Jim Gilchrist

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Jim Gilchrist
Born	(1949-01-13) January 13, 1949 (age 76) North Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Occupation(s)	Activist, Author
Political party	Republican

James "Jim" Walter Gilchrist, Jr. (born January 13, 1949) is the American co-founder, along with Chris Simcox, of the Minuteman Project, a group whose aim is to prevent illegal immigration across the United States's southern border.

Early life

Gilchrist holds a B.A. in newspaper journalism from the University of Rhode Island, a B.S. in business administration from California State Polytechnic University, and an MBA in taxation from Golden Gate University. He is a former newspaper reporter and a retired California CPA (Certified Public Accountant).

Gilchrist is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and recipient of the Purple Heart award for wounds sustained while serving with an infantry unit in Vietnam, 1967 - 1969.

He currently resides in Aliso Viejo, California.

Minuteman Project Governance

As co-founder of the Minuteman Project, Gilchrist advocated increased border enforcement and apprehension of illegal immigrants. Gilchrist split with fellow founder Chris Simcox, who founded the similarly named Minuteman Civil Defense Corps in December 2005. In late 2005 Gilchrist increased awareness of the illegal immigration and raised the level of debate on the issue by running for Congress in the 48th District (the seat previously held by Chris Cox). Gilchrist raised a substantial amount of money and received a respectable percentage of the vote in the primary election.

After his congressional run, fueled by the publicity of that campaign, Minuteman Project, Inc. started a new chapter. A rejuvenated Minuteman Project, Inc. started a number of public awareness campaigns including a caravan to Washington, D.C., Operation Sovereignty and the Laredo Project. In addition to holding rallies and/or showing up and speaking in support of other illegal immigration/reform rallies, Gilchrist gave hundreds if not thousands of interviews and appearances. With the increased exposure, Minuteman Project, Inc. not only increased public awareness but the public offered financial support in the way of donations to the organization.

In order to grow the organization and movement, Gilchrist invited others to join him. He formed a board to advise him and that board included Gilchrist (himself), his wife Sandy; Stephen Eichler the Executive Director; Tim Bueler in charge of media; Barbara Coe founder of the California Coalition on Immigration Reform (CCIR); Marvin Stewart for community relations; and Deborah Courtney as national political director. Following a successful year, in December the group started planning for 2007.

History of the Board

In December of 2006, some of the members of this board started insisting on more formal monthly meetings including such formalities as a call to order, a pledge of allegiance, an invocation, recording of minutes, review of meeting minutes, conducting old business and new business and even calling for the use of Robert's Rules of Order in conducting the meetings.

Although no one in particular was charged with taking minutes of the meetings, in or about December 2006 Deborah Courtney started taking minutes. Although the minute taking was extremely subjective, did not report motions, seconds or votes, and were often subjective, they are the only record of the meetings. This is important, as you will see, because later they subsequently falsified minutes of their board meetings and they have been caught in the act when in preparation for trial they produced two sets of minutes for the same meeting.

Marvin Stewart perceiving himself to be schooled in the use of Robert's rules and parliamentary procedures began exerting more influence over the conduct of the meetings. Stewart saw himself as the parliamentarian and arbiter of procedures. Many motions made were summarily denied, motions and seconds were not opened for discussion and were summarily dismissed and some procedural rulings for lack of a better word were out right mistatements of protocol and procedure. And Marvin Stewart wasn't the presiding officer of the meetings!

It is now apparent that Marvin Stewart and Deborah Courtney were bound and determined to get their hands on what they perceived to be the seemingly unlimited funds of Minuteman Project. They lied, attempted to use procedure and made unfounded accusations of mismangement in their attempt to sieze control of the organization. In the December meetings Stewart and Courtney began interpreting Delaware law and insisting that their board was in control of the organization.

