In a split vote Tuesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved a request to appoint the Libertarian Party’s longtime fringe political candidate, conspiracy theorist and outspoken Holocaust denier as a precinct board member.
David Kroto, who ran for a series of public offices as a Green Party candidate but was kicked out of the group’s executive committee for his anti-Semitic views, now joins the Libertarians and holds the lowest vacancies in elected public office. will be filled. As a party official in the county and in his precincts.
Supervisors, who unanimously refused to appoint Kroto to PC in November, confirmed his appointment Tuesday morning by a 3-2 vote with little debate. District commissioners are technically elected officials, but they are regularly appointed to fill hundreds of vacancies within the county, across all political parties. On Tuesday, the county board approved 39 of his other PC appointments as a group, with no comment, though he received one vote from supervisor Steve Christie. No” vote was cast.
However, Kroto’s pattern of rhetoric in pushing pro-Nazi themes prompted him to receive “no” votes from Democratic chairman Adelita Grijalva and director Matt Heinz after his name was removed from the individual ballot consent agenda. urged.
Still, he won more votes in Congress than he would have been elected president if he ran for office last year. Republican Overseers Sharon Bronson and Rex Scott voted in favor of the appointment of Republican Overseer Steve Christie.
“I consider myself a conspiracy theorist”
Kroto has described Jews as “genocidal” and “dominated by the media”, toxic memes blaming financial institutions and posts denying the Holocaust took place over the years. I have repeatedly posted material on social media.
The repeatedly unsuccessful candidates have vigorously defended, rather than denied, those views. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he spreads anti-vaccine propaganda and continues to post conspiracy theorists about the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
“I identify as a conspiracy theorist. My pronouns are… said/you/yes,” he read in a meme he shared in December.
At Tuesday’s conference, Kroto, speaking at a public outreach, denied he was a “racist” but did not do so directly when it came to anti-Semitism. He said he was against Zionism.
A 2017 meme posted by Tucsonan contained normal content. A Familiar Anti-Semitic Statement From Too Much Hate Screed: Jews fomenting wars, causing chaos, killing millions, and controlling the media to cover up crimes.
In response to comments on that high-profile post, Kroto, who frequently shares the conspiratorial “truth” claim that a “Zionist state” was behind the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, said: He reiterated that Israel attacked the United States on 9/11.
Kroto, who was popularly known as “Green Dave” before the group disowned him, also shared A lengthy post written by conspiracy theorist Chuck Maltsby trying to deny the Holocaust (later deleted or hidden — see screenshot of part of post at left) — the systematic murder of millions of Jews by the Nazi regime during World War II — did happen. has maintained a website full of neo-Nazi propaganda and 9/11 “truth” material for years.
That post didn’t get the social media attention like the meme Kroto shared, but it started with: The World War II Holocaust gassings are a lucrative hoax. “
“Even Anne Frank’s diary is a hoax,” the post claimed, echoing a familiar theme of Holocaust deniers.
“Six million people gassed by Germany is a lie”
Last November, Kroto promoted Maltsby’s writings again, but it became known to the public that he was parroting themes of Nazi propaganda.
“Israel and US military traitors killed Americans on 9/11. Germany gassing 6 million people is a lie. What truth do you believe about 9/11?” Posted years ago.
Kroto (who ran for City Council in 2009 and is trying to run for Pima County Sheriff in 2016), whose green candidate failed to gather even the handful of signatures needed to vote at least twice, , ran for sheriff (2000 and 2012) and mayor of Tucson (2007 and 2011, the latter losing the primary).
The local Green Party told the Sentinel in 2017 that the party “rejects and condemns racism and anti-Semitism … In fact, Mr. Kroto was accused of anti-Semitism by the Greens in Pima County more than two years ago.” He was impeached for publishing his views,” he said.
Kroto ran for sheriff on the marijuana legalization and taxation platform in 2000, winning 16% of the vote (46,000 to the Greens) without the Republican candidate challenging incumbent Democrat Clarence Dupnik. votes or more). He ran for mayor in his 2007 campaign and without a Democratic opponent, Republican Bob He won the walk-up mayor (his 15,600 votes for Kroto) in which he received 28% of the vote . In the 2012 sheriff’s election, Republican Mark his Napier failed to dethrone Dupnik (12,300 votes), so he received about 3% of the vote.
Last year Kroto was able to run as a libertarian precinct board member.There are so few registered Liberal Party members that it takes just one signature on a nomination petition to win a vote in the August primary. was. Rather than opting to add his name to his vote, he took the route of being nominated.
A meme Kroto posted in 2017, which he hid or deleted after garnering public attention, contained the following words over a photo of a young woman:
Have you ever studied Jewish history?
Did you know that they have always banded together as tribes, infiltrated governments, monopolized nations’ financial systems, fomented wars, and deliberately caused social chaos?
The Jews have been mass-murdering millions of non-Jews for centuries, but they control the media so you never know.
Learn Jewish History!
