Louisiana Governor Appoints Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins to Law Enforcement Commission
In the immediate wake of the 2012 election, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal his fellow Republicans to 鈥渟top being the stupid party.鈥 He said it was 鈥渘o secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments 鈥 enough of that.鈥 Jindal was referring to the by top-tier GOP candidates, most notably former Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, about rape and pregnancy.
So much for that! Jindal has Akin鈥檚 most prominent , Tony Perkins, to a seat on the Louisiana . Perkins is president of the D.C.-based Family Research Council (FRC), an known for making its share of 鈥渙ffensive, bizarre comments.鈥 Perkins and the FRC earned that designation by consistently demonizing and smearing gays and lesbians 鈥 including calling them pedophiles 鈥 with falsehoods.
Perkins has deep Louisiana roots. He in the state House of Representatives from 1996 to 2004 and ran unsuccessfully for the US. Senate, placing a distant fourth, in the 2002 GOP primary. Before that he was a TV news reporter and a reserve police officer, until he was for failing to report an illegal conspiracy by anti-abortion extremists to his superiors. He became head of the FRC in 2003 but never fully left Louisiana.
In fact, Jindal Perkins to the Louisiana Commission on Marriage and Family in 2008, supposedly on the basis of 鈥渆xpertise in community programs and assistance.鈥
The Commission on Marriage and Family website provides meeting for the past three years. Perkins is listed as absent for seven out of seven meetings. Since Perkins has a day job in Washington, D.C., and is apparently unable to attend those meetings, it鈥檚 hard to imagine he鈥檒l be any better about attending the Commission on Law Enforcement meetings.
But Jindal appointed him, and Perkins accepted, because they both have something to gain. Jindal dreams of running for national office, and he wants support from and access to religious-right primary voters. That鈥檚 why he鈥檚 scheduled to speak, as he鈥檚 done in the past, at the FRC-sponsored in D.C. next month.
Perkins, on the other hand, dreams of running for office again in Louisiana, and he鈥檚 been as a possible challenger to Sen. Mary Landrieu. He maintains residency in Baton Rouge despite apparently spending most of his time in D.C. The commission seats give him an opportunity to pad his resume and keep his name in circulation back home.
It鈥檚 all part of an effort to whitewash his image, which is understandable. In addition to his controversial actions as a reserve police officer, Perkins was caught in 1996 covering up the purchase of Klan leader David Duke鈥檚 supporter list for a campaign he was managing. That campaign later settled with the Federal Election Commission and paid a fine. Then in 2001, Perkins was caught speaking at a gathering of the . Perkins addressed the white supremacist group, which has called African Americans a 鈥渞etrograde species of humanity,鈥 while of a Confederate flag. He later denied knowing about the group鈥檚 extremism.
Now Perkins is the head of a group whose senior policy fellow says homosexuality should be outlawed. Is that the perspective that Perkins will bring to the Commission on Law Enforcement? We can only hope that Perkins shows as little interest in the Commission on Law Enforcement as he seems to have in the Commission on Marriage and Family.