promise to remove Carroll County from its voluntary participation in the ICLEI.
Most of the world sees Agenda 21 as a sensible recognition of the fact that the planet cannot sustain development globally unless the planet, collectively, lives within the means of its resources. No participating community is compelled to follow any of the plan鈥檚 principles. Still, many on the right read into it an anti-American bias: Given that the United States consumes energy and natural resources far in excess of its share of the world鈥檚 population, American overconsumption could be presumed a principal target of the initiative. So while some 600 American communities and 600 others worldwide have signed on to the initiative, a fledgling reverse trend has emerged that implicitly casts America鈥檚 resource gluttony as patriotic.
In an Oct. 29, 2009 article on his website,聽Rothschild calls the Agenda 21 initiatives 鈥減olitical dogma,鈥 designed to 鈥渁ccomplish government鈥檚 goal of social re-engineering鈥 which would, among other goals, have the effect of 鈥渟hifting the voting patterns of rural municipalities from Right to Left.鈥 He describes Agenda 21 as 鈥渁 direct assault on private property rights and American sovereignty.鈥 He then called Agenda 21 鈥渁rguably an amalgamation of socialism and extreme environmentalism brushed with anti-American, anti-capitalist overtones.鈥
The new Carroll County Commission in January became the first in the nation to withdraw from the ICLEI. According to the American Policy Center, which has adopted the fight against Agenda 21 as its pet cause, seven other U.S. communities since then have followed suit.
In a Feb. 24 blog, Simpson praised the five newly elected 鈥渂rave souls鈥 on the Carroll Commission for terminating 鈥渁ll traces of the 鈥楽ustainability鈥 agenda in the county. They abolished their 鈥楽ustainability鈥 office and dropped out of ICLEI (the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), the first county to do so.鈥
By July, the mutual admiration between Simpson and the Commission was solemnized: The county signed Simpson to a three-month public relations contract through Alex Grace LLC. According to the Carroll County Times, Simpson formed Alex Grace on July 13 鈥 nine days before his company won the contract.
The contract reportedly is for $18,000. On Sept. 29, the County Board of Commissioners extended the contract with Alex Grace by one month. Because the contract totals less than $25,000, the board was not obligated to put it out for competitive bid.
An E-mail to Simpson from Hatewatch was not answered.
When he isn鈥檛 bashing environmental protection initiatives, Simpson is bashing immigrants and LGBT people. He is the published by the far-right website Accuracy in Media in which he attacks an immigrant-advocacy organization called Casa de Maryland. The author describes the group as 鈥渁 case study in the corrosive effects of political corruption鈥 and argues that illegal immigrants are, with Casa鈥檚 implicit or overt assistance, evading the law and winning access to government services and privileges to which they are not entitled. Simpson places Casa de Maryland in the center of an incredibly convoluted alleged left-wing conspiracy involving, among myriad others, billionaire financier George Soros, the Communist Party USA, major unions like AFSCME and SEIU, Muslim terrorists, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and 鈥淩ussian, Chinese, Cuban & Other Hostile Military & Intelligence.鈥 The piece even wonders if Gustavo Torres, Casa de Maryland鈥檚 director, was among 鈥淎merican radicals鈥 believed to be 鈥渋nvolved in fomenting this year鈥檚 Middle East unrest.鈥
Simpson is also the author of a March 2, 2011, article published by the DC Independent Examiner in which he wrote, 鈥淭he Homosexual agenda is dark and dangerous. ... The Homosexual agenda not only seeks to acclimatize children to sex and especially gay sex, but a significant portion of this movement seeks to legalize pedophilia, as thoroughly documented in an article titled 鈥楾he Shadow Sexual Revolution 鈥 the Push to Legalize Pedophilia.鈥欌
The allegation of a 鈥渉omosexual agenda鈥 that promotes legalized pedophilia is a staple of the religious right 鈥 and ludicrous. Credible research has firmly documented that homosexuals are not predisposed to pedophilia any more than heterosexuals. Further, the article cited by Simpson suggests that historical efforts to decriminalize sex with minors were generally short-lived, promoted principally by fringe groups, and strongly opposed by straight and many LGBT organizations.