Kroto, a house painter, was one of the organizers of the Occupy Tucson movement in 2012. Despite his involvement with the left-wing Green Party and Peace Veterans, he is also affiliated with the right-wing “Oathkeepers” group. That group said it “suspended” his membership in 2017. Last year, he said he was voting for the Republican Trumpist candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake.
“While you weren’t looking, the US government and mainstream media were completely infiltrated by the Zionist Jews who controlled everything,” read a post Kroto shared in December.
“I don’t think we went to the moon in 1969. Prove me wrong,” he wrote in the same month, claiming NASA astronauts never went to the moon. posted a video to.
In September, Kroto posted Russian propaganda, attributing it to a speech by Vladimir Putin, stating, “The US Biden administration, which the majority of the world considers fraudulent and stolen, has launched biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine.” He single-handedly created COVID-19 by manipulating it.” ……”
“Alex Jones is a messenger,” Kroto said of the disgraced radio conspiracy theorist, calling 9/11 a “false flag” attack.
“Mossad agents were in the Twin Towers when an Israeli art student Googled them,” he posted.
“The same people who created the State of Israel and killed JFK are still in power and are driving our nation’s interests to hell,” Kroto argued.
“Truth is addition,” he once posted, linking to a (since-deleted) YouTube video calling the Holocaust “the greatest lie ever told.”
Early in his years-long pattern, Kroto linked to another YouTube video, “Adolf Hitler: The Greatest Untold Story.” It’s a 6.5-hour ode to the Nazi leader, which he said he “spent hours last week doing a very long review of.” A detailed depiction of a modern world war. I believe I have been lied to again by traitors to our government.
Kroto, who has been directly questioned many times about his views over the years, has refused to deny that he does not believe the Nazi regime committed the mass murder of Jews in Europe. , he consistently evades by “asking questions” about topics related to the Israeli government and the 9/11 attacks, as well as other conspiracy theories.
“I am outraged that you called me a racist.”
In November, when Kroto’s name was first sent to the oversight board for appointment, no one supported him.
Supervisor Grijalva has removed his name from the consent agenda to consider this item separately.
“It has come to my attention that Mr Kroto has shared anti-Semitic content on his personal social media accounts in the past.” ”
“I think it’s imperative that his appointment not go forward in opposing and condemning racism and anti-Semitism,” Grijalva said in November.
“[Not responding to PC bookings]is not something we normally do here, but I think these things are coming to us for a reason,” she said. “I think it’s worth noting that his social media activity led the Greens to impeach Mr Kroto in 2017. That’s why he’s in the party.”
At the November 15 meeting, no supervisors submitted a motion to approve Kroto’s appointment.
On Tuesday, Kroto said his name was “pulled by you, Miss Grijalva, who said I was a racist, an anti-Semite, and impeached from the Green Party.”
“Tucson Democrats have done everything in their power to curb the growing third-party opposition to their hanging in Pima County,” he said in a call to the conference audience.
“The Pima County Green Party has been used by Democrats to train and recruit new members for their leadership team. It has stifled the growth of the Green Party itself with just 22 constituency captains,” he said.
Kroto repeatedly mentioned Grijalva’s reference to anti-Semitic posts in the three minutes allotted for his speech at the Council, but directly denied that he held such beliefs. It never happened.
“I’m not racist, Miss Grijalva,” he said. “You read from an article by Dylan Smith of the Tucson Sentinel that I posted a meme on Facebook insinuating that Zionism was the worst thing that could come to America and the world because of its political activism. ”
Sentinel has never published a report on Kroto with such a reference.
“Zionism is a political action committee, just like the Republican Party,” he said. Referring to his Native American heritage and his father’s commitment to education, Croto said, “I am outraged that you call me a racist.
Drew Heaton, chairman of the Pima County Libertarian Party, also said he was “defamously accused of being a racist,” in a call to the audience to support Kroto’s appointment.
“It’s not racist to be against Zionism,” she said, noting that some Jews don’t support Zionism.
“Not only is that wrong, but he shouldn’t be denied the privilege of serving his neighbors as a Liberal constituency commissioner,” she said.
Referring to Malcolm X, Heaton said:
“Mr. Kroto has done nothing but serve his community and neighbors exceptionally well, in contrast to what is seen in the newspapers,” the libertarian chairman said.
Supervisor Scott joined Grijalva on Tuesday, wanting to consider the issue of Kroto’s appointment individually, rather than including Kroto among the 40 names to be appointed as PCs as a group.
Scott wrongly said on Tuesday that “the board unanimously voted not to move forward” on Kroto’s appointment in November, but not a single supervisor backed him during that meeting. It didn’t, so you’re basically right.
When this second bill was put before the supervisor, Scott said that by the time the board considered the PC, it had “already gone through any scrutiny process that a political party goes through.” I voted yes.
“If the chairman of that party does not dissent, it affects me as to my vote,” he said.
Bronson and Christie joined and appointed Scott on the dominant side of the vote.
