Throughout his many congressional bids since 1972, Ben Frasier’s promoted platform has been so much in contrast to the party that his status as a true Democrat has been questioned by its active members.
One recently-issued statement from the “perennial candidate” seems to contrast with his own campaign history, however.
At a Feb. 12 candidate forum in Beaufort County, Frasier differed from primary opponent Elizabeth Colbert-Busch’s stance on immigration reform.
Frasier said he supports strict immigration laws, and refuses any type of amnesty for illegal immigrants.
“Somehow we have to find a way to get them back across the border,” he said, according to Bluffton Today. “They are a threat to the American way of life.”
However, Frasier’s wife told media in her native country of a completely different stance.
In the previous election cycle, Zenaida Frasier told Manila’s ABS-CBN News that her husband was committed to “working on immigration reforms.”
So which stance does Frasier actually have? Is it for mandatory deportation or the immigrant reform widely suggested for simplicity and cost-efficiency?
Perhaps a better question would be on the basis of this contrast. Does he have sympathy for his wife’s first home in the Philippines, and maybe hopes to exclude those of this nationality?
Approximately 270,000 illegal immigrants in the U.S. are Filipinos, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. That’s the fifth-highest nationality of illegal aliens in the country.
An even better question, though, would be – is he telling voters one thing and his donors something else?
While Frasier says to local voters that he favors mandatory deportation, he’s only received campaign contributions from donors of that same fifth-highest nationality of illegal immigrants.
Federal Election Commission records from all of his campaigns dating back to 2000 show Frasier to have received donations from only eight individuals or married couples. (See slideshow)
Seven of these donors have traditional Filipino names; the remaining donor has a Hispanic name, but openly identifies himself as Filipino on his employer’s website. (Many in the Philippines acquired Hispanic names long ago following settlement by Spain.)
One of these Frasier contributors is even the uncle of Philippines president "Noynoy" Aquino.
Adding to the questionability of Frasier’s identification with the Democratic Party, he was the sole Democrat who received campaign contributions from these donors. Of those from this group who donated to other races, all of their other political contributions were to Republican candidates and committees.
The addresses of these donors also bring Frasier’s residence in question. All of the contributors reside in or near Frasier’s Maryland address.
Despite reports telling otherwise that date back to 1994, Frasier lists a South Carolina address as his home, even despite record of sale of that Wadmalaw Island property from 2002.
Voters in the 1st Congressional District recently created a “Citizens Against Frasier” website that lists other information questioning his continuous runs as a Democrat.
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