Conservative Republican Homeless Activist Ted Hayes runs a homeless shelter in Los Angeles, California. He has been running it for over 12 years at the same location on property owned by a retired lawyer. His rent was $2,500 a month and was just raised to $18,330. An over 700% increase from one month’s price to the next!

Given the high increase, Mr. Hayes inquired as to why the price went up so high so quickly. He says that he had just attended a Republican event that he was invited to, that was covered by the local press. He says the property owner read the news report and informed him that the increase was due to Mr. Hayes being a Republican. Mr. Hayes says the property owner claimed to be a Democrat, that did not wish to help any longer via cheap rent. So Mr. Hayes has to find a new location for his homeless shelter or shut it down.

This says a lot about Liberals’ (at least one Liberal’s) desire to help the poor. I doubt the property owner is planning to use that area for another homeless shelter run by someone he feels he might agree with on a political level. It’s clear the property owner was helping Mr. Hayes in order to build his own self esteem and not because of any concern for the homeless. The property owner wanted himself to feel good. So he could say to himself that he was doing something nice. Pat himself on the back and boost his own ego. Once he found the situation involved someone that he does not agree with it was time to give Mr. Hayes the boot, because the property owner’s ego and image might otherwise get hurt.

Mr. Hayes was on FoxNews last night and has written this Wall Street Journal commentary, titled “Prejudice”. (Subscription required to view the article.) He feels that this action was taken because he is a “Black Republican”. He has equated his situation with the race based attacks against Black Republicans like Michael Steele and others.

People like Liberal Alan Colmes mentioned that Ted Hayes was known to be a Republican for some time. Mr. Hayes mentions in his commentary, the property owner in this matter noticed this when reading an article. (Mr. Hayes also mentioned on FoxNews that one of his associates also heard similar statements about party affiliation from the property owner. The property owner denies any such conversations took place, but has not mention he will sue for slander.) So maybe the property owner knew earlier and maybe he did not. Either way, here is my take. If the owner knew Ted Hayes was a Republican, he became angry because Mr. Hayes was gaining much more popularity. I personally did not know of him until recently and things like his proposal regarding the Tookie Williams execution caused many people to learn about him, that never knew him before. So if the property owner knew, he obviously became angry that Mr. Hayes was becoming more popular. It probably would make a Liberal Lawyer feel pretty embarrassed if his friends asked him “you are helping out that Republican guy that was in the newspaper?”… Of course in that question they might play on race, but that’s another matter I want to mention. Mr. Hayes feels that his race had a role in this. That because he is a Black Republican he is being persecuted by a Liberal Democrat, that wants Blacks to be Democrats. I must disagree. Mr. Hayes has not provided any statements from the property owner that mention race at all. So any statements about his race being a factor are pure speculation. People like Michael Steele, Condi Rice and others have faced attacks that specifically played on race and old racial games. Mr. Hayes has not shown any such attack. There have been plenty of non-Blacks that were treated dis-favorable by Liberals, once the Liberal with some power discovered they were in the presence of an outspoken Conservative. I think the best recent example is Swift Boat Vet Steve Gardner, who lost his job, probably as a result of standing up to John Kerry.

Just the same it is sad that a homeless shelter may have been given the boot by a property owner simply because of party affiliation. But the property owner has the right to do it. Mr. Hayes does not dispute that right and he has no intentions of taking any legal action. He simply wanted to let his story be known.

Mr. Haye’s commentary also mentions that because of feared attacks many Blacks are closet Republicans. While I have no problem letting everyone I meet know about my Conservative views, I do know of some Blacks that told me things like “I’m voting for Bush, but I told *** I’m voting for Kerry” during the last Presidential election. They feared the backlash they would face if they said that they are not a Liberal. And some folks who might be attacked by powerful Unions and such have good reason to be discreet and exercise their right to a “private” vote. While it would be nice for people to be able to all be open about their political views, there is no protection from discrimination based on political views and there should not be any such protection. It is simply a weight that we each must carry and decide for ourselves if we wish to keep our politics private from our associates or speak freely. With the understanding that some might respond unfavorably.

I pray that Mr. Hayes is able to find another location for his shelter.