$2 Million in Populist Party Money Missing from Dead Treasurer's FEC Files

[Michael Pugliese]

   Factionalist Feuding on the far right. Don Wassell publishes the paper of
the American Nationalist Union, http://www.anu.org/ (current issue has
picture of Dubya with a crown, the Intelligence Report always has lotsa far
right gossip and newsbytes). Kirk Lyons, a neo-Nazi lawyer for the
C.A.U.S.E. Foundation, http://www.main.nc.us/wncceib/lynaziinterview.html ,
was along with Ramsey Clark, one of the attorneys in the losing suit brought
by families of the Waco Branch Davidians.  His friend at the Christian
Identity compound Elohim City, Andreas Strassmeir, is the son of a
confidante of  Helmut Kohl. Y'all remember, Mark Lane from the 60's. He's
married to Willis Carto's daughter. Bo Gritz is the model for "Rambo".
   This story reminds me of the millions of dollars that the "Aryan
Republican Army" stole in the eighties in bank heists, that was given to
groups like the Aryan Nations, which Morris Dees, right now is suing, like
he has various KKK groups.
                                                Michael Pugliese


Sixteen years ago, in its issue No. 36 for 1984 (Sept. 3), The SPOTLIGHT
reported on the first national convention of the Populist Party and its
nomination of former Olympic champion Bob Richards and health freedom
advocate Maureen Kennedy Salaman as the party's candidates for president and
vice president.

Established just eight months earlier, under the auspices of Liberty Lobby,
the populist Institution that publishes The SPOTLIGHT, the party showed
phenomenal growth in its infancy. Thou sands of patriots rallied behind the
party under its founding chairman, populist writer Robert H. Weems, and Jim
Yar brough, a respected third-party organizer.

Although some feared the party would "help elect a Democrat"-a major
stumbling block in party recruitment-the party's own presidential candidate
prov ed an even greater encumbrance.

When the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) falsely alleged the party was
"anti-Semitic," Richards was so terrified he considered withdrawing up to
the last minute prior to his nomination.

However, things got worse. Richards fell under the spell of a trio of
promoters, two known to be federal undercover in formants and another an
outspoken devotee of Israel. They convinced Richards the "only way" he could
"win" would be to break with The SPOTLIGHT-which is what Richards did.

He crossed the country denouncing The SPOTLIGHT and, in the end, repudiated
the party and its platform, describing himself as only an "independent"
candidate.

In spite of Richards, the party made strides forward with vice presidential
candidate Maureen Salaman and newly-elected national chairman Bill Baker
working energetically to promote the party.

On the ballot in 14 states, the Populist ticket won 66,000 votes, a
respectable showing for a "new" party divided within, but also competing
against Ronald Reagan, who won a landslide re-election.

Although Richards promptly disappeared from the scene, the mess he created
came back to haunt Liberty Lobby which bore the brunt of fines levied
against his campaign by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The FEC spent
more than five years harassing Liberty Lobby for setting the party in
motion.

Following the election, the party parliamentarian, William K. Shearer of
California, engaged in power plays that alienated party members. At one
point, Shearer even invited a known ADL asset, Roy Bullock of San Francisco,
into a party leadership position even though Shearer had been warned of
Bullock's ADL affiliation.

Dissatisfaction with Shearer resulted in many state parties disassociating
themselves from the national party.

In response to the urgings of grassroots party leaders, Liberty Lobby foun
der Willis Carto and others convened a meeting to reconstitute a new party.
Shearer's faction quickly folded and Shearer was left with only his own
dissipated American Independent Party (AIP) remnant in California.

A new national party was established in March 1987 at which time former Rep.
George V. Hansen (R-Idaho) indicated he would accept the party's 1988
presidential nomination.

A dedicated party leader, Tom Mc Intyre, was elected national chairman. Don
Wassall was named secretary of the party's new national office. Despite some
reservations, Wassall was permitted to own and profit from the official
party newspaper, The Populist Observer.

In the meantime, the party convention met in St. Louis on Labor Day weekend,
1987, and gave Hansen its nod. Tennes see businessman Hubert Patty was named
his running mate. Hansen, however, astounded the party by bowing out of the
race, preferring to launch his own populist enterprise and in no short time
ended up in prison on trumped-up char ges of check-kiting relating to his
new venture.

Still, party leaders were confident a new candidate would emerge and
scheduled the party's national committee meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, in
March 1988 to select a replacement.

At that meeting, two candidates vied for the nod: Louisiana maverick David
Duke and former Green Beret James (Bo) Gritz, first introduced to the
patriot movement by The SPOTLIGHT.

Although Don Wassall worked feverishly behind the scenes for Gritz, fearing
the party would be called "racist" were Duke nominated, Duke overwhelmingly
defeated Gritz and then asked Gritz to be his running mate.

