June 01, 2009 07:41 PM UTC

Tancredo's PAC director pleads guilty to hate crime

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• by: twas brillig

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

How embarrassing that this story is Colorado-relevant, but….

Last week, jaws dropped around the country as Tom Tancredo led the charge against Sonia Sotomayor — ludicrously accusing the Supreme Court nominee of being a racist, and making blatantly slanderous claims about the National Council of La Raza.

Let’s square that today with the news that Marcus Epstein, Tancredo’s Political Action Committee executive director, is pleading guilty to a 2007 assault on a woman walking down the sidewalk while shouting racial epithets…and he’s still on the job.

On July 7, 2007, at approximately 7:15 p.m. at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street making offensive remarks when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [REDACTED], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, “Nigger,” as he delivered a karate chop to Ms. [REDACTED]’s head.

Given Tancredo has had two years to get rid of this guy, he and his organization are openly tolerating a violent racist as its lead employee. Considering in 2003 Epstein was authoring pieces attacking Martin Luther King Jr., among other “race consciousness” and neo-confederate activities, Tancredo can’t reliably say he was only giving his ED the benefit of the doubt during this legal process.

According to the Washington Independent:

A spokesman for Team America PAC confirmed that Epstein is still at work until he leaves for law school in the fall, and an official statement is forthcoming.

(h/tip TPM)

Update via comments: Looks like law school suddenly is on hold, but wouldn’t you know Epstein’s current employers are very “tolerant” folks.