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October 20, 2011
Dear Members and Friends,
The Bucks County Courier Times is reporting, today, that a member of the Kitchen Table Patriots inner circle, John Casino, who uses the alias John Cusimano, has been making a living selling Nazi uniforms and paraphernalia (almost exclusively) for over three decades.
Selling such items is so controversial that, to this day, it is illegal in
at least four European countries.
Not until Casino started working closely with the KTP in the fall of 2010, did he announce on his site that he was including American militaria in his list of products. Those products were not added until earlier this week, most likely in anticipation of today's column.
The following links are archived snapshots of the Casino website since 2003:
9/22/03
6/18/2006
12/12/2009
01/17/2010
02/8/2011
10/18/2011
It is very difficult for me to believe that an individual selling such items for profit--to clients who may include neo nazis and skin heads--does not have sympathies which fall far out of the main stream of the Tea Party movement.
Indeed, the Tea Party movement has fought long and hard to fend off
charges that it is racist and harbors elements of the far right among its membership.
Casino, cameraman extraordinaire, assists in the operation of
WKTP-TV, a promotional You Tube, You-Stream station that films the leaders of KTP--Anna Puig and Anastasia Przybylski--at various local and national venues.
At this year's Faith and Freedom Conference in DC, Casino videotaped
both Anas as they interviewed various prominent conservative figures,
including Presidential candidates Herman Cain and Ron Paul, and US Senator Jim DeMint.
Casino is such an integral member of the "KTP Team" that he was
recently invited to participate in a "Green" room reception at the Moose Club in Doylestown where he was photographed with Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, both Anas, and other members of the group. Several of the photos were then posted on the facebook page of one of the group's founders.
Specifically, Przybylski knew at the time of the Gingrich event, if not sooner, that Casino sold Nazi War memorabilia for a living because the Courier Times reporter, JD Mullane, had informed her several day earler.
Besides the serious ethical questions surrounding the selling of such items, it was the recklessness and irresponsibility of it all that finally convinced me that I should make a formal statement about Casino and his role in the KTP.
Having known about the matter since late 2010, it was an extremely difficult burden to bear. I was hoping that the KTP leadership would eventually remove Casino. But I guess, in the end, his video equipment and services were far too valuable.
And most disturbing about their refusal to disassociate themselves from Casino is how vehemently they protested having any connection with
the far right after Chris Matthews tried to link the group, and the entire Tea Party movement, to such elements in a Hardball documentary, last year, of which both Anas were featured.
To this day, the leaders of the KTP are defending their association with
Casino and are keeping him on board. They are attempting to rationalize
what he does for a living and have even allowed him to introduce a prominent Jewish leader at a recent Glenn Beck viewing party in support of Israel. Mullane told me that when he initially confronted Przybylski about the Casino matter, she told him that the group had heard "rumors." As soon as they heard "rumors" about Casino--they should have
investigated and removed him from their ranks.
On his website, Casino gives the obligatory disclaimer regarding his views on Nazism.
But following the disclaimer, he appears to glorify the Nazi War machine by attractively laying out their military uniforms and other materials.
Over the decades, his items have included a hand carved bust of Hitler, hand held Nazi flags, and various Hitler youth memorabilia.
In the United States, a citizen has a legal right to sell such items--and we have a legal right to criticize the individual that does. But the greater question is, should such an individual be allowed to play an integral in a Tea Party group and the Tea Party movement in general?
Sincerely,
Don Adams, Co-founder and Board Member
Independence Hall Tea Party Association |
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