As the articles said the corporation was to be managed by a Board of Directors, they simply chose to ignore the fact that Jim Gilchrist was in those same articles the sole board member and that he alone constituted the Board of Directors. Instead, Stewart, Courtney and Coe insisted that everyone reported to their board, they insisted the officers of the corporation were restricted in their powers to only do what the board specifically voted and authorized them to do and furthermore that their mandate that all decisions were required to have come before the board applied retroactively. Gilchrist in frustration at one point in time pointed out that they would need to have a board meeting every day if this were the case.

Stewart, Courtney and Coe falsely claimed Delaware law didn't allow for a sole director. Delaware law does. They incorrectly asserted that all board members were officers and officers were, likewise, members of the board. Directors and officers are different - one does not make them the other. They insisted Gilchrist had no authority outside specific votes of the board - as such no agreements, expenditures or decisions could be made without their approval. Officers and Directors have different roles - Officers are charged with running the day to day operations; Directors are charged with setting direction, policy and budgets (general direction of the organization and adherance to the organization's mission statement). Furthermore, They asserted all previous actions of MMP, Inc. were invalid. That's incorrect too.

In December of 2006 and January of 2007, the seven board members met to discuss various things that were of supposed concern to Stewart, Coe and Courtney. Actually the next four meetings (December 22, 2006, December 29, 2006, January 12, 2007 and January 19, 2007) were lengthy discussions of the previous actions of the officers of the corporation. Coe, Stewart and Courtney would term this an investigation. Although Paul Sielski, Courtney's boyfriend, was never charged with responsibility of conducting an investigation by the board, the fact that he lacked both qualification and objectivity, and his investigation amounted to little more than internet searches, accusations and inuendo - Sielski was allowed to participate in board meetings, present his allegations as though the were facts, and when the allegations were disproven had his girlfriend make new unsubstantiated claims. Suffice it to say the investigation was a farce.

In those series of meetings Gilchrist and Eichler took all the time necessary to answer Coe, Stewart and Courtney's questions. Each question was answered in pain-staking detail. Board members were told whom to contact to verify the information. Jim Gilchrist co-operated completely, and so did Stephen Eichler. They withheld nothing and the charges of impropriety were easily explained. The officers of the corporation, acting in their capacities, had made decisions, including strategic alliances, contracts and agreements to further the causes of the organization. For example, the support of Wake Up America radio program or purchase of website domain names such as www.wakeupamericausa.com, www.minutemanradionetwork.com, etc. Stewart and Courtney had their sites on the finances of the organization and saw every expenditure as diminishing the available funds for them.

Gilchrist Affirmed Sole Director of MMP by Board

At those same December 2006/January 2007 meetings previously mentioned there were lengthy discussions about whether the organization should be changed from a sole director to this seven member board of directors (as a governing board of directors).

The majority of the board (J. Gilchrist, S. Gilchrist, Tim Bueler and Stephen Eichler) were opposed to the change and wanted the articles of incorporation to remain the same with Jim Gilchrist as sole director and in complete control of the organization. The minority (Stewart, Coe, and Courtney) were in favor of their board taking control.

Note: As sole director according to the both the articles of incorporation and the amended certificate of incorporation, only Jim Gilchrist's vote counted - the seven member board had no authority to change the structure of the organization.

The January 19, 2007 board vote was 4 - 3 to vest full authority in Jim Gilchrist, recognize and affirm that Jim Gilchrist was the sole director of the Corporation. At that time, they also voted that Gilchrist would hold all four offices of the corporation - President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. Gilchrist voted with the majority and his vote alone affirmed his position as sole-director and holder of all four offices of the Corporation.

Since June of 2005, MMP was always headed by a single director - Jim Gilchrist. By the vote of both Gilchrist and their board, Jim Gilchrist was, is and would be the sole director of the corporation (he alone constituting the governing board of directors). All prior decisions, approved by Gilchrist, were actions of the Board of Directors for MMP and as all the decisions their board questioned had been approved by Gilchrist, there was no misconduct or wrong-doing on either his or Steven Eichler's part.

Hostile Takeover Attempt

Following the ratification of Gilchrist's leadership, the next meeting of the advisory board was set for January 26, 2007. When Jim Gilchrist realized that he had a scheduling conflict for that date, he sent an e-mail changing the meeting to the following Monday, January 29, 2007.

