Mother Jones: "There's a Mike Huckabee mystery that won't go away. Send a public records request seeking documents from his 12-year stint as Arkansas governor, as Mother Jones did recently, and an eyebrow-raising reply will come back: The records are unavailable, and the computer hard drives that once contained them were erased and physically destroyed by the Huckabee administration as the governor prepared to leave office and launch a presidential bid."
There's a Mike Huckabee mystery that won't go away.
Send a public records request seeking documents from his 12-year stint as Arkansas governor, as Mother Jones did recently, and an eyebrow-raising reply will come back: The records are unavailable, and the computer hard drives that once contained them were erased and physically destroyed by the Huckabee administration as the governor prepared to leave office and launch a presidential bid.
In 2007, during Huckabee's campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, the issue of the eradicated hard drives surfaced briefly, but it was never fully examined, and key questions remain. Why had Huckabee gone to such great lengths to wipe out his own records? What ever happened to a backup collection that was provided to a Huckabee aide?
Huckabee is now considering another presidential run, and if he does enter the race, he would do so as a frontrunner. Which would make the case of the missing records all the more significant. These records would shed light on Huckabee's governorship—and could provide insight into how a President Huckabee might run the country. Meanwhile, observers of Arkansas' political scene—including one of Huckabee's former GOP allies—say the episode is characteristic of a politician who was distrustful and secretive by nature.
In February, Mother Jones wrote to the office of Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe seeking access to a variety of records concerning his predecessor's tenure, including Huckabee's travel records, calendars, call logs, and emails. Beebe's chief legal counsel, Tim Gauger, replied in a letter that "former Governor Huckabee did not leave behind any hard-copies of the types of documents you seek. Moreover, at that time, all of the computers used by former Governor Huckabee and his staff had already been removed from the office and, as we understand it, the hard-drives in those computers had already been 'cleaned' and physically destroyed."
He added, "In short, our office does not possess, does not have access to, and is not the custodian of any of the records you seek."
"Huckabee just absolutely doesn’t trust anybody," says one former high-ranking Arkansas Republican. "In my experience, if you don't trust people, it's because you're not trustworthy."
The person who may know the most about Huckabee's records—or lack of them—is Jim Parsons. A self-described gadfly, Parsons is a former Green Beret turned good-government crusader who has filed dozens of Freedom of Information requests targeting Arkansas politicos on both sides of the aisle, including the Clintons. Shortly after Huckabee left office, Parsons went to battle with the state over his records.
In January 2007, Parsons requested "a copy of all information" on the Huckabee administration's computers the day he left office. Beebe's office provided Parsons with a January 9 memo addressed to Huckabee from the Arkansas Department of Information Systems, reporting that all of the gubernatorial hard drives had been "crushed under the supervision of a designee of [Huckabee's] office." That is, a Huckabee aide had made sure all this information was destroyed.
The memo included another tantalizing piece of information: The information stored on the drives had been saved on a backup, which was handed over to Huckabee's then-chief of staff, Brenda Turner. The history of the Huckabee administration, then, was locked away, under the watchful eye of a former aide. What did she do with this information? Where is it now? Turner, who now runs the PR shop for a Arkansas-based purveyor of Christian-themed greeting cards, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. (Contacted via his political action committee, Huckabee didn't respond to questions about his records.)
Parsons requested the backups and eventually filed a lawsuit against Huckabee and Beebe, alleging that the new governor had siphoned taxpayer money from an emergency fund to pay to replace the destroyed hard drives. Altogether, the new equipment cost over $335,000. Huckabee countered that the information on the hard drives included private details, such as social security numbers, that shouldn’t be released to the public. In the end, Parsons' suit was dismissed—largely because he didn't name Turner, who apparently possessed the records, as a plaintiff.
What do the Huckabee files hold? The records could provide details on any number of unsettled controversies involving a governor that faced at least 15 ethics complaints concerning, among other things: his failure to report gifts and outside income, his alleged use of state funds and resources for political and personal purposes, and the pardon of a convicted murderer and rapist who went on to kill again once released.
A former high-ranking Arkansas Republican who was once close to Huckabee and who requested anonymity told Mother Jones that the destruction of the hard drives puzzled him. "I don’t know what that was about, if they had things to hide or not," he says. But, he adds, the episode fits with Huckabee's general reticence when it comes to public disclosure. "Huckabee just absolutely doesn’t trust anybody. In my experience, if you don't trust people, it's because you're not trustworthy. We see the world through our own eyes."
Huckabee's aversion to public disclosure extends beyond his gubernatorial papers. He and his handlers have also taken steps to block access to videotapes of his sermons, spanning his 12 years as a Southern Baptist minister before he entered politics. During the 2008 campaign, Mother Jonesreported that Huckabee's campaign had refused to make the sermons public—and that, according to an official at one of the churches he'd led, much of the archival material relating to Huckabee's tenure had been destroyed.
