Southern Poverty Law Center Wellspring of Manufactured Hate

By James Simpson

Summary: The Southern Poverty Law Center began with an admirable purpose but long ago transformed into a machine for raising money and launching left-wing political at- tacks. Lately it’s become more of a threat to free speech and civil debate than a defender of the weak or a foe of violent extremism. It has also taken in millions from the Picower Foundation, whose own funds came largely from founder Jeffry Picower’s “investing” in his old friend Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

n August 15, 2012, an angry gay rights activist named Floyd Cor- Okins stormed the Family Research Council’s Washington, D.C. headquarters and began shooting. Corkins shot a brave security guard in the arm, but the guard still managed to wrestle him to the ground before he could The quarter-billion-dollar man: SPLC founder and smearer-in-chief Morris Dees. kill or injure others. groups because they disagree with them on Early on it made a name for itself fi ghting public policy.” genuinely extremist groups like the Ku Corkins was carrying 50 bullets and two Klux Klan and breaking down barriers of loaded magazines for his 9-millimeter semi- Origins discrimination in the South. But today it is automatic pistol; 15 Chick-fi l-A sandwiches; Attorneys Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr. primarily a leftist attack machine. It devotes and the address of another potential target, the founded the Southern Poverty Law Center Traditional Values Coalition. Before initiat- (SPLC) in 1971. It bills itself as “a nonprofi t ing his shooting spree, Corkins reportedly civil rights organization dedicated to fi ghting October 2012 said, “I don’t like your politics.” hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for CONTENTS the most vulnerable members of society.” Reacting to the shooting, Family Research People familiar with the SPLC may describe Southern Poverty Law Center Council President Tony Perkins stated: it differently. (For a previous CRC profi le of Page 1 “Corkins was given a license to shoot an the Center, see “The Southern Poverty Law unarmed man by organizations like the Briefl y Noted Center: A Twisted Defi nition of ‘Hate,’” Southern Poverty Law Center that have been Page 8 Organization Trends, November 2006.) reckless in labeling organizations as hate OrganizationTrends most of its sizeable resources to a systematic Following a speech at a New York college in them.…” (See http://www.youtube.com/wat smear campaign against respected organiza- 2009, a student asked former Congressman ch?v=fnTz2ylJo_8&feature=relmfu.) tions and opinion leaders whose legitimate Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) about a quotation policy differences put them to the right of attributed to him in a textbook. It said, “il- The SPLC has an improbably named program the SPLC. legal immigrants were ‘coming to kill you titled “Teaching Tolerance.” Perhaps Mr. and kill me and our families.’” Taken aback, Potok should take the course. For example, prior to the shooting, the SPLC Tancredo subsequently called the publisher identifi ed the Family Research Council as an to learn where the fake quotation had come In the “Hate and Extremism” section of the “anti-gay” extremist group, lumped together from. “The Southern Poverty Law Center,” SPLC website, the group lists 1,274 “Patriot with groups like the KKK, neo-Nazis, the was the reply. Groups.” This category includes nonviolent Nation of Islam, and the New Black Panther conservative organizations like the Oath Party. This is a familiar pattern. In 2007, SPLC Keepers, the Constitution Party, Tea Party labeled the Federation for American Im- Patriots, the Tenth Amendment Center, and Even liberal Washington Post columnist migration Reform a “Hate Group” as part Joseph Farah’s WorldNetDaily. Dana Milbank, who describes the Family of an effort to smear opponents of open Research Council as “a mainstream con- borders and illegal immigration. In this effort, In addition to fomenting hatred for groups servative think tank,” thought the SPLC SPLC had no qualms associating itself with with which it disagrees, the SPLC is the went too far: the National Council of La Raza (in Span- author of dangerous provocations. For ish, “the Race”), one of whose subordinate example, in 1996 SPLC hyped a story that I disagree with the Family Research groups, the Chicano Student Movement of black churches were being torched at alarm- Council’s views on gays and lesbi- Aztlan, is notorious for the motto, For La ing rates in the South by white racists. As ans. But it’s absurd to put the group, Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada (“For Michael Fumento wrote in the American as the law center does, in the same The Race everything. Outside The Race, Spectator at the time, this was soon proven category as Aryan Nations, Knights nothing”). to be false. of the Ku Klux Klan, Stormfront and the Westboro Baptist Church. In a 2010 report detailing SPLC’s efforts, Jerry Kammer of the Center for Immigration SPLC wildly exaggerates the number of Editor: Matthew Vadum Studies wrote: groups genuinely associated with hate and Publisher: Terrence Scanlon violence as well. Laird Wilcox, an indepen- Rather than engage in a debate, dent, non-conservative researcher found that Organization Trends is published by Capital Research La Raza and its allies have waged of 800-plus “hate groups” over half them Center, a non-partisan education and a campaign to have the other side were either non-existent, existed in name research organization, classifi ed by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. shunned by the press, civil society, only, or were inactive. (See http://www. and elected offi cials. It is an effort to thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/ Address: 1513 16th Street, N.W. destroy the reputations of its targets. tsc_20_3/tsc_20_3_vinson.shtml.) Washington, DC 20036-1480 