Marvin Stewart replied that because the Board set the meeting only the Board can change it and proceeded to meet that Friday, January 26, 2007. Given the actions of the January 19, 2007 meeting, affirming Jim Gilchrist as the sole director and Board of Directors; the assertion that "the Board" set the meeting and only "the Board" can change the meeting, anyone can see the absurdity of his argument.

The dissenting minority of the advisory board insisted on meeting, but they did not have access to the MMP office, so they moved their meeting and the three board members and two guests met at a nearby restaurant. At that January 26, 2007 meeting, the three claim that they voted Eichler, Bueler and Gilchrist off the board. The three conspirators asserted as the only remaining members that they were effective that same date the Directors of MMP, Inc. and as such they were in charge and in control of the organization.

Minuteman Project Fires Stewart and Courtney

At the January 29, 2007 board meeting Jim Gilchrist had scheduled, the three met with Jim Gilchrist and informed him that they were now the Board of Directors. There were no minutes of their previous meetings (January 19 attended by the entire board, 26 and 27 attended only by the three conspirators). They claimed technical difficulties prevented them from completing the minutes in time for the meeting and instead they would give a brief summary of the meetings.

They explained that their board had met and removed Eichler, Bueler and, Gilchrist. His termination was effective the date of their actions January 26, 2007. Jim Gilchrist responded "You are all fired! You are fired!" to which they said "no, you're fired."

As Gilchrist had been MMP's sole director, affirmed only a week earlier as MMP's sole director, Gilchrist clearly had the authority to fire them. Effective January 29, 2007 Coe, Courtney and Stewart were terminated and no longer had any association with Minuteman Project, Inc.

Minuteman Project's corporate counsel advised all the meeting of January 26 2007 was not valid as it did not have a quorum (a majority of the board). In the event that the seven member board might in some stretch of the imagination be construed as a governing board of directors, MMP corporate counsel Jack Robbins noticed another meeting for February 2, 2007 and informed all seven board members that the subject of the meeting was the removal of Coe, Courtney and Stewart.

At the duly noticed meeting of February 2, 2007 the same board met, a majority of the entire board was present, a quorum, and actions were taken. Stewart, Courtney and Coe were present. At that meeting Coe, concerned about legalities, resigned her position on the board and the other two were removed by majority vote.

Although Stewart and Courtney were present, MMP's corporate counsel sent follow up e-mails to the dissenting board members letting them know that they had been terminated from the organization and advising them that they could no longer claim to be members of Minuteman Project, use the assets of Minuteman Project and the like.

Stewart and Courtney Steal MMP Funds

The same day, February 2, 2007 at the same location, the Coe-Courtney-Stewart dissenters (now three former board members) met and allegedly elected Stewart President and Deborah Courtney Peterson Treasurer of Minuteman Project, Inc. They refused to acknowledge their firings, first by Gilchrist and then by Gilchrist and the majority of their board.

The disgruntled minority at their meeting passed a resolution dated December 29, 2009 (backdated) alleging that their board had removed check-writing authority for Jim and Sandy Gilchrist and that they elected new officers - Stewart and Courtney.

The disgruntled minority board filed an amended certificate of incorporation with the State of Delaware claiming to be in control. They filed papers with the Secretary of State of Delaware to remove Jim Gilchrist and Stephen Eichler. In their stead, their false papers declared that Marvin Stewart and Deborah Courtney were President and Treasurer, respectively, and that the three of them (Stewart, Courtney and Coe) were now a governing Board of Directors of three for MMP.

The apparent technical difficulty which prevented them from presenting and reviewing minutes at the January 29, 2007 board meeting was that the minutes they prepared showed the action affirming Gilchrist as sole director and holder of all offices of the corporation. They couldn't present that. They subsequently edited the minutes of the January 19, 2007 board meeting and removed the record of the majority vote. Yes, that's right - they prepared two different sets of minutes of the January 19, 2007 board meeting. They had repeatedly presented to the court and opposing counsel the false set of board meeting minutes, but perhaps mistakenly did produce to the court and opposing counsel the unaltered set of board meeting minutes showing Gilchrist's success in getting the board to affirm his control of the organization.