Despite the opacity surrounding Huckabee's political and pastoral record, he has at times fashioned himself as a staunch advocate of government transparency. Running for president in 2007, Huckabee put forth a bold open-government proposal. "There's an old rule that says that when the sun shines, the germs disappear," he said in one video clip (watch it below). "Well you know, frankly, there are a lot of germs in government." So he proposed disclosing every federal government expenditure online within 24 hours. "You could find out exactly where every dollar of the federal budget goes, down to what it cost to mow the courthouse lawn in your hometown at a federal courthouse," he said. Discussing this plan at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (better known as CPAC) in February 2008, he said, "We should demand transparency and accountability from our government."
Yet Huckabee's calls for transparency did not extend to his own records. "There were twelve years of information there, of dealings of the executive branch," marvels Jim Parsons, referring to the hard drives. "And that bit of history is just lost. I thought it was wrong, physically and financially and historically and educationally wrong to just destroy them." He adds, "I probably would vote for him. It's just that he did a bad thing there."
Some of Huckabee's gubernatorial papers do still exist, records that were selected by his office and handed over to his alma mater, Ouachita Baptist University. Due to funding hang-ups and other delays, a spokeswoman for the university says the records won't be accessible to the public for another two years. That is, after the conclusion of the 2012 presidential contest.
Siddhartha Mahanta is an editorial fellow at Mother Jones.
"Huckabee just absolutely doesn’t trust anybody. In my experience, if you don't trust people, it's because you're not trustworthy. We see the world through our own eyes."
He is transparently NOT to be trusted! A complete POS. His records can be found with BO's birth certificate. Never-never land.
If the reader has not already done so, I again urge you to read the book, Hitler's Cross, which was written by Erwin Lutzer and published by Moody Press. This book should be "required reading" for every pastor and Christian layman in America. In his book, Lutzer focuses on the attitudes and actions of Germany's pastors and churches during the rise and reign of the Third Reich. It is a masterpiece.
For those of us living in a country and time far removed from Hitler's Germany, it is hard to comprehend how that nation's Christians--and especially its ministers--could have been so thoroughly taken in by old Adolf. We assume such an event could never happen again--especially to us. However, to any honest observer of history, the conditions of the Church in America today are eerily similar to those of the Church in Nazi Germany.
For one thing, as did the Church in Nazi Germany, the Church in America has become infatuated with Big Government. Historically, patriotism in the United States meant love for God, love for family, and love for freedom and independence. Today, however, Christians of all persuasions have come to accept and even embrace the Nanny State, complete with its intrinsic obsession with an omnipotent federal bureaucracy that exercises perpetual surveillance and absolute control over every area of our lives.
For example, according to today's Republican Presidential candidates (with the exception of Ron Paul), patriotism demands that we click our heels to the Department of Homeland Security and that we enthusiastically support aggressive, preemptive war. This is exactly the kind of redefinition of patriotism used so brilliantly by Hitler and his fellow propagandists. Yes, Martha, it appears that history really does repeat itself.
When Ron Paul was asked about Mike Huckabee's overt usage of a cross for a campaign advertisement, he quoted Sinclair Lewis as saying, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross." Many Christians railed against Dr. Paul for making this comment. However, the truth is, Ron Paul (himself a committed Christian) is one hundred percent right! (To see how Hitler used this same tactic, I invite readers to note the photograph of the German Fuhrer in Lutzer's book, on page 75, which shows Hitler coming out of church with a large emblem of the Cross directly over his head. This photo was used extensively by Hitler during his political campaigns.)
More than any other Republican Presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee carries his Big Government machinations on a cross. I strongly recommend that readers take a look at Selwyn Duke's excellent exposé on Mike Huckabee.
In his book, Lutzer notes that the tool Adolf Hitler used to ascend to power in Germany was his ability to wrap the Nazi flag around the Cross of Christ. In fact, Hitler often required that the Cross be emblazoned directly in the middle of the Nazi flag. These flags were not only prominently displayed in parades, but also in church auditoriums.
As a result of Hitler's brilliant deception, Christians throughout Germany were convinced that he was "God's man." They saw him as more than a political leader: he was a spiritual leader as well. They saw him as their country's President and as their Christian brother. If Hitler said the German people needed to surrender their firearms, they saw it as their Christian duty to comply; if Hitler said they needed to enact a total surveillance society, they freely gave up their privacy; if Hitler said Germany needed to invade other nations for its security, Christians were among the first to volunteer; and if Hitler said they could only be good Christians if they supported the Nazi Party, they enthusiastically supported the Nazi Party.
In short, Germany's Christians and pastors surrendered their hearts and minds to Adolf Hitler, because they believed him to be one of them. What they never would have surrendered to a professing agnostic, they gladly surrendered to a professing Christian. Truly, fascism came to Germany "wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."
Of course, there were a few in Germany who saw through Hitler's deception. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian minister who actively opposed Hitler by organizing what he called the "Confessing Church." These were believers who would not surrender Christ's sphere of authority to Hitler. They saw through "Hitler's Cross." Unfortunately, of the more than 14,000 pastors in Germany, only 800 joined with Bonhoeffer.
