Ambush
Having not succeeded in moving leaders over to the 12th, William Gheen chose to give them a reason to do so. His tactic, taint Dan Smeriglio to the point where they wouldn’t work with him anymore. Then they’d be forced to follow him to the 12th since Smeriglio had been central in planning and organizing the June 5th rally and with him being out, it would be hard for anyone to pick up where he left off quickly enough.
The ambush began by Gheen calling all the leaders and presenting to them the "evidence" that Dan Smeriglio was a Nazi or White Supremacist. This would then force the leaders to abandon him. This was a hateful tactic.
But first there was more important work to do for Mr. Gheen. On May 14, 2010 ALIPAC made another press release. This time it wasn’t with the other groups for June 12th, it was solely from ALIPAC and the financial results would only be beneficial to ALIPAC.
"We have several matters to discuss with you.
Action Item 1: Passing the hat.
We estimate that we are going to need to spend around $10,000 for this new additional project in Phoenix, which is beyond our basic operations budget. We need funds for flights and hotels, advertising, HD video services, press releases, information materials, etc..."
The donation link in the press release goes solely to ALIPAC. One wonders what ALIPAC would have asked for had it actually gained control of the June 5th rally. $20,000?$30,000?
"Action Item 2: Calling for more leaders, activists, and groups for June 12
We are very excited that fourteen organizations have rapidly joined the effort to support our June 12 event in Phoenix and to organize some local rallies at state legislatures. We are about to add events in NC and FL!"
This has to be an outright lie. There are not even fourteen substantial organizations in the pro-enforcement movement. There simply couldn't have been that many involved.
"Congressman Steve King of Iowa is coming to speak at our event and we hope to have more elected officials join us."
They mention this again as they did in the previous release, but what happens later will be proof that King was probably never locked down as confirmed.
"We already have over 11,000 people signed up thanks to our earlier efforts with Tea Party Against Amnesty events held across the nation to help stop Amnesty."
If this is true then what will happen next is an outrage and a slap in the face to patriotic Americans.
Gheen had already been shunned by the leaders working on June 5th, you think at this point that Gheen would refocus on the 12th and try to make it a success. The problem is that Gheen had no credibility with anyone in the movement at this point. Some he had burned with his recent actions, others had been burned in the past.
Gheen chose to take the low road once again, though telling others and probably himself, that he was simply doing it "for the movement". He was hell-bent on destroying this young man who had asked nothing and organized a mass rally simply through sheer willpower. There was nothing Gheen or ALIPAC could gain from that.
Gheen chose to go public with the "evidence". Promising to get every media outlet that would listen to pick up the story.
This is probably the most ridiculous thing that Gheen could possibly have done. All of the leaders and speakers - or their aides - had reviewed this "evidence" and found it laughable. The people who took a look at it didn’t just toss it aside like some wet rag. These were serious allegation and they demanded rock solid proof. If the evidence were solid and irrefutable proof that the organizer was a hard core Nazi and White Supremacist then these people were putting their characters, integrity and careers on the line and for what? Some young man who really had nothing to gain, nor asked for anything other than to help a cause he believed in. Why would they do such a thing if the proof was in the pudding?
There was one reason that Gheen went public with it, and in my opinion it wasn’t simply to sink the June 5th rally. It was an escape hatch Gheen created to pull ALIPAC out of the event they had failed to organize due to their incompetence.
Next: High And Dry
