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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Paper Links Pratt, Anti-Semitic Group Ex-Buchanan Aide Denies Latest Allegations Of Racism

Associated Press

Larry Pratt, who stepped aside as co-chairman of Pat Buchanan’s presidential campaign over alleged links to racist groups, has connections to an antiSemitic newsletter, a newspaper reported.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also reported Saturday that Pratt has repeatedly taken part in events featuring political extremists, but Pratt issued a statement denying the latest charges as “outrageously false.”

The newspaper reported that Pratt, 53, is a contributing editor to a newsletter published by United Sovereigns of America, a group based in Del City, Okla. The group sells extremist materials including the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and the handbook of the Posse Comitatus.

The “Protocols” is a czarist-era forgery that appears at first glance to be a plan for a world takeover by Jews. The far-right Posse Comitatus engaged federal marshals in armed conflict in the 1980s.

In his statement, Pratt said, “I was never asked to be a contributing editor to (the) publication. This is the first time I have even heard of it. “Anybody can get my materials,” he added, saying he encourages “people to copy and distribute it freely.”

Pratt says he has no anti-Semitic or racist views, and Buchanan has defended him, saying he stands by his friends. Pratt also points out that he is a member of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.

“The issue today is not my beliefs,” Pratt said Friday, the day after he stepped aside. “The issue today is a scurrilous attack designed to derail the success of the Buchanan campaign.”

House Speaker Newt Gingrich, addressing the Georgia Republican Party’s President’s Day Celebration Saturday, said his colleagues should condemn anyone “who is antiSemitic being active in politics. It’s wrong.”

“I think that we have to take a strong, clear position that we are opposed to anybody who is involved with racism or antiSemitism and I would expect Pat Buchanan to take the same position with his campaign and to make it clear that there is no room in his campaign for people who are anti-Semitic or people who are racist,” Gingrich said.

The newspaper enumerated several instances when Pratt attended events either sponsored or heavily attended by members of farright groups. Pratt’s aides said that in some cases he attended the events without knowing who else planned to appear.

In other cases, they said, Pratt limited his participation at the events to speaking against gun control.

In 1993, the newspaper said, Pratt spoke at the Jubilation Conference in Sacramento, Calif. Paul Hall Sr., publisher of the openly racist and anti-Semitic Jubilee magazine, sponsored the event.