Gritz accepted, but "played Hansen" and shocked the party by withdrawing and
privately denouncing Duke as a "racist." He then ran for Congress, but was
defeated in the GOP primary. Party leaders then drafted Dr. Floyd Parker, a
veteran third-party organizer, as Duke's running mate.

On the ballots of 11 states, Duke-Parker won 48,267 votes, a good showing
for a party with a minimal budget and hardly any media coverage. In fact,
Duke's showing provided him the springboard that led to his election as a
Republican to the Louisiana legislature in 1989 and to his phenomenal
campaigns for governor and U.S. senator.

After the 1988 election, dissatisfaction with Don Wassall led to the
resignations of Chairman McIntyre, Vice Chairman Yarbrough and other party
leaders. In the void, Wassall assumed the chairmanship.

The SPOTLIGHT reported on the criticisms of Wassall-who promptly began
claiming The SPOTLIGHT was "attacking the Populist Party." In the meantime,
Wassall moved again to recruit Gritz as the party's 1992 presidential
candidate.

Gritz never agreed to be the party's candidate, proclaiming he was an
"independent" and-predictably-there was friction with Wassall, who was
raising money out of an office he set up in Ford City, Pa.

Gritz infuriated many by publicly attacking David Duke and even claimed a
SPOTLIGHT photo of Gritz and Duke as the party's initial 1988 ticket had
been "doctored" and that he could not remember the photo having been taken.

Despite Wassall's false allegation that SPOTLIGHT criticism of Wassall was
harmful to Gritz, who was on the ballot in 18 states, Gritz still won
106,619 votes, more than twice as many as Duke.

Gritz ran behind two "third party" candidates on the ballot in all 50
states-Libertarian Andre Marrou (with 278,528 votes) and Lenora Fulani of
the New Al liance Party (with 211,742 votes)-but still did better than
Howard Phillips of the U.S. Taxpayer Party.

In addition, much to the embarrassment of William K. Shearer, who had placed
Phillips on the AIP ballot line in California, Gritz won more votes in
California via write-in than Phillips won by actually being on Shearer's
ballot line.

>From 1992 to 1995, Wassall told conflicting stories as to the nature of the
party's condition, but continued to raise money and to publish The Populist
Ob server as the party organ (personally pro fiting from the paper, unknown
to most party contributors).

At one point Wassall filed a $25 million libel action against The SPOTLIGHT
for describing him as a political nerd. Indi cating perhaps Was sall's
hidden agenda, Wassall drag ged col umnist Pat Bu chan an into the
controversy by suing The SPOTLIGHT for point ing out, quite correctly, that
Bu chanan had wisely refused Was sall's offer of the Populist presidential
nomination.

In the end, after The SPOTLIGHT's attorney, Mark Lane, grilled Wassall under
oath and forced him to admit, among other things, that he was a heavy
marijuana user, Wassall withdrew the suit.

Meanwhile, the party was disintegrating and on Sept. 18, 1995, The Chicago
Tribune reported that Wassall claimed "it doesn't make a lot of sense [for
the Populist Party to field a presidential candidate in 1996] with Pat
Buchanan already out there [seeking the GOP's nomination]," although,
Buchanan was out of the GOP race early on.

At the same time, however, Wassall alleged that it was because of The
SPOTLIGHT's criticism of Wassall that the party was unable to field a
presidential candidate.

In September 1995 Wassall announced the party was "suspending" its
activities. Although he had scrapped the party, Wassall continued to publish
the party newspaper under a new name. He also changed the party's name and
proclaimed it to be a "union," but Wassall alone profited from the "new"
venture.

In the meantime, Wassall filed a malpractice suit on his own (and in the
name of the party's national committee) against the attorney he had
previously retained to conduct his failed suit against The SPOTLIGHT.

Wassall won a $2.1 million judgment and with his cronies divided the money
up. Although what Wassall pocketed remains unknown, FEC records indicate
Wassall's treasurer, Phil Chesler, took some $85,000. Whether Chesler split
those funds with others remains a mystery since Chesler died shortly after
advising the FEC that the party was now officially dissolved.

Although a portion of the $2.1 million was channeled through the party bank
account, the party's "National Commit tee" (in whose name Wassall filed the
suit) never received a penny, according to FEC records. Instead, Chesler and
several Wassall cronies-including Billy Chand ler, John Justice and Tom Par
ker-shared the loot.

Wassall's friend, Kirk Lyons-best known as the confidant of Andreas
Strassmeir, a reputed undercover government informant linked to the Oklahoma
bombing-also received a cut.

Sixteen years after the Populist Party was founded in the highest of hopes,
the party is dead, a noble effort destroyed from within. The populist
movement, however, is very much alive.