aNewDomain
— Richard Greg Gianforte, the newly-elected Montana GOP congressman charged with physically attacking journalist Ben Jacobs yesterday, often parrots Donald Trump’s most incendiary, fear mongering views — especially when it comes to so-called “illegals.”
He of course defends the Mexican border wall, Trump’s deportation policies of undocumented workers and, of course, a steep cut on the number of HB-1 visas the US government issues to highly skilled foreign workers.
So why is Gianforte an investing member in New American Economy, a monied immigration reform think tank founded by News Corp. chair Rupert Murdoch and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2010.
As a member of NAE, which is co chaired by such left-leaning billionaire biz leaders as Disney CEO Bob Iger, Oracle’s Mark Hurd, hotelier J.W. Marriott, Gianforte is under that organization’s charter.
That charter, according to NAE’s site, includes an aim to help identify, train and hire undocumented workers, while easing their paths to employment and US citizenship.
“NAE will enable mayors and CEOs to demonstrate to policymakers the vital role that immigration plays in our economy by publishing studies, conducting polls, convening forums, and sponsoring public education campaigns,” according to an NAE press release.
According to another release, NAE aims to persuade lawmakers and the White House to further legislation that can build “a path to legal status for all undocumented immigrants now in the United States.”
The organization also is out to increase HB-1 visas so more talented foreign workers can enter the country, another of several points it lists that are in stark opposition to anything Gianforte has said he stands for.
Two Gianfortes
Last week, The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs revealed Gianforte’s $250K investment in two Russian mutual funds feeding such US sanctioned Russian mining and oil form as the Kremlin-controlled Rosneft.
Gianforte’s own election disclosures recorded it, but the candidate didn’t publicly acknowledge his illegal Russian investments until Jacobs called him on the carpet for it publicly. Two days later, he literally jumped on Jacobs and, as the reporter put it, “body-slammed him.”
The candidate attempted to explain away the investment to his supporters by saying that all sophisticated investors”invest in these funds, which is of course a silly comment anyone who has ever had a 401K, mutual fund or single stock will immediately recognize.
That’s the second great oxymoron here: The self-proclaimed sophisticate is the same guy who touts, to his base, “evidence” that dinosaurs rode on the ark with the Biblical character Noah.
We await comment. At this writing, Gianforte and NAE co-chairs Iger, Bloomberg, Murdoch and Marriott have not returned calls or emails on that issue,.
Dinosaurs, Noah and a river in Egypt
After the incident, campaign reps denied the events of May 24, as recorded by cameras, audio recorders and eyewitnesses.
Now read the report as recorded by a Fox news team who captured the bizarre altercation.
It gets weirder. The sheriff who charged Gianforte with a light, misdemeanor account of assault hours after the tangle was revealed by journalists to be a Gianforte campaign donor. The sheriff issued a statement soon after saying he was in no way influenced by that decision.
But Gianforte’s membership in a non-profit that was set up to do the very thing he professed to oppose to his base is a wrinkle of a strange new kind.
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NAE Membership List for Helping Undocumented Workers: Mike Bloomberg/Greg Gianforte/Murdoch by Gina Smith on Scribd
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For aNewDomain, I’m Gina Smith.
