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Monday, July 31, 2006

MINUTEMAN FUNDRAISER DRAWS NEWPORT BEACH CITY
COUNCILMAN CENSURED FOR RACIST INSULTS

80 anti-immigrant activists, most from outside Costa
Mesa, join the festivities

By DUANE J. ROBERTS
duaneroberts92804@yahoo.com

COSTA MESA, CALIF -- It was a perfect Sunday afternoon
for a barbecue in Fairview Park. Not a cloud was in
the sky and a cool ocean breeze blew off most of the
muggy heat that Californians have endured lately.

Gilchrist Angels, a group co-founded by wealthy Laguna
Beach "Minutewoman" Eileen Garcia, was holding a
fundraiser for Costa Mesa mayor and honorary
"Minuteman Project" member Allan Mansoor, who is
seeking re-election this November.

Everybody had a good time, including Mansoor. A boyish
grin stretched across his face as he sat down and
autographed T-shirts with American flags imprinted on
the backside for $50 each. He gleefully accepted when
Garcia plunked down a final $500 bid to lock in a
future date with the eligible
bachelor/Minuteman/Mayor.

Where there is cash, there are politicians. Costa Mesa
mayor pro-tem Eric Bever munched down hot dogs and
chips. Huntington Beach congressman Dana Rohrabacher
made his standard, long-winded, anti-immigrant, "pro
America" speech.

Also present was Newport Beach city council member
Dick Nichols, whom Mansoor introduced as an honored
guest. But like many of the other Minuteman types
present, Nichols has a colorful past. He was censured
in 2003 by his council colleagues for making racist
insults about Mexicans.

Nichols had told a reporter at the time that he was
concerned with a proposed expansion of the park area
at Corona del Mar State Beach because "with grass we
usually get Mexicans coming in there early in the
morning and they claim it as theirs, and it becomes
their personal, private grounds all day." {1}

It was no surprise to see Nichols at the mayor's
fund raising event. After all, Mansoor is a bigot magnet.
There seems to be a mutual attraction between the
mayor and a wide variety of racists, mostly from
outside of Costa Mesa, who he obviously hopes to rely
on to fund his political future (not many local
residents attended the Sunday barbecue, incidently).

Since being elected to the city council in 2002,
Mansoor has made his reputation by bashing gays,
trying to "clean up" the city's (immigrant) west side,
appointing a known white supremacist to a
redevelopment board (2), scapegoating local "illegal"
immigrants for heinous crimes -- despite a low crime
rate, and by stifling free speech at city council
meetings.

Good times at the fundraiser were interrupted by
occasional shouts of "Mansoor you're a racist" and
"racists go home" from a small group of demonstrators.

Most of the mayor's supporters handled it in stride
and some engaged in spirited discussions with their political
opponents.

Garcia, the Minutewoman, and the Minuteman ("law and
order") Mayor seemed to be the only ones who couldn't
handle free speech in the park. Garcia tried to
mislead demonstrators and unembedded journalists into
believing that they were "illegals" and the park was
closed to them. And when the mayor noticed he was
being photographed by unembedded journalists, he raced
off in a huff to complain to the
police, but to no avail.

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John Earl of http://www.ocorganizer.com contributed to this
report. All photographs and videos were taken by him.

###


NOTES:

{1} See the following links for more information about
the controversy over Newport Beach city councilman
Dick Nichols' racist insults toward Mexicans.

Unamended resolution condemning Nichols' comments:

http://www.city.newport-beach.ca.us/CouncilAgendas/2003/i07-0815.htm

See Item 15 under "Current Business" for debate on
Nichols' comments:

http://www.city.newport-beach.ca.us/CouncilAgendas/2003/Mn07-08.htm

Other Newport Beach City Council minutes:

http://www.city.newport-beach.ca.us/CouncilAgendas/2003/Mn06-24.htm

Mainstream news accounts about the Nichols
controversy:

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/2280595/detail.html

http://www.nbc4.tv/politics/2318312/detail.html

(2) Protesters Rally Against Costa Mesa Junta’s Minuteman Agenda And Neo-Nazi Ties http://www.ocorganizer.com