A former candidate for the Colorado House of Representatives had a short candidacy after past actions and associations were made public this week. Nate Marshall of Lakewood, CO dropped out of the race after five days when The Denver Post outed his arrest record and past ties to white-supremacy groups.
The Denver Post reported that Marshall, a 42-year-old construction manager, had made offensive and derogatory comments about Muslims, gay, and the Occupy Movement on the internet. His opinions on economy were made up of violent and aggressive tongue lashings as he thinks the 99 percent are nothing but “lowlife educated scum.” He spoke about Occupy Denver and said that city police had “every right to shoot these scumbags.”
“I didn’t think things all the way through,” said Marshall. “I wasn’t hating on anybody.”
That was his response to The Denver Post when asked to explain his statements. He attempted to justify himself by saying his statements “stemmed from his frustration with current events,” referring to a Colorado court case where the judge ruled that a bakery discriminated against gays by refusing them a wedding cake.
Marshall has also been linked to white-supremacy movements as an anti-racism group, Rocky Mountain Antifascists, found that Marshall created an online group called The Aryan Storm and was recruiting members. He would campaign for new members on the white-power message board, Stormfront.org. However, even those of Marshall’s ilk would have no part of his “movement.”
Marshall went by the username of NatetheWatcher, and members of the site berated Marshall because of his criminal past and called him “delusional.” One member mentioned a prior interaction with Marshall on the site: “Funny, last time I spoke to him in a thread. I thought he was late teen [sic], or eraly [sic] twenties. Never would have thought he was 42. Is’nt [sic] he old to act so childishly and delusional, megalomaniac and being fantasist? [user’s errors were kept]”
If other white supremacists are railing against Marshall, then politicians certainly are too. State officials from both parties have spoken out against Marshall. Democrats cry foul of his anti-civil rights position and Republicans have completely disassociated themselves from him.
“We strongly oppose his continued candidacy and demand he end his campaign,” said Bill Tucker of the Jefferson County GOP. “We condemn the hateful words and actions associated with him.”
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.
