Worldwide La Rouche Youth Movement - LaRouche PAC

LaRouche PAC

The Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee was previously registered with the Federal Election Commission as "FDR PAC" and by "Spannaus in '96". In 2000, LaRouche's FDR PAC made news when, forbidden from soliciting on U.S. Post Office property, it demanded that the Salvation Army be treated the same way. As of 2002, Nancy Spannaus was the executive director of the PAC.

LPAC and LYM members targeted Senator Joe Lieberman's reelection campaign in 2006. At one campaign appearance three members sang loudly "If you want a third world war, vote for Joe, Bill Buckley's whore".

In 2007, two associated of LPAC, Robert Lucero and Tony DeFranco, were escorted off Post Office property in Naperville, Illinois, by police. The two were carrying signs calling President George W. Bush as "dumb" and calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.

During his 2007 campaign for the New Jersey General Assembly, Gordon M. Johnson's contributions to LPAC became a subject of criticism. Johnson reportedly made seven contributions in 2005 and 2006 totalling $1,850. He apologized repeatedly, saying he regretted that he was not "aware of the LaRouche record of anti-Semitism" and was asking for the contributions to be refunded.

LPAC members promoted LaRouche's "Homeowners and Bank Protection Act" in 2009. One report says the act "would establish a federal agency that would place federal- and state-chartered banks under protection, freeze all existing home mortgages for a period of time, adjust mortgage values to fair prices, restructure existing mortgages at appropriate interest rates, and write off speculative debt obligations of mortgage-backed securities". According to one opponent, Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski, on closer inspection the act "calls for seizure by the government" of all U.S banks.

In 2009 LPAC members were noted for their posters which depicted Barack Obama with a Hitler-style toothbrush mustache. They asked pedestrians "Do you want to stop Obama from killing people?" and "Want to fire our Nazi president?" The posters led to violent reactions from passersby, including one man who had lost family members in World War II. LPAC spokesperson Nancy Spannaus said that the posters were an "honest emblem of what the administration policy represents". A 2009 report says that the LPAC website, Larouchpace.com, appeared to have deliberately copied the look of the Barackobama.com website, though the contents were entirely different. The LPAC website reportedly contained satires of Democratic Party leaders and an attack of wind power.

Following complaints from customers, Kroger, a national grocery store chain, received an injunction in 2009 barring LPAC activists from soliciting donations or distributing literature on their Ralphs and Food 4 Less properties in Southern California. Another grocery chain, Trader Joe's, also sought an injunction after customers allegedly complained that the LPAC members had called them "bitches" and "Hitler lovers". Stater Brothers also sought an injunction to bar LPAC members from soliciting in front of their stores. Lyndon LaRouche, LPAC, and its treasurer Barbara Boyd were sued in 2009 by the widow of Kenneth Kronberg, who alleges that they had defamed her in an LPAC article. Kronberg and his wife had been longtime members of LaRouche movement before his suicide.

By 2010, LPAC members were calling for Obama's impeachment. Members of the Tea Party movement distanced themselves from the LPAC members, who often appeared at Tea Party rallies. One Tea Party officials complained that the "Obama as Hitler" posters "trivializes the travesties that occurred under the Fascist regime of Nazi Germany". In 2010, LPAC members said the PAC staffed from 80 to 100 tables across the country every day.

Several confrontations between supporters of LPAC candidates and local residents were reported in April 2011 in Healdsburg, California. The police were called repeatedly, but no one was cited. Other LPAC workers report receiving a positive reception in San Francisco in March 2011.