FAIR Denies Connection to Shawna Forde

Two days ago, I wrote about anti-immigrant activist Shawna Forde's introduction on a PBS show in 2006 as a representative of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).  I wrote:

This is not a connection I’ve seen elsewhere, and it isn’t clear whether Forde was acting in a temporary role, whether her association with FAIR was more substantial, or whether FAIR was even aware of her claim to represent the group.

But these questions are fairly posed, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who would like to hear the answers.

I wasn't, as ThinkProgress and SPLC also picked up on the connection.

FAIR has now responded unequivocally:

FAIR has no association with Shawna Forde. "Ms. Forde is not and never was an employee, member, activist, or donor of FAIR and most certainly has never been authorized to speak on behalf of our organization," stated Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "Ms. Forde misrepresented herself as a spokesperson for FAIR in a 2006 appearance on KYVE-TV in Yakima, Washington, and the producers of the program were remiss in failing to authenticate her false claims."

I'm glad to have the clarification.

Dave Neiwert dug a little deeper on this:

So I then contacted [the host of the PBS segment,] Enrique Cerna, and asked if he could remember how it was that Forde came to be on the program, and how she was identified as a "spokesperson" for FAIR.

Cerna: She actually wasn't going to be on that show. They put her in there at the last minute. The fellow who originally was supposed to be on [Bob Baker, the state's FAIR representative]. What happened was that he wasn't able to make it ... and then they had to scramble on that day to find somebody, and then, I don't know how they picked her but they ended up picking her. And so, the day that we did it, it was kind of a last-minute thing. There were a lot of phone calls. So they put her in there, and we didn't really know a lot about her. And it was very quickly apparent that she was very, um, right-wing.

It's not clear from this quote who the "they" who "put her in there" was. Neiwert continues:

So I contacted Baker, who in 2006 was heading up an (ultimately unsuccessful) effort to pass a statewide anti-immigrant initiative. He similarly couldn't remember how Forde got picked for that show, but he said he was dismayed by her performance:

Baker: She did not represent FAIR. I am the state representative for FAIR. If that's how she represented herself, then she misrepresented who she was.

I called them -- at the time I was a reserve pilot. I was going to be on the panel, and I got called, so I couldn't be on it. I certainly didn't recommend her, I don't know how she got put on the panel.

Baker described his own experience with Forde, which included her being booted from the Minutemen. I asked Baker why Forde was removed, and he answered vaguely that she had tried to claim being spokesman for the Washington state Minutemen too, as well as other unspecified interpersonal issues the Minuteman leadership had with her. But he also spoke warmly about her:

Baker: She's very zealous towards the rule of law. You know, illegal immigration is systematically destroying our country. And she was just, like many of us -- you know, maybe she was a little too zealous, perhaps.

I then described to him the details of the crime she's charged with: Ordering a home-invasion robbery in which the victims, including two children, were to be gunned down so that there would be not witnesses. The result: a 9-year-old girl and her father dead, their mother wounded -- and a wounded member of the gang, shot when the mother fired back.

He said: "Ah, that's not her. She wouldn't do something like that. That's what a common criminal would do, right?"

Yes, well, it is. As I remarked to Baker: that's one helluva way for someone to show her zealousness for "the rule of law."

FAIR's spokesmen have consistently stated, as far as I've seen, that Forde wasn't formally affiliated with the organization. But it looks like FAIR's own Washington state representative has not yet gotten the message to throw Forde overboard. I expect he'll be toeing the party line by tomorrow.