Jim Gilchrist

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Jim Gilchrist
Born January 13, 1949 (1949-01-13) (age 59)
Aliso Viejo, California, USA
Occupation Activist, Author
Political party Republican
This article is about the American activist. For other similarly-named people, see James Gilchrist.

James "Jim" Gilchrist (born January 13, 1949) is the cofounder, along with Chris Simcox, of the Minuteman Project, a group whose aim is to prevent illegal immigration across the U.S.'s southern border.[1] The Minuteman Project's board of directors removed Gilchrist as head of the Minuteman Project amid allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement.[2] In a May 2007 interview, Gilchrist claimed: "I’m the President and always was. I got the corporation back. I have the right to the web site, the bank account, everything. We are back in the same position as we were prior to the hijacking."[3] These claims by Gilchrist, though, do not appear to match the judge's ruling. Judge "Wilkinson issued an interim ruling barring the board members from spending Minuteman Project donations until Gilchrist’s lawsuit is resolved. Wilkinson also rejected Gilchrist’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have restored Gilchrist to power until the case is decided."[4]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Gilchrist holds a B.A. in newspaper journalism from the University of Rhode Island, a B.S. in business administration from California State Polytechnic University, and an MBA in taxation from Golden Gate University. He is a former newspaper reporter and a retired California CPA (Certified Public Accountant) who let his CPA licence expire in 1993 soon after he declared personal bankruptcy in 1992.

Gilchrist is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and recipient of the Purple Heart award for wounds sustained while serving with an infantry unit in Vietnam, 1967 - 1969.

He currently resides in Aliso Viejo, California.[5]

[edit] Minuteman Project firing

As former head of the Minuteman Project, Gilchrist advocated increased border enforcement and apprehension of illegal immigrants. Gilchrist split with fellow founder Chris Simcox, who founded the similarly named Minuteman Civil Defense Corps in December 2005. In February 2007, a bitter feud over leadership of the Minuteman Project began. Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist filed a lawsuit in Orange County, California, against the group's board of directors after they fired him over allegations of fraud, failure to secure nonprofit status, mismanagement and falsifying documents.[2] An injunction has been issued preventing the board members from using the preprinted fundraising letter head with Jim Gilchrist signature on it and from dissappating funds. The Board of Directors are still in control of the name of the "Minuteman Project, Inc.", and Jim Gilchrist was ordered to post a $15,000 bond to continue his efforts to regain control, but a final ruling has not been issued.[6]

[edit] 2005 election bid

Main article: California's 48th congressional district special election, 2005

Gilchrist unsuccessfully ran as an American Independent Party candidate for the United States House of Representatives representing California's 48th Congressional District to replace Republican Chris Cox, who resigned to become Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the low-turnout open primary for Cox's seat held on October 4, 2005, Gilchrist finished behind two Republicans but ahead of all other candidates, including Democrats. He received 14.8% of the vote (a total of 13,423 votes). He was the only one running under his party, and therefore automatically advanced into the run-off.

Gilchrist lost to Republican John Campbell in the December 6 general election, receiving 25.5% (26,507) of the vote. Campbell received 44.4% (46,184), Steve Young (Democrat) 27.8% (28,853), Bea Tiritilli (Green) 1.4% (1,430), Bruce Cohen (Libertarian) 0.9% (974).

Gilchrist has provided conservative opinions on various issues but emphasized that immigration and the border is the primary issue from which the others flow.

He has stated that he would consider a presidential run in 2008 with the Constitution Party, should the two major parties offer candidates with no proactive history in immigration law mination.[7] He stated "If John McCain enters the race for president I will definitely run. John McCain should have forfeited his right to run for president on the Republican Party the moment he put his name on immigration legislation with Sen. Ted Kennedy." However, McCain did enter the race, but Gilchrist has made no announcement of an intended run since McCain's entrance into the race.

[edit] Political views

Gilchrist holds conservative views on education, health care, and taxes. Gilchrist was registered with the American Independent Party, the California affiliate of the Constitution Party, but has since re-registered as a Republican,[8] and is an adamant immigration enforcement, law enforcement and military advocate. Despite all this, he has announced his endorsement of Mike Huckabee for President in December 2007.[9] Huckabee has traditionally been opposed to stricter enforcement of immigration laws and even supported instate tuition and scholarships for illegal aliens.[10] This endorsement of Huckabee by Gilchrist has met with strong criticism from other minutemen and anti-illegal immigration activists.[11][12] It should also be noted that this was a personal endorsement by Gilchrist, not an endorsement by any minuteman organization.[13]

