WASHINGTON — A small group of North Shore Republicans, as of Friday night, still planned to host Mark Robinson, the GOP North Carolina governor nominee, at a Sept. 29 fundraiser in Kenilworth, despite the CNN bombshell report that more than a decade ago on a pornographic website, he made lewd comments — calling himself a “black Nazi” and defending slavery.
Robinson is now so radioactive he was even dropped from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s Saturday rally in the crucial swing state of North Carolina, according to the Associated Press.
The event invitation said the hosts are Mark Shaw, an Illinois Republican Party State Central Committeeman for the 10th congressional district and the top leader of the Tenth Congressional District Republican Organization; Julie Cho, New Trier Township Republican Committeeman, and Chad and Marilyn Prodromos. Chad Prodromos, a physician, is a major donor the Tenth district GOP group.
Shaw is a controversial figure in Illinois GOP politics. He was removed as vice chair of the state party last June, and his Tenth Congressional District operation runs on a shoestring. On Sept. 14, he donated $41,000, and on Sept. 9 Prodromos and his wife contributed $17,400, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.
It’s not clear yet from campaign finance disclosure records in Illinois and North Carolina if any this money was contributed to Robinson’s campaign or otherwise paid to him.
Robinson, the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, was seen as controversial even before the CNN report, largely because of a history of incendiary comments. He has denied the CNN report.
CNN discovered that on a site called Nude Africa, Robinson — who if elected would be North Carolina’s first Black governor — attacked civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., with CNN finding the insults so intense “that a user accused him of being a white supremacist.”
“I’m not in the KKK. They don’t let blacks join. If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer Koon!” Robinson responded.
CNN found that “Robinson’s history of controversial remarks, including mocking school shooting survivors, his past support for total abortion bans without exceptions for rape or incest and disparaging the civil rights movement have been a consistent theme” in his race for governor.
A few minutes of research would have turned up the divisive rhetoric linked to Robinson before the CNN story. “What is shocking is that they invited him in the first place,” Lake County Democratic Party chairman Lauren Beth Gash told the Chicago Sun-Times Friday.
Earlier in the week, Gash said in a statement: “Local Republicans ought to be ashamed of working with anti-abortion, anti-LGBT, Holocaust denier Mark Robinson, but it’s not surprising considering how deeply they’ve become the Party of Trump, even promoting the effort to help him win outside of Illinois too. Lake County voters are tired of this hateful, dangerous pollution of our democracy, and they’re going to reject Republican candidates once again.”
Asked by the Sun-Times Friday about the Robinson event, Keith Brin, the Lake County Republican chair, said, “I think it’s in very poor taste. I think Mark Robinson has a lot to answer for. … I know he has made some controversial statements in the past and from what CNN is putting out there, these statements are gross. So if I were the organizer of any of this, I don’t think I would follow through on this event.
“But at the same time I wouldn’t have invited Mark Robinson to come here in the first place. That’s not our focus in Lake County as Republicans. I do think Mark Robinson has a tremendous amount to answer for, given what’s come to light.”
Brin and Gash both said inviting Robinson to the North Shore likely will hurt local Republican candidates. Local Democrats will use this to bash their GOP rivals. “Frankly, I don’t blame them,” Brin said.
The 10th Congressional District covers parts of Cook and Lake counties.
The invitation for the event stated donors would be supporting “local candidates and helping Trump/Vance win the battleground state of Wisconsin,” with no details on how the funds would be divided. The tab ran from $50 per person to more than $5,000 to be a major sponsor.
The invite noted that Trump endorsed Robinson for governor. Trump has praised Robinson as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
The Illinois Republican Party, chaired by Kathy Salvi, who took over in July, declined to comment.
The Sun-Times called and emailed Shaw, Cho and Prodromos, leaving messages with them asking whether the Robinson event was still on. That no one responded — and knowing what my call was about — speaks for itself.