To the editor:

Following the killings in South Carolina, Republican presidential hopefuls, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Rick Santorum are giving campaign contributions from a white supremacist to charity. Earl Holt III is not said to have had anything to do with the killings. Cruz received the most, $8,500, a lot of money to most of us, not so much for a presidential campaign.

What’s interesting about this isn’t the decision to give up the money, or even that they took it in the first place. We all know money equals access. Large contributors have more influence. Problem solved: no money — no influence.

Perhaps a more troubling problem lurks in the background: Holt’s choice of them. What is it that would motivate a white supremacist, such as Holt, to support Cruz, Paul, and Santorum? What does it say of Cruz/Paul/Santorum, when their politics attracts money from people like Holt?

Meanwhile, here in Kansas, a special committee considered and dismissed a complaint against Kansas Rep. Valdenia Winn, from Kansas City, Kan. During debate of a bill in Topeka, she accused Republican supporters of the bill of being “racist.” They said the accusation was unjustified, and unfair. Really? In a country where the Confederate battle flag, long a symbol of slavery, Jim Crow and hate groups, still wafts above state capitols, and where Republican presidential hopefuls are liked by Holt?