Story posted Wednesday, November 18, 2009
10th District Green Party Candidate Under Fire
Richard Mayers of Chicago is running for Congress in the 10th Dist. as a Green Party candidate. He is facing several petition challenges from several high profile candidates and politicos, one of whom is charging that he is a "Nazi."
"It is clear that Mayers wants to bring his message of hate and intolerance to a significantly Jewish district. Julie Hamos is not going to let that happen," read a written statement from 10th Dist Democratic candidate Julie Hamos' campaign on her challenge to Mayers' petitions. Hamos' press release called Mayers "an admitted Nazi."
The Hamos camp said Mayers was a member of the Creative Movement formerly known as the white supremacist organization, The World Church of the Creator.
Hamos is challenging Mayers on the basis of not having enough valid signatures on his petitions.
All Mayers' needs as a Green candidate is 31 valid signatures, said a spokeswoman for the 10th Dist. Dems organization.
State campaign filings show Mayers lives outside the 10th Dist. in the 6100 block of W. 64th Place, Chicago. He is listed as a former resident of Berwyn.
In addition to running in the 10th, Mayers also filed petitions for 3rd Congressional Dist. state central committeeman in the Green Party and for Illinois governor also as a Green candidate. His petitions are being challenged in all those races and he has withdrawn from the race for governor.
Hamos campaign staffers pointed to two incidents in 2005 to back their allegation that Mayers was associated with white supremacists. They said he destroyed five Jewish Holocaust related videotapes at the Riverside Public Library and led an effort to organize a white supremacist rally in Berwyn.
Riverside police confirmed that Mayers was arrested and charged with misdemeanor damage to state property for damaging the videotapes in 2005. Cook County Court records show those charges were later dropped.
Berwyn police said they were familiar with Mayers but referred comment to the city administration. A spokeswoman for Berwyn Mayor Robert Lovero said she would not comment on the matter.
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