California Charter School Association Co-Founder and long time board member Steve Poizner is running for Governor. He spoke at the reactionary right wing Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday, February 19, 2010.

In a speech in which he proposes unconscionable further tax cuts for the ueber-wealthy and corporations in the midst of a recession, rails against public unions and brags about his plan to neuter labor once and for all, the most vile and venomous portion of Steve Poizner’s speech at CPAC was reserved for undocumented peoples. In fact, his hateful rhetoric sounded exactly like speeches by Jim Gilchrist, founder of the vicious anti-immigrant group “The Minutemen.” Here’s the CCSA founder Steve Poizner tipping his hand (more appropriately his hood), at the event headlined by Glen Beck:

And last, but not least — sometimes it’s unpopular to talk about it on the campaign trail — I don’t care. I’m going to be a truth teller. Last, but not least, we have to stop illegal immigration once and for all! [ lengthy rabid applause from racist crowd ] We’re going to do two things; and I know there’s some people who think it’s just a Federal matter, but it’s not. The Governor can do a lot about it. First thing I’m going to do is turn the magnets off. There’s a lot of state programs that attract people to California illegally, and I’m going to turn those magnets off. And the second thing I’m going to do is I’m going to secure the border. If I have to send the National Guard to the border, that’s what I’m gonna do.

Lest the CCSA try to deny Poizner’s founding, influence, and leading position with the California Charter School Association, he was their co-founder and a board member as late as 2008.

From CCSA Co-Founder Steve Poizner’s biography on his campaign site: “Steve demonstrated his passion for local control of schools by co-founding EdVoice and the California Charter Schools Association – the state’s leading charter school organization. Since his involvement in the charter school movement began, the number of charter schools in California has doubled.”

CCSA Co-Founder Steve Poizner on Wikipedia: “In 2003, Poizner co-founded the California Charter Schools Association.”

A CCSA Press Release from 2008 lists Steve Poizner as a Board Member. Another CCSA Press Release from 2005 lists Steve Poizner as a Board Member.

One wonders what Poizner’s close friends and fellow charter charlatans Jed Wallace, Steve Barr, Marco Petruzzi, Judy Burton, Ben Austin, and all the other CCSA cheerleaders will have to say about this outrageous speech.

In fact, will any of the corporate friendly opportunists including: Yolie Flores-Aguilar of LAUSD, Monica Garcia of LAUSD, Maria Casillas of Families in Schools, Jarad Sanchez of Alliance for a Better Community, Veronica Melvin of Alliance for a Better Community, Gabe Rose of Green Dot Public [sic] Schools/LAPU/Parent Revolution, or Shirley Ford of Green Dot Public [sic] Schools/LAPU/Parent Revolution will hold a press conference to speak to this incredibly racist anti-immigrant speech by their close CCSA ally?

Mike Klonsky finds video footage of the CCSA co-founder making his infamous speech: @mikeklonsky Poizner running for Gov. in Calif. gives racist anti-immigrant rant at CPAC. Founded Calif. Charter School Assoc.

The UCLA Civil Rights Project and North Carolina studies have already shown corporate charter schools herald the return of Jim Crow. However, CCSA co-founder Steve Poizner may have shown the charter-voucher supporters’ true face a little earlier than their right wing billionaire backers might have liked. Anyone concerned with fighting racism and forwarding civil rights needs to join the struggle against the charter school industry.