Monday, May 12, 2008
Page 3
Judicial Candidate Apparently Cancels Meeting, Will Not Discuss Past
By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer
A Los Angeles Superior Court candidate whose past advocacy of white supremacy has dogged his current campaign has apparently canceled a meeting scheduled for tomorrow at which he was to answer questions.
An individual who would not give his name, but claimed to be authorized to speak for the candidate, told the MetNews Friday that the meeting, which had been advertised on Johnson’s Web site and on meetup.com as an opportunity to ask questions, has been canceled.
The person added that the meeting, although advertised on sites that anyone with Internet access could view, had been intended as an opportunity for supporters to question the candidate and “was never meant to be open to the general public.”
A check of the sites now indicates that the next “meetup” of Johnson’s campaign has not been scheduled.
Johnson has not returned MetNews phone calls since the paper reported on April 29 that he had, under the name James O. Pace, authored a book proposing that the U.S. Constitution be amended to limit citizenship, as well as permanent residency rights, to “non-Hispanic white [persons] of the European race, in whom there is no ascertainable trace of Negro blood, nor more than one-eighth Mongolian, Asian, Asia Minor, Middle Eastern, Semitic, Near Eastern, American Indian, Malay or other non-European or non-white blood, provided that Hispanic whites, defined as anyone with an Hispanic ancestor, may be citizens if, in addition to meeting the aforesaid ascertainable trace and percentage tests, they are in appearance indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe.”
The story has since been reported by several other media outlets, prompting Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, whose presidential campaign Johnson has been working on, to drop his endorsement.
The congressman’s chief of staff explained in an e-mail message Wednesday that the congressman and his staff had “gone through the process of setting up a method by which candidates are to be considered for such endorsements” and found Johnson to be lacking.
“Although Bill Johnson’s name ended up on the endorsement list, he did not go through this process,” Tom Lizardo explained. “In light of this fact, and in light of the revelations regarding his past statements and associations, Dr Paul has retracted the endorsement....”
Holly L. Clearman, who is Johnson’s campaign manager and Paul’s state campaign coordinator, did not return phone calls.
Johnson is running in the June 3 primary against Superior Court Commissioner James Bianco for the seat held by Judge Daniel S. Pratt before he retired.
Copyright 2008, Metropolitan News Company