The Stewart-Coe-Courtney conspiracy presented these false documents to the Washington Mutual Bank and withdrew $4,000 from the MMP, Inc. account. That illegal withdrawl of funds caused MMP, Inc.'s account to be over-drawn and resulted in bounced checks. Marvin Stewart filed additional false papers with the bank, alleging that payments made to vendors were with checks that had been stolen and payment on those checks were stopped.

Minuteman Project Sues Stewart, Courtney and Coe

When he became aware of their theft of MMP Funds and their attempted hostile takeover Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist filed a lawsuit in Orange County, California, against them. Stewart, Courtney and Coe insisted they fired Jim Gilchrist. They gave a variety of reasons including fraud, mismanagement, and falsifying documents.

An official with the Delaware Secretary of State's office said no one but Gilchrist could legally make those changes. Furthermore, using their false documents Stewart-Courtney-Coe attempted to take control of the organization's bank account, web sites, fundraising and associated internet mechanisms (pay pal, plugnplay, e-online, authorize.net, webassist and other clearing houses).

They wrote letters, changed user names and passwords, changed account information and took other actions to steal MMP's money and/or to divert MMP funds to accounts under their control. Gilchrist's position is that they lacked authority to vote him out and their subsequent actions were illegal and likely criminal.

Attorneys for Gilchrist filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against Stewart, Courtney and Coe.

Minuteman Project Wins Preliminary Injunction

Judge Randell Wilkinson in Orange County Superior Court ruled in March 2007 and granted the injunction in part. An order was issued preventing the board members from using Minuteman Project stationary that had been printed for fund raising with Jim Gilchrist signature on it and from collecting, soliciting, diverting and/or spending any of the Minuteman Project Funds. This decision maintained the status quo and left Jim Gilchrist in charge of the Minuteman Project.

Gilchrist is in control of the name of the "Minuteman Project, Inc." today. As is customary, Jim Gilchrist as plaintiff was ordered to post a $15,000 bond to continue his efforts to regain control, and a final ruling was not yet made.

Minuteman Project Dismisses Lawsuit

Having achieved what was wanted from the lawsuit, achieving control and preventing the rogue board members from collecting and/or spending Minuteman funds, Gilchrist's attorneys dismissed the case filed against the three individuals. Gilchrist sent a press release announcing the dismissal of his lawsuit and offered hope that the minority board members would go their way and he would go his. Gilchrist further sought to avoid spending countless hours and donor dollars in the courtroom. He yearned to put his time, energy and attention to staving off legislation that amounted to amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Motion Denied to Reinstate MMP v. Stewart, Courtney and Coe

An interesting part of the legal wrangling was when, in June, the attorney for the three individuals (Richard Gilbert) argued that they didn't want the case against themselves dismissed. They instead asked the court to appoint a trustee or receiver. Judge Wilkinson ruled "The moving party has shown no evidence of damages as a result of the issuance of the preliminary injunction." Furthermore, the court said "Defendant Stewart, Peterson and Coe's joinder in the previous two motions is denied for two reasons: The motions themselves are denied, and the joinders were very untimely served less than a week ago by mail. Defendant Stewart, Peterson and Coe's motion to send plaintiff Minuteman into receivership is denied." He added " . . . there is no reason or lawful justification to send Minuteman into receivership at this time."

Defamation Suits Stricken

Both the Gilchrist and Eichler defamation lawsuits were stricken by the court. Stewart and Courtney's new Attorney Daniel F. Lula's "Special Motion to Strike" the Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), as per the California Anti-SLAP legislation and both Gilchrist and his associate Eichler are subject to paying legal fees and costs of the defendants.

Former MMP, Inc. Board Member Barbara Coe, leader of California Coalition For Immigration Reform (CCIR.net) was awarded attorney fees and costs of approximately $9,000.00. Since that time, Coe, Jim Gilchrist and Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project, Inc. have reached a settlement and Coe is no longer party to the action.

