More reporting on the people contributing to Black Americans for the President’s Agenda, which is running racist ads in Little Rock in support of Republican Rep. French Hill. The money appears to come from wealthy white conservatives such as an owner of the San Francisco Giants. UPDATE: GOP feeling heat, files ethics complaint on ad.

Said Think Progress:

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The donors bankrolling this committee, however, appear to be rich, conservative ideologues, not the actual “Black Americans” they claim to be.

The super PAC is led by Vernon Robinson, a xenophobic former U.S. House candidate who made hundreds of thousands of dollars from running the 2016 Draft Ben Carson committee. Robinson told the Associated Press on Thursday that his group spent $50,000 on the ad buy.

The group’s financial disclosures include a number of wealthy white conservatives. Most notable is GOP mega-donor and billionaire Charles B. Johnson, the retired chairman of Franklin Resources, Inc. and the principal owner of the San Francisco Giants baseball team, who gave $1,000.

Other top donations include $1,000 from Trish Duggan (an artist and the wife of pharmaceutical billionaire Robert Duggan), $1,000 from Arthur “Tim” Choate (an investor and game fishing enthusiast), and $1,000 from investor Norman Waite Jr.

The PAC is also running ads to help Republican senatorial candidate Josh Hawley in Missouri.

It was noted today that the advertising is not only the inaccurate ad featuring caricatures of black women claiming Democrats want to lynch black men for raping white women. There’s another ad by the group claiming Democrats support aborting black babies.

Again black women, nominally grandmothers, do the voiceover:

The Democrats don’t care that black babies are three times more likely to die in abortion than white babies. Republicans know and French Hill knows that Black babies matter. Democrats hold Sanger up as a hero, she is no hero. She created planned parenthood to exterminate black folks. With 6o% of black babies dying in abortions in New York, looks like the Democrats are succeeding

That figure on abortion rates is wrong, by the way. But you can presume as much about GOP advertising.

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UPDATE: The Republican Party, apparently feeling the heat, said it had filed an ethics complaint over the ads because the PAC that bought them hasn’t registered in the state as an independent expenditure committee. The maximum penalty is a fine up to $2,000. Ethics complaints aren’t generally resolved speedily. Vernon Robinson, the leader of the attack ads supporting Hill, told AP he won’t take the ads down.

The Democratic Party gave the Republican Party credit for criticizing the ad and asking that it be taken down. But Chair Michael John Gray added:

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“However, this ad isn’t a one-off. It follows racist political mailers from Senator Tom Cotton’s Super PAC and numerous intellectually dishonest messages from the other side in campaigns across the state. Arkansans deserve better. Leaders of political parties should campaign on ideas, solutions, and priorities, and not promote stereotypes and misinformation. Leadership should be about leading, not about winning at any cost.”

Meanwhile, Joe Swafford, the Libertarian in the 2nd District race, has weighed in on the racist advertising supporting French Hill.

I have run a Campaign that is based on integrity and the issues. I have focused on the people in my district instead of my opponents. I have rarely even mentioned my opponents or their campaigns directly, but I can stay silent no longer in reference to this recent controversy.

This recent radio ad in support of Congressman Hill is racist and offensive to the core, and I will not stand for this type behavior or disrespect for the African American community. It is insulting and sad that this type of thing could happen in our time.

This is just further example of how detrimental the two party political machines are to the
American interest. The two parties no longer run campaigns on the issues with detailed plans, but with the intent of propagandizing fear and, apparently, offensive and inaccurate stereotypes.

I will not stand by while the Democrats and Republicans mud sling their way to the finish line at the expense of my constituents. They can attack each other all they want, but when that fight starts to involve the blatant disrespect of my fellow Arkansas, they make it my business.

I call for my Republican opponent to discontinue these ads and make a formal apology to the entire African American community. I am tired of the way both of the other parties treat
minorities in this country, as if somehow race is the most important thing about an individual instead of their voice and opinion. I will continue to call out such reprehensible behavior on these matters until my final days.

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