GOP backer says unions, press, others object to ‘America’s founding documents’

Brendan Riley

Tuesday, March 28, 2000 | 9:35 a.m.

CARSON CITY - An ardent anti-socialist now touring state capitals criticized journalists, major unions, public defenders and members of the ACLU, NOW, NAACP and Sierra Club as having "serious objections" to the U.S. Constitution.

"Typically, we have found this among those you see listed," said Balint Vazsonyi, a pro-GOP political theorist, referring to a memo he issued. "Maybe I should have said some of them."

Vazsonyi, whose "Re-elect America" tour will visit Nevada's capital city on Wednesday, said in a telephone interview that many people in the groups and occupations criticized in his memo think the constitution is "a seriously flawed document."

Members of the groups named are "typically those who have serious objections to America's founding documents and/or the principles they reflect," Vazsonyi's memo states.

The memo went to organizers of his bus tour, telling them to include such people in panel discussions. That ensures the sessions aren't boring, Vazsonyi said.

Vazsonyi says that over the years he has developed "an early warning system" that helps him spot socialist thought, and he's trying to convince people that socialism and America's democratic system are incompatible.

He said his opposition to socialism is more than mere resentment based on political systems that he experienced in his native Hungary, first under Nazi oppression during World War II and later under Communist rule.

Vazsonyi has written that children in America are taught socialism disguised as concern for the environment and justice for women and minorities. And he has railed against grants of special rights to specific groups, saying entitlements rely on "the confiscation of another's property."

A news release on Vazsonyi's visit to Carson City said he'd be greeted by Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn. But Guinn spokesman Jack Finn said Monday that nothing is scheduled at this point - although "the governor likes to keep his schedule flexible, so it's not out of the question."