In the course of these lawsuits, Stewart, Courtney and Sielski have been fined and sanctioned a similar amount of money - nearly $14,000 in the JGMMP case and $4,000 in their individual cases - for what might be termed misconduct, abuse of process and late filings - the most notable being a $3,500 fine against Sielski for failure to answer questions at a court ordered deposition. As you can see the fines issued to date nearly offset earlier fines issued against Gilchrist in the defamation suits.

Notable too was the court order issued in response to an outburst from Sielski - Judge Wilkinson issued an order to all parties to tone down the vulgar, vexing, accusatory language. He said that he was in favor of strong advocacy, but essentially told the parties to dial it down a notch.

Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project v. Stewart, Courtney and Sielski

Courtney, Stewart and Coe then filed a lawsuit as Minuteman Project, Inc. and as individuals suing Jim Gilchrist for fraud. In order to protect Minuteman Project from the three and to prevent any confusion in the future Gilchrist formed a new non-profit 501(c)4 corporation in Delaware named Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project, Inc (JGMMP) on April 20, 2007. The new organization purchased at fair market value the assets from MMP, Inc.

Unfortunately, Courtney, Stewart and Sielski have since then continued to harass business associates of JGMMP, Inc. and interfered with business relationships of JGMMP. Therefore, JGMMP sued the individuals again - this time for tortious interference. Gilchrist as an individual sued the same individuals for Defamation, and with the same law firm and attorney, Mark S. Brown of Brown Law Group LLC, that Gilchrist's associate Stephen J. Eichler also used to sue the Board Members and others for defamation and "false light" causes of action.

MMP Lawsuits and Related

At this point in time there are really two trials - one where Courtney, and Stewart are suing Jim Gilchrist and Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project and the other trial where Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman is suing Courtney, Stewart and Sielski. Courtney and Stewart are representing themselves and there are two lawyers - one representing Jim Gilchrist, defendant, as an individual and the other representing Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project, Inc. defendants in one case and plantiff in the other (JGMMP v. Stewart et al).

Court Dismisses MMP from the Case

Stewart and Courtney were fired by Daniel Lula as clients and Lula withdrew from the case. Stewart and Courtney were unable to find an attorney to represent them as Minuteman Project, Inc. against Jim Gilchrist (as an individual) and/or his JGMMP, Inc. Therefore, the charges they filed as Minuteman Project, Inc. against Gilchrist and JGMMP were dismissed. Only their individual lawsuits remain.

Their individual lawsuits are against Jim Gilchrist and Stephen Eichler personally, not MMP. Stewart, Coe and Courtney couldn't get an attorney to represent them as Minuteman Project in the case. Each attorney to date has withdrawn from their case. They cannot find an attorney.

Stewart and Courtney vs Gilchrist, Eichler as individuals

In their action against Gilchrist, their claim is that Gilchrist and Eichler falsely induced them to join the organization. Courtney states that she was a full-time employee of minuteman and was promised a salary and consulting fees in excess of $ 100k. Stewart states that he was promised a six figure salary of $ 150k annually after he retired. Both Courtney and Stewart now say that they would never have joined Minuteman Project and/or volunteered their time to MMP had they not believed that they were going to be paid these large sums. Courtney and Stewart now say they were only in MMP for the money.

Gilchrist insists MMP is a Volunteer Organization

Jim Gilchrist, President and Founder of MMP, denies promising anyone a salary and further states that he never even thought of paying anyone associated with Minuteman Project any such salaries.

Jim Gilchrist has donated countless hours of his time and he has never taken a salary against the organization. He said MMP is a volunteer organization and he never even contemplated having paid staff. It was always his belief that these individuals had employment elsewhere and that they volunteered their time.

Perhaps it was naive but he always thought that they loved our Country and were interested in the issues of illegal immigration. It is disappointing to learn that Courtney and Stewart were only interested in the money and when large salaries and expense accounts weren't likely under Gilchrist, they sought to take control of the organization and remove him.

