More Reasons To Beware Of Mike Huckabee—Mexican Consular Scandal And Other Ethical Questions

Many Christian conservatives see Mike Huckabee as the
best candidate to deliver the GOP from an impending
pro-abortion presidential nomination of either Rudy
Giuliani or Mitt Romney.

Huckabee is doing especially well in Iowa,
particularly among

evangelicals. Is Mike Huckabee worthy of this
support, however? The facts say no.

I have already attempted to warn my evangelical
brethren as to the dangers of supporting Mike Huckabee.
See Christians—Beware
Of Mike Huckabee!

However, that first column was just the tip of the
proverbial iceberg. Here are more reasons to beware of
Mike Huckabee.

Robert Novak recently wrote a column about Mike
Huckabee entitled, "The
False Conservative." In the column he said, "Huckabee
is campaigning as a conservative, but serious
Republicans know that he is a high-tax, protectionist,
big-government advocate of a strong hand in the Oval
Office directing the lives of Americans."

Novak also said, "There is no doubt about
Huckabee`s record during a decade in Little Rock as
governor. . . He increased the Arkansas tax burden by 47
percent, boosting the levies on gasoline and
cigarettes."

Novak continued saying, "Quin Hillyer, a former
Arkansas journalist writing in the conservative
American Spectator,

called Huckabee `a guy with a thin skin, a nasty
vindictive streak.` Huckabee`s retort was to

attack Hillyer`s journalistic procedures, fitting a
mean-spirited image when he responds to conservative
criticism."

Calling Huckabee a proponent of big-government is an
understatement. "If you listen closely, all the
things he supports increase the size, power and cost of
government. From subsidies for energy research to
increasing money for health care and government housing,
the size, power, and cost of government will not shrink
under a President Mike Huckabee; they will increase . .
. Mr. Huckabee swore an oath to support and defend the
Constitution when he became governor, yet many of his
proposals are clearly unconstitutional." (Source:
David Ulrich,

Letter of the Week, World Net Daily,
10/26/07)

In addition, Dr. Jerome Corsi reports that
"Financial inducements arranged by former Arkansas Gov.
Mike Huckabee to establish a Mexican consular office in
Little Rock may have violated state law, according to an
Arkansas attorney."

Writing for World Net Daily, Dr. Corsi exposed the
fact that Mike Huckabee "worked with some of the
state`s most prominent and politically powerful
businesses to establish the [Mexican] consulate
as a magnet for drawing illegal immigrants to the state
to accept low-paying jobs." [Legality
of Huckabee`s Mexican consulate deal questioned,
November 1, 2007]

Corsi goes on to report that "Arkansas attorney
Chip Sexton provided WND a written legal brief arguing
the state government`s sublease to Mexico of
office space for the consulate was illegal under
Arkansas law. Sexton contended the deal raised questions
about the appropriateness of private citizens and
corporations in Arkansas providing financial incentives
for the government of Mexico to locate a consulate
office in Little Rock."

Corsi also writes that "Robert Trevino,
commissioner of

Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, told WND he and
Huckabee helped arrange state and private financial
support to induce Mexico to establish the consulate as a
business development `quid pro quo.`

"Trevino signed on July 7, 2006, a `Facilities Use
Agreement` with Mexican consular officials to rent state
government office space for $1 a year on the second
floor of the Arkansas Rehabilitation Services building
at 26 Corporate Hills in Little Rock."

According to Sexton, not only did subleasing state
government offices to Mexico violate Arkansas state law
under Ark. Code Ann.

22-2-114(C)(i) which provides: "After July 1,
1975, no state agency shall enter into or renew or
otherwise negotiate a lease between itself as lessor or
lessee and a nongovernmental or other government lessor
or lessee," but it was even more offensive in that
"there was nothing in the lease or other agreements
that would have prevented the

Mexican consulate from providing

legal assistance to illegal aliens."

In addition, Corsi also exposed the fact that Mike
Huckabee worked with Mexican

President Vicente Fox to help provide

cheap Mexican labor for

Tyson Foods and other large Arkansas corporations.
According to Corsi, "Trevino confirmed he was state
director of the League of United Latin American
Citizens, also known as LULAC, an activist group
strongly advocating for the rights of Hispanic
immigrants in the U.S., when on Oct. 3, 2003, he
accompanied Huckabee in a state airplane to visit [President
Vicente] Fox in Mexico."

There is more.

The American Spectator reported that
"Fourteen times, the ethics commission–a respected
body, not a partisan witch-hunt group–investigated
claims against Huckabee. Five of those times, it
officially reprimanded him. And as only MSNBC among the
big national media has

reported at any real length, there were

lots of other mini-scandals and embarrassments along
the way."

Plus, writing for The Washington Times, Greg
Pierce quoted Hillyer as saying, "[Huckabee] used

public money for family restaurant meals, boat
expenses, and other personal uses. He tried to claim as
his own some $70,000 of

furniture donated to the governor`s mansion. He
repeatedly, and obstinately, against the pleadings even
from conservative columnists and editorials,

refused to divulge the names of donors to a
`charitable` organization he set up while lieutenant
governor–an outfit whose main charitable purpose seemed
to be to pay Huckabee to make speeches. Then, as a
kicker, he misreported the income itself from the
suspicious `charity.`"

Mike Huckabee`s beliefs and actions even border on
the bizarre. According to
David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union,
"GOP presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee suggested
that as president he would, for the good of the people,
support a federal

anti-smoking law. You see, as governor, Huckabee
supported such laws because, well, he doesn`t like
smoking and doesn`t think folks should indulge in so
heath-threatening an activity. If he could move on up to
the presidency, he would continue his abolitionist
crusade at the national level without giving much, if
any, thought to the question of whether the Constitution
or anything else would legitimize a federal ban on
smoking."

I have yet one more word of warning for those
evangelicals supporting Huckabee because he is pro-life:
Mike Huckabee will most definitely support Rudy Giuliani
should Giuliani obtain the Republican nomination. Count
on it.

I ask you,
how could a committed "pro-life" conservative
support a

pro-abortion, pro-gay rights,

pro-gun control liberal such as

Rudy Giuliani? He couldn`t.

At the end of the day, however, there is absolutely
no question that Huckabee will support Giuliani (or any
other pro-abortion Republican), because, when all is
said and done, Huckabee and his fellow big-government
Republicans have no real commitment to the life issue or
to any other conservative principle.

Let`s say it plainly: Mike Huckabee is just another
big-government, establishment politician who will do
nothing to stem the tide of socialism or fascism (pick
your poison) emanating from Washington, D.C., these
days.

Dear Christian friend, don`t be duped by Mike
Huckabee.

Dr. Chuck Baldwin is the
pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola,
Florida. He hosts a

weekly radio show. His
website is

here.