Last week, IREHR reported that Susan Tully, Senior Field Representative and Special Projects & Law Enforcement Relations Manager of the anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), is slated to appear at two events featuring Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officer Association (CSPOA) founder Richard Mack.[1] The events are slated for October 8 in Rochester and October 9 in La Crescent. [2]
As when CSPOA undertook a recruitment effort in Illinois back in March, the current Minnesota effort is being coordinated with activists on the ground who have a clear foot in the far right.
In the case of the Rochester event, a key local organizer is Casey McGregor.
Who is Casey McGregor?
The phone number for Richard Mack’s October 8 Rochester event is the same as that of Spa Casey, a Rochester-based tanning and massage business run by Casey McGregor.[3] In 2022, McGregor lost a primary bid for the Rochester City Council, garnering 20.0% of the votes (676) in a four-way race. McGregor ran as a pro-small-business candidate.[4] McGregor’s most prominent policy interests on social media are opposition to taxes and gun rights.[5]
McGregor’s movement in the direction of enlisting county sheriffs to advance movement politics was visible in March 2023 when she circulated contact information about such an effort by the Minnesota Gun Owner Caucus (MGOC). The MGOC sought to enlist sheriffs in the state to oppose pending gun laws. McGregor would also be the contact for a Gun Rights Town Hall featuring the MGOC.[6]
McGregor’s social media also shows affinities for the far right. In May 2023, McGregor promoted an event featuring Alex Newman of the John Birch Society’s New American. McGregor declared of the event, “I dare you to put this on your calendar and come from all over to hear what is going on!!! It’s not just Rochester…”[7]
The event announcement promoted Newman and Sam Blumenfeld’s 2015 book Crimes of the Educators, a book the Birch Society’s William F. Jasper described in the organization’s conspiratorial style as addressing,
“a long line of revolutionary programs imposed through the government school system by the educational establishment to deconstruct America – socially, politically, psychologically, intellectually, morally, and spiritually: look-say reading, the ‘new math,’ death education, values clarification, sex education, multiculturalism, sensitivity training, outcome-based education, etc.”[8]
JBS’s Alex Newman appeared as a guest on CSPOA CEO Sam Bushman’s Liberty Roundtable radio show at least nine times between March 2020 and January 2023, and JBS Field Coordinator Eldon Stahl appeared at least another 30 times between December 2020 and September 21, 2023.[9]
Samuel Blumenfeld is a longtime associate of Christian Reconstructionist godfather R.J. Rushdoony. According to the Chalcedon Foundation, founded in 1965 by Rushdoony, “Sam didn’t hesitate to admit that God used Dr. Rushdoony to bring him to faith.”[10] In his Institutes of Biblical Law, R.J. Rushdoony laid out that his vicious and theocratic religion holds that “the death penalty is required by Scripture” for, among other things, cursing a parent, adultery, “unchastity,” “incorrigible delinquency” and homosexuality.[11]
While McGregor’s posting does not mean that she holds to Christian Reconstructionism, it demonstrates that the social movement context that informs her activism is pocked with calls for theocracy and brutal assaults on civil and human rights. Supporters of human and civil rights in the state should take heed.
NOTES
[1] Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. Events. https://cspoa.org/events/. Accessed September 28, 2023.[2] Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. Events. https://cspoa.org/events/. Accessed September 28, 2023.
[3] Spa Casey. http://www.spacasey.com/; Spa Casey. Contact. http://www.spacasey.com/contact.php. Accessed September 28, 2023.
[4] Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State. Elections & Voting. Results for Selected Contests in 54880 – Rochester. August 18, 2022. https://electionresults.sos.state.mn.us/results/Index?ErsElectionId=148&scenario=LocalMunicipality&FipsCode=54880&show=Go; Petersen, Randy. McGregor seeks to be voice for small businesses on Rochester City Council. Post Bulletin. May 27, 2022. https://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/mcgregor-seeks-to-be-voice-for-small-businesses-on-rochester-city-council
[5] McGregor, Casey. Facebook. May 17, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/casey.mcgregor1/posts/pfbid0wHs6g4o6tMG64BUJzWpUgXzoSabYTGhM7HNdi6nUGYy4MkUQAFskQMc8AzsxamTgl; McGregor, Casey. Facebook. September 17, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/casey.mcgregor1/posts/pfbid07Z4URpzyvxEmcVprVBpaHuerg5CyBJnpcPJRmPTa4DkCZjAwEjSFrU8aiXMTZDntl
[6] McGregor, Casey. Facebook. March 12, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/casey.mcgregor1/posts/pfbid0VG2zqRDz1mRueZLopu3HDzhFpVSsDDoZKHGWigoFm7wE9WnkfHDfLftBhMsCZFt8l; McGregor, Casey. Facebook. April 2, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/casey.mcgregor1/posts/pfbid0yCiKf1VT22eb7kPtmU5ueBZMUqtmvEvfdkprgadQBfgqnZxYYbYXNzk9XWPMatyHl; Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. Minnesota Sheriffs & Gun Control. https://gunowners.mn/our-programs/minnesota-sheriffs/. Accessed September 28, 2023.
[7] McGregor, Casey. Facebook. May 8, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/casey.mcgregor1/posts/pfbid08xe7PDndRScH7GstDEk8ry2Btypsr4KMzxYRv7thYX4xTkfhWFRNkgsETFRuKnUNl
[8] McGregor, Casey. Facebook. May 16, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/casey.mcgregor1/posts/pfbid0xb7NrwSvNYSbnX9jLdEbtruoERbkjDS7zcnWJkJM4hLzNSWDqD33rGwpMhyxAWWdl; Jasper, William F. Education Malpractice. The New American. May 4, 2015. Vol. 31, No. 9. https://thenewamerican.com/print/education-malpractice/
[9] Liberty Roundtable. SEARCH RESULTS FOR: ALEX NEWMAN. https://www.libertyroundtable.com/?s=alex+newman; Liberty Roundtable. SEARCH RESULTS FOR: JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY. https://www.libertyroundtable.com/?s=john+birch+society
[10] Selbrede, Martin G. Sam Blumenfeld: Public Enemy #1. The Chaledon Foundation. July 14, 2015. https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/sam-blumenfeld-public-enemy-1; Chalcedon Foundation. About. https://chalcedon.edu/about. Accessed September 28, 2023.
[11] Rushdoony, Rousas John. 2012. The Institutes of Biblican Law. Kindle Version 1.0. https://chalcedon-edu-web.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/Books/The-Institutes-of-Biblical-Law-R.-J.-Rushdoony.pdf