Latest Legal Developments

Trials delayed. The trials scheduled for August 2009, have been rescheduled for January 4, 2010. The delay was granted in part to Paul Sielski's claims of poor health and in part in order to allow for the parties to file motions for summary adjudication. Judge Randell Wilkinson, Orange County Superior Court, C25, said that the more he thought about the case, he felt that much of the dispute could be resolved as a matter of summary judgement. The judge said that to the extent he had dismissed previous motions for summary judgement with prejudice, he reversed that decision and would allow parties to re-submit their previous motions or submit new motions. He also invited those parties that had not submitted summary judgement motions to do so.

As the trial came near, it was quite apparent that Stewart, Courtney and Coe were not ready for trial. They employed various delay tactics including refusing to attend the original mandatory issues conference where standard document exchange and such formalities as joint statement of the case, joint witness lists, stipulations of facts and the like are agreed upon. The day of the scheduled issues conference Stewart, Courtney and Sielski went to Jim Gilchrist's gated community and tried to create a scene. The judge subsequently ordered another issues conference to be held and at that conference the documentation production took hours as Stewart, Courtney and Sielski didn't have copies available for opposing counsel. Furthermore, some of the parties refused to sign any of the pre-requisite joint documents.

The judge then ordered a third issues conference and two of three of the Stewart, Courtney and Sielski, participated. Mr. Sielski did not. The judge was not amused and he suggested Mr. Sielski reconsider. It was then that the judge gave him a stern warning that involved Sanctions. The judge informed Sielski that he could order evidentiary, monetary and even terminating sanctions for his failure to participate.

The judge too noted that the joint witness list was both large in number of witnesses to be called and lengthy in terms of time for each witness. The judge noted that they would spend the rest of the year in court and it was his hope that by resolving most if not all of the issues in summary adjudication, he could spare a jury having to serve for that length of time.

Gilchrist's MMP's President and Is In Control

As of this date, there is no issue as to who is in control of Minuteman Project, Inc. The current lawsuits do not any longer involve Minuteman Project, Inc. but instead are lawsuits between the individuals (Stewart, Courtney, Sielski, Gilchrist, Eichler, Bueler) and Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Project, Inc. (JGMMP). Notably the IRS has recognized Gilchrist as being in control of Minuteman Project, Inc. and has issued him the 501 (c) 4 non-profit status. Similarly, the US Patent Office has cleared the way for the Minuteman Project name and logo to be registered to Gilchrist's MMP and the post office has extended non-profit postage rates to both MMP and JGMMP, Inc.

It comes as no surprise that Jim Gilchrist remains in control. He founded the organization and his right to continue to lead really was reaffirmed early in this legal battle - when the court found granted a preliminary injunction against Stewart and Courtney in March of 2007 - and again it was reaffirmed when the court denied Powelson, Courtney, Stewart and Coe's subsequent motions in June of 2007. Gilchrist continues to operate Minuteman Project, Inc., he has filed tax returns on behalf of the organization, he has paid for financial audits of the organization.

2005 election bid

Main article: California's 48th congressional district special election, 2005

Gilchrist unsuccessfully ran as an American Independent Party candidate for the United States House of Representatives representing California's 48th Congressional District to replace Republican Chris Cox, who resigned to become Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the low-turnout open primary for Cox's seat held on October 4, 2005, Gilchrist finished behind two Republicans but ahead of all other candidates, including Democrats. He received 14.8% of the vote (a total of 13,423 votes). He was the only one running under his party, and therefore automatically advanced into the run-off.

Gilchrist lost to Republican state Senator John Campbell in the December 6 general election, receiving 25.5% (26,507) of the vote. Campbell received 44.4% (46,184), Steve Young (Democrat) 27.8% (28,853), Bea Tiritilli (Green) 1.4% (1,430), Bruce Cohen (Libertarian) 0.9% (974).

Gilchrist has provided conservative opinions on various issues but emphasized that immigration and the border is the primary issue from which the others flow.

