Well, we finally found out that the mild annoyance is that is known on Stormfront as BoyHowdy is Robert DePasquale, who not only once ran the website for the American Freedom Party, but also ran for the US Senate in New Jersey. Thing is, that got our attention at the time and we had spoken to both DePasquale and AFP Chairman William Johnson about that, because there was one small problem in need of addressing. Read on.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has exposed a prolific poster to Stormfront, one who has himself often attempted to expose anti-racist activists, as a web designer from New York City that in 2013 mounted a campaign for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Cory Booker – in New Jersey.

According to an article on the SPLC Hatewatch blog, the Stormfront poster with the screen name “BoyHowdy” is actually Robert H. DePasquale, 62, a Manhattan web designer who has worked on websites for an opera star, politicians and even an influential Jewish artist, despite his rabid anti-semitism that is evident in Stormfront postings where he refers to Jews as “that shitty little group”.

The SPLC notes that DePasquale’s activities as a neo-Nazi are particularly numerous. “In addition to a heavy online presence, DePasquale is a bit of a website mover and shaker in white supremacist circles” the article notes. “Using skills garnered through his computer science and math degree from the State University of New York, Empire State, DePasquale has served as a senior moderator and webmaster for the racist American Freedom Party (AFP), which is led by avid segregationist William D. Johnson. He built the websites for two racist political candidates. He has also been listed as a point of contact on other hate sites such as thewhiteamericanvote.com and sites related to AFP. And he is a fan of many other extremists groups, having written on Stormfront that he came to that forum after hearing about it from the neo-Nazi National Alliance (whose mailing list he was on).”

The SPLC story stems from DePasquale’s recent attempt to identify the anti-racist blogger Spelunker, who has remained anonymous ever since the blog began. DePasquale idenitified the wrong person however, but he along with others continued to insist that his information was correct, despite efforts to inform them otherwise. Splunker is a regular contributor to One People’s Project, which over the years has often been a target of BoyHowdy, along with other anti-fascist activists.

In 2013 DePasquale ran in the special election for the US Senate seat in New Jersey that was vacant following the death that year of longtime Senator Frank Lautenberg and was eventually won by then-Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Running as an independent, the address that he used in that race was the Butler, NJ PO Box also used by the New Jersey chapter of the American Freedom Party and maintained by AFP member and attorney Alex Carmichael. There has been no record of DePasquale ever moving from his longtime address in Manhattan, but in January DePasquale told One People’s Project that he lives in both Bergen County, NJ and in New York. “It’s not against the law to live in New Jersey and in New York,” he said, noting that he grew up in Irvington, but had used the PO Box because his campaign needed a physical address.

In another conversation, William Johnson, the Chairman of the American Freedom Party, defended the possibility of DePasquale running in a state other than where he lives, saying it is constitutionaly protected to do so. “He is from New Jersey, I’m not sure if he lives in New York or New Jersey, however you can run anywhere in the United States,” Johnson told One People’s Project. “The Constitution says that to run for Congress, you have to be 25 years old, and an inhabitant of the state on the day of the election. And to run for the Senate you have to be 30 years old, and an inhabitant of the state on the day of the election. So if I wanted to run in Pennsylvania even though I’m from California, I can run, and just before the election I just pack up my bags run over there and say ‘I’m an inhabitant of Pennsylvania and you can be a legitimate candidate.”

Stormfront is holding its annual summit meeting in Tennessee this weekend.

Audio below, Copyright 2014, One People’s Project

Talking with William Johnson, 1/29/14

Daryle Lamont Jenkins and William Johnson of American Freedom Party from One People’s Project on Vimeo.

Talking with Robert DePasquale, 1/29/14 (MP3)