The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a conservative advocacy group, has fired the political reporter for its fledgling news organization after his online comments showed support for white supremacist causes.

Lance Dutson, the CEO of MHPC, told progressive activist Mike Tipping on Tuesday evening that reporter Leif Parsell was no longer working for The Maine Wire, an online news organization that MHPC launched last month. An anonymous blog, The State of Maine, posted an item Tuesday containing links to several comments Parsell had made on various online forums prior to his employment by the center.

Some of Parsell’s comments appeared on the site policymic.com. In one, Parsell wrote that “cultural diversity combines with our increasing racial and ethnic diversity to degrade our society.” Parsell also recommended a video supporting white supremacist themes.

And he defended Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s slaughter of “Marxist insurgents.”

“At least Pinochet’s actions were justified by the defense of the rule of law, common decency, and the promotion of free societies,” Parsell wrote.

Some of Parsell’s comments have since been removed from his Facebook page. In one comment, not referenced by the anonymous blog, Parsell, at the time a field organizer for The Leadership Institute, tells a group called the Maryland Conservatives that he can help anyone start groups championing conservative causes. 

“Lets fight Left Wing Scum together!” he wrote.

Dutson said Parsell’s comments about race were a divergence from MHPC’s “value system.” In his statement to Tipping, he wrote, “MHPC is a strong advocate for the liberty and prosperity of all Mainers, and we deplore the concept of race-based politics.”

Dutson added, “It is unfortunate that we were unable to identify this core difference in perspective earlier, but we are thankful to the bloggers who brought this to our attention.”

The authors of The State of Maine blog are anonymous. The blog’s “about us” page claims the site is a “non-partisan, independent blog about Maine politics, culture, and society. We provide breaking news, analysis and inside information about issues important to Maine’s political community.”

The blog’s nonpartisan claim is perhaps a sarcastic swipe at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, which purports to be nonpartisan despite complaints by progressives and Democrats that it acts like a political organization to support Republicans. The State of Maine site has adopted a site design similar to the center’s.

On Wednesday, Parsell released a statement to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, saying his comments were pulled out of context by an anonymous blog that wanted to damage his reputation and that of the MHPC.

“The author gleaned my original comment, posted before I began work for The Maine Wire, from policymic.com, but failed to quote me entirely,” Parsell wrote. “It is obvious that they did not do so on purpose, as a full quote would have defeated their purposes . . .”

Parsell said it was “ludicrous” to consider his comments “neo-Nazi.”

He added, “I am a strong believer in Americanization, civic education and working to help immigrants to become Americans.”

While Parsell wrote that he supported the Maine Heritage Policy Center, he added that he was “saddened that they choose not to defend me.”

“Once again, conservatives shoot one of their own,” he added.

Dutson announced last month that the MHPC was starting The Maine Wire, in part, he wrote, because of what his organization perceived as biased political coverage by some media outlets.

“We are also compelled to take this step because of the degradation of political media in Maine in general, Dutson wrote at the time. The reporting has gotten so weak, the editorials so shrill and the bias so clear, it’s truly a shame.”

Dutson has acknowledged that The Maine Wire would have to overcome some credibility hurdles of its own, given the policy center’s ideological bent. 

Al Diamon, who writes about the Maine media, has thus far been unimpressed by The Wire’s efforts. Diamon wrote in a recent post that the site’s “debut offerings were short on scoops and long on ideology, with a distinct right-wing slant to most of the postings.”

The Maine Wire stories have thus far not been picked up by Maine’s daily newspapers. However, several pieces have appeared in rural weekly publications. 

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