He has stated that he would consider a presidential run in 2008 with the Constitution Party, should the two major parties offer candidates with no proactive history on the issue of illegal immigration. He stated "If John McCain enters the race for president I will definitely run. John McCain should have forfeited his right to run for president on the Republican Party the moment he put his name on immigration legislation with Sen. Ted Kennedy." However, McCain did enter the race, but Gilchrist later withdrew his intention to run, citing concerns about viability in third parties.

Political views

Gilchrist holds conservative views on education, health care, and taxes. Gilchrist was registered with the American Independent Party, the California affiliate of the Constitution Party, but has since re-registered as a Republican, and is an adamant immigration enforcement, law enforcement and military advocate. Despite all this, he has announced his endorsement of Mike Huckabee for President in December 2007. The endorsement of Huckabee by Gilchrist met with strong criticism from other minutemen and anti-illegal immigration activists. It should also be noted that this was a personal, individual endorsement by Gilchrist, not an endorsement by any minuteman organization.

Criticism

According to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, Gilchrist willingly allowed members of the National Alliance, one of the United States' largest neo-Nazi organizations, to help with his 2005 House run. Gilchrist has claimed that he refuses to work with white supremacists, but the SPLC report questioned his sincerity. The report interviewed a former volunteer in Gilchrist's campaign who said that "they were basically allowing Nazi skinheads and white nationalists to work the phone banks and do IT and distribute National Alliance fliers targeting non-whites," and that " that didn't want to work for a campaign that was tainted by white supremacy in any way, they told me not to cause a stir." Gilchrist has denied allowing racist individuals in the project.

In October 2006, Gilchrist appeared on Democracy Now and abruptly ended the interview after Karina Garcia started accusing him of being a murderer and said that he has ties to the National Alliance.

In a March 2006, interview with the Orange County Register, Gilchrist stopped just short of calling for his followers to pick up their guns: "I'm not going to promote insurrection, but if it happens, it will be on the conscience of the members of Congress who are doing this," he said. "I will not promote violence in resolving this, but I will not stop others who might pursue that."

Books

Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders, by Jim Gilchrist, Jerome R. Corsi, and Tom Tancredo. Los Angeles: World Ahead Publishing (2006). ISBN 0-9778984-1-5.

References

{{cite news |url= http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=179886 |title= A Minuteman meets his hour of crisis: Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the anti-illegal immigrant group, battles three board members for the organization's control. |author= Jennifer Delson |format= html |work= Los Angeles Times |date= 11 March 2007 |quote=
Jennifer Delson (24 March 2007). "Both sides claim a win in Minuteman suit" (html). Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist and his opponents within the anti-illegal-immigration group both claimed victory Friday after an Orange County Superior Court judge put Gilchrist back in charge.** {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
The Watchdog (29 July 2008). "Jim Gilchrist Loses In Court, Must Pay Defendants Attorney Fees" (html). Defamation Suit Against Deborah Courtney, Marvin Stewart and Paul Sielski Stricken"** {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
The Watchdog (24 July 2008). "Judge Rules Against Stephen Eichler, Defamation Lawsuits Thrown Out" (html). Defamation Suit Filed by Steven Eichler Against Deborah Courtney and Paul Sielski Stricken"** {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Frank Mickadeit (07 August 2008). "Minuteman leader Gilchrist loses another biggie in court (8/7/08)" (html). in the case of Coe, ordering Gilchrist to pay costs and attorney fees.** {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Founder of Minutemen targets run for president
About at Jim Gilchrist’s Official Website
Mike Huckabee for President - Blogs - Minuteman Founder Endorses Huckabee
^ Marc Ambinder (December 13, 2007) - Minutemen Bash Founder Over Huckabee Endorsement
VDARE.com: 12/11/07 - Meet the GOP's Border Control Cross-Dressers
SPLCenter.org: Racists join Minuteman Project
MMP: Minuteman Project Shuns Supremacist Group at Jim Gilchrist’s Official Website
Democracy Now! | Minuteman Founder Jim Gilchrist Storms Off Democracy Now! Debate With Columbia Student Organizer
News: Minutemen to patrol border in 4 states - OCRegister.com

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