Rep. Taylor calls on ALEC to rebuke remarks by Hatemonger David Horowitz and for Bradley Foundation to stop funding him

MADISON – Last Friday, Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) was attending the 45th annual American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference in New Orleans, where hatemonger David Horowitz was a panelist in a workshop on the Convention of States (COS) initiative. COS is pushing for a Constitutional Convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution to amend it and limit the power of the federal government. 

Horowitz is known for his anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim positions, and was identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “one of America's most dangerous hatemongers.” Over the years, Horowitz has received over $3 million dollars from the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation.

During the panel, Horowitz embarked on a paranoid, right-wing rant in which he praised President Trump for not retreating after calling Rosie O’Donnell a “big fat pig.” He also repeatedly accused Democrats of “hating” the constitution for the “monstrous lie” that they tell:   

“One of the really vicious things about the left is how they attack the founding principles of this country. I’ve heard this from democratic leaders, I remember Al Gore saying it, they say it all the time, that the Constitution is, you know designed by slave owners and it regards blacks as three-fifths of a human being. Well actually the word black, white, male, female those words do not exist in the constitution. The whole identity politics is anti-constitution.” 

Horowitz continued: 

“And of course you need to understand that the three-fifths of a human being, it was not blacks because there were like 500,000 free blacks in America at the time. But it was ‘unfree’ persons and ‘free persons.’  And of course the South wanted to count slaves as 5/5s of a person as a full human being so they would have more power in the Congress as the Congress was elected by population. So if you were anti-slavery you were for three-fifths and if you pro-slavery you were against it you wanted it to be 5/5s. So this is a monstrous lie that people on the left tell about the constitution to discredit it.” 

During the question and answer period, Rep. Taylor commented that Horowitz remarks were offensive to women and people of color. Horowitz doubled down and replied that Rosie O’Donnell is a “big fat pig” and the panelist moderator interrupted that Rep. Taylor had misunderstood Horowitz’s remarks about slavery.

 “The leadership at ALEC, including their leader Lisa Nelson, should immediately denounce these racist and sexist comments by David Horowitz,” stated Rep. Taylor. “The treatment of African-Americans as less than human in the constitution and as chattel held in slavery should be easily condemned by organizations and individuals of all political affiliations. The South shouldn’t be commended for wanting to fully count slaves for population purposes so they could consolidate political power and continue the abhorrent institution of slavery.

“Horowitz’s moral outrage should be directed towards the mostly Southern enslavement of human beings based on skin-color and the incorporation of this brutality into the foundational document for our government,” continued Taylor “Instead, Horowitz labels those who criticize this sub-human constitutional designation of African-Americans as ‘liars’ engaging in ‘identity politics.’ It is shameful that ALEC is providing a platform for hatemongers like Horowitz to spread their sexism and racism. ALEC should condemn these statements and sentiments immediately.”

“The Bradley Foundation should also immediately cease funding hatemonger Horowitz,” concluded Taylor. “We should all be able to understand that attacking women and commending the South during their brutal enslavement of people of color is outrageous and unacceptable.”

For additional information, see Rep. Taylor’s recently published article, “ALEC in Disarray.”