To the vast majority of Germany's pastors, Bonhoeffer was an "extremist," or a "kook," or a "nut." They relegated Bonhoeffer to the fringe of Christendom. They believed Hitler and repudiated Bonhoeffer; they chose Hitler's "German Church" over the Confessing Church. In retrospect, however, who would they follow today, if they had the chance?
Likewise, many Christians and ministers today have succumbed to the purveyors of internationalism. Issues such as trade, climate control, health and education--and even war--are the tools globalists use to construct their One World Order.
For example, Mike Huckabee's success in Iowa is largely due to the pastors and Christians of that State buying into his "Christian" campaign. In a manner very similar to the 2000 campaign of George W. Bush, Huckabee has carried his political campaign on the Cross. At the same time, however, Mike Huckabee (as does George W. Bush) embraces and promotes globalism. And, unfortunately, many Christians and pastors do not seem to notice or care.
"Have you wondered why Mike Huckabee is suddenly getting so much favorable attention from the mainstream media (who themselves are controlled by this gaggle of global elite)? To find the answer as to why a professing pro-life, conservative Christian would suddenly become the darling of the media, look no further than the fact that just a couple of months ago, Mr. Huckabee appeared before the globalist-minded Council on Foreign Relations. (To read his speech click here) And when he did, it became abundantly clear that Huckabee was a man globalists could trust.
"By the way, as you read Huckabee's speech, you will find that he is George W. Bush on steroids! This is a man who intends to meddle in the affairs of nations around the world like you can't believe. Talk about entangling alliances: Huckabee intends for our State, Energy, Housing, Education, Justice, Treasury, and Transportation departments to spend untold billions of tax dollars on just about anything and everything, including schools, medical facilities, roads, sewage treatment, water filtration, electricity, and legal and banking systems in countries all over the globe. And that is exactly the kind of man the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) wants in Washington."
After reporting the connection between Mike Huckabee and the CFR, numerous Christians quickly consigned my soul to the regions of the damned and accused me of being a "nut." Some emphatically declared that I had no right to criticize "a Christian brother." Now, who does that sound like?
More importantly, however, is the question, Were my remarks accurate? And the answer is, Yes, they were.
We now learn that Mike Huckabee has named Richard Haass as his advisor on foreign policy. And just who is Richard Haass? He is the President of the CFR. And what does Haass believe? He believes that the United States (and every other country) must surrender its sovereignty to international or global entities. On February 21, 2006, Haass wrote a column for the Taipei Times entitled, "State Sovereignty Must be Altered in Globalized Era." This treatise is nothing more than an explicit solicitation for global government. (To read it click here)
In his treatise, Haass writes, "For 350 years, sovereignty--the notion that states are the central actors on the world stage and that governments are essentially free to do what they want within their own territory but not within the territory of other states--has provided the organizing principle of international relations. The time has come to rethink this notion."
He also wrote, "Moreover, states must be prepared to cede some sovereignty to world bodies if the international system is to function."
He went on to say, "[S]overeignty must be redefined if states are to cope with globalization."
He further said, "Globalization thus implies that sovereignty is not only becoming weaker in reality, but that it needs to become weaker. States would be wise to weaken sovereignty in order to protect themselves . . . Sovereignty is no longer a sanctuary."
Haass also wrote, "Our notion of sovereignty must therefore be conditional, even contractual, rather than absolute."
Haass then summarized his desire for global government by saying, "The goal should be to redefine sovereignty for the era of globalization, to find a balance between a world of fully sovereign states and an international system of either world government or anarchy."
These are the sentiments of the man that the "Christian conservative" Mike Huckabee has chosen to be his foreign policy advisor. Can you not see how, once again, a global government elitist wraps his Big Government ambitions around the Cross of Jesus Christ?
We desperately need Bonhoeffer's "Confessing Church" in America. If pastors do not quickly wake up to the way most of our politicians--even those who profess to be Christians--are selling out America's sovereignty and independence, our wonderful country will not long survive.
I have attempted to resurrect the "Confessing Church" in the form of a 21st Century "Black Regiment." Students of U.S. history recognize the "Black Regiment" as those Colonial Patriot-Pastors who led their churches to assist the efforts of America's fight for independence. Currently, we have over 100 pastors, evangelists, and missionaries listed on our Black Regiment directory.
I, once again, encourage readers to buy Lutzer's book, Hitler's Cross. I'm praying that this time there will arise an army of Dietrich Bonhoeffers to lead a modern-day revival of true patriotism: love for God, love for family, and a strong love and commitment to freedom and independence. Call it the "Confessing Church," or the "Black Regiment." Call it what you will: we need it desperately, and we need it now.
He went so far as to suggest that a Republican legislator wasn't a good Christian for proposing a bill to prohibit spending taxpayer money to give illegal aliens benefits, saying that he drank a different kind of "Jesus juice"
The oldest trick in the book.
If you're anti-Huckabee, you're anti-Christian. That will strike fear in the hearts of Bubba and Skeeter.