Suburban GOP group slammed for bringing controversial candidate here for fundraiser
A North Shore Republican organization is taking heat from members of both major political parties for hosting a fundraiser next weekend featuring embattled North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, who has downplayed the Holocaust, made inflammatory comments about Black people and this week was the focus of a news report about posts on a pornography website's message board.
Robinson, who is Black and is North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, is scheduled to appear Sept. 29 at a Kenilworth fundraiser for the Tenth Congressional District Republican Organization, a state-registered political action committee chaired by Mark Shaw, the former head of the Lake County Republican Party and — until his June ouster — a vice chair of the Illinois Republican Party.
The Kenilworth-based New Trier Township Republican organization also is featured in promotional material for the event.
Other Republican organizations, however, sought to distance themselves from the fundraiser.
Northfield Township GOP chair T.J. Brown of Northbrook urged organizers to cancel it, calling the remarks attributed to Robinson “appalling.”
Lake County Republican Party chair Keith Brin noted that, despite its name, Shaw’s group and the event aren’t raising money for 10th District Republican candidate Jim Carris of Lake Forest or any other Republican candidates from Lake County.
“This event is all about Mark Shaw,” Brin said. “The party needs to once again rebuke him for his poor decisions. Mr. Shaw and his organization represent no one but themselves.”
According to promotional material, the fundraiser will benefit an effort to build support for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in Wisconsin.
Neither Shaw nor representatives of the New Trier GOP organization could be reached for comment.
U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider of Highland Park, who represents the 10th District, is among the Democrats who’ve shined a spotlight on Robinson’s pending suburban appearance and criticized Republicans for hosting him.
“The Tenth District has long been served by people who, irrespective of their party, stood against antisemitism, racism, and hate,” Schneider said. “It’s sad to see that the current Republican Party’s leadership have turned their back on that legacy and are now not only welcoming the likes of Mark Robinson, they are honoring him.”
Lake County Democratic Party Chair Lauren Beth Gash said local Republicans should be ashamed of working with Robinson.
“But it's not surprising considering how deeply they've become the Party of Trump,” she said.
Trump’s campaign seems to be putting space between the former president and Robinson, who previously had been endorsed by Trump. Robinson, who polls indicate is trailing Democratic nominee Josh Stein in North Carolina’s gubernatorial race, isn’t expected to appear at Trump campaign rally there Saturday, sources told The Associated Press.
Robinson’s incendiary public statements on social media about Blacks, Jews, members of the LGBTQ community and more go back years.
In a 2017 Facebook post about communism, Robinson called the Nazis “upstart amateurs in terms of manipulation and MURDER.” Later that year, Robinson used Facebook to complain about media companies airing programs “about the NAZI and the ‘6 million Jews’ they murdered,” putting quotes around the figure acknowledged to be the estimated number of Jews slaughtered during the Holocaust.
In 2018, Robinson said the award-winning “Black Panther” superhero movie used a Hebrew word for currency and a Yiddish slur to say the film was created to take money from Black filmgoers.
This week, CNN reported that Robinson posted racist and explicit messages on a pornography website’s message board a decade ago. Neither the Daily Herald nor The Associated Press have confirmed the contents of the report, and Robinson denied it.
• Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.