[edit] Criticism

According to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, Gilchrist willingly allowed members of the National Alliance, one of the United States' largest neo-Nazi organizations, to help with his 2005 House run. Gilchrist has claimed that he refuses to work with white supremacists, but the SPLC report questioned his sincerity. The report interviewed a former volunteer in Gilchrist's campaign who said that "they were basically allowing skinheads and white nationalists to work the phone banks and do IT and distribute National Alliance fliers targeting non-whites," and that "[when I told them] that didn't want to work for a campaign that was tainted by white supremacy in any way, they told me not to cause a stir."[14] Gilchrist has denied allowing racist individuals in the project.[15]

In October 2006 Gilchrist appeared on Democracy Now and abruptly ended the interview after Karina Garcia started accusing him of being a murderer and said that he has ties to the National Alliance.[16]

In a March, 2006 interview with the Orange County Register, Gilchrist stopped just short of calling for his followers to pick up their guns: "I'm not going to promote insurrection, but if it happens, it will be on the conscience of the members of Congress who are doing this," he said. "I will not promote violence in resolving this, but I will not stop others who might pursue that."[17]

In April, 2008 Jim Gilchrist attended the "Light Up The Line" event near Campo, CA. In the presence of media and video cameras at the event the many volunteers of the Mountain Minutemen, located at Patriot Point, stated clearly over and over again "WE FIRED YOU!" along with several other heated exchanges against the public figure. [18]

[edit] Books

[edit] References

  1. ^ SPLCenter.org: Nazis, racists join Minuteman Project
  2. ^ a b Jennifer Delson. "A Minuteman meets his hour of crisis: Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the anti-illegal immigrant group, battles three board members for the organization's control." (html), Los Angeles Times, 11 March 2007. "In early February, papers were filed with the state of Delaware showing that Stewart was the organization's new president and Courtney was the new treasurer. An official with the Delaware secretary of state's office said no one but Gilchrist could legally make those changes. Less than three weeks later, Gilchrist sued Coe, Courtney and Stewart, alleging they illegally voted him out of his organization, misallocated organization funds and commandeered his website. A ruling is expected March 21 on his application for a restraining order against the three." 
  3. ^ David Storobin, interviewer. "Exclusive interview: Jim Gilchrist of Minuteman Project on Immigration, Terror, Elections" (html), Global Politician, 30 May 2007. "Q: How do you answer charges of racism against you and the MMP? A: My son-in-law is Mexican and so are 2 of my 3 grandchildren. Ray Herrera is a Mexican, he’s the MMP national rally spokesman. Many of the people affiliated with MMP are Mexican. The racism card is the last resort of a scoundrel who has lost his argument." 
  4. ^ Minute Mess: A struggle over money, power and fame threatens to destroy the Minuteman Project
  5. ^ http://www.minutemanproject.com/index.php?navaction=DoTemplate&TemplateName=Content_List.html&keyname=idContentMainCat&keyvalue=1
  6. ^ Jennifer Delson. "Both sides claim a win in Minuteman suit" (html), 24 March 2007. "Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist and his opponents within the anti-illegal-immigration group both claimed victory Friday after an Orange County Superior Court judge put Gilchrist back in charge of the organization's funds but indicated that those assets might soon be put into receivership.**" 
  7. ^ Founder of Minutemen targets run for president
  8. ^ About at Jim Gilchrist’s Official Website
  9. ^ Mike Huckabee for President - Blogs - Minuteman Founder Endorses Huckabee
  10. ^ Illegal Immigration ALIPAC - Mike Huckabee's Shamnesty for Illegal Aliens!
  11. ^ Marc Ambinder (December 13, 2007) - Minutemen Bash Founder Over Huckabee Endorsement
  12. ^ VDARE.com: 12/11/07 - Meet the GOP's Border Control Cross-Dressers
  13. ^ Marc Ambinder (December 13, 2007) - Minutemen Bash Founder Over Huckabee Endorsement
  14. ^ SPLCenter.org: Racists join Minuteman Project
  15. ^ MMP: Minuteman Project Shuns Supremacist Group at Jim Gilchrist’s Official Website
  16. ^ Democracy Now! | Minuteman Founder Jim Gilchrist Storms Off Democracy Now! Debate With Columbia Student Organizer
  17. ^ News: Minutemen to patrol border in 4 states - OCRegister.com
  18. ^ [http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com/?p=6209 NEWS: Patriots Kick Jim Gilchrist Off The Border - Immigration Watchdog

[edit] See also

United States Marine Corps Portal

[edit] External links

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