One Wisconsin Now Demands Gov. Scott Walker Return Contributions From White Supremacist Leader, Support Removal of Confederate Flag From South Carolina Capitol Grounds

MADISON, Wis. — Earl Holt, a white supremacist leader whose organization’s racist rants reportedly influenced the individual that massacred nine black churchgoers in a racially-motivated terror attack in Charleston, South Carolina, has made at least seven donations totaling $3,500 to Wisconsin governor and presumed 2016 presidential candidate Scott Walker. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross demanded Walker return the money and call for the immediate removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s capitol grounds.

“Scott Walker has taken multiple contributions totaling thousands of dollars from a despicable known white supremacist,” commented Ross. “Scott Walker should be ashamed to have taken Earl Holt’s money in the first place and he should immediately return those contributions and any other undisclosed contributions he’s received from Holt to his numerous fundraising entities.”

According to state of Wisconsin campaign finance records, Earl Holt of Longview, Texas made $500 donations to Scott Walker’s gubernatorial campaign on seven instances between October 2011 and October 2014, including four alone in 2014. Walker has not yet filed reports of donations to his 527 Our American Revival, his SuperPAC, run by his former gubernatorial campaign manager, or his recently-formed presidential exploratory committee.

Holt has been identified as the head of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group identified as a white supremacist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The South Carolina terrorist shooter credited Holt’s group as the source of racist information he posted to a website registered in his name.

This weekend Walker dodged questions about his views on the flying of the Confederate flag on the South Carolina Capitol grounds or elsewhere in the aftermath of the racially-motivated slaying of black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, calling it a “state issue.”

Ross noted that Walker may believe it politically inconvenient to offend racists in the midst of his audition for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, but failing to do so would be the ultimate display of hypocrisy and political calculation from a career politician who refers to himself as “bold.”

He concluded, “Giving back campaign contributions from white supremacists and taking a stand against the public display of the symbols of their hate on public lands shouldn’t be too much to ask from a politician who won’t stop telling us about his boldness. We’re calling on Mr. Walker to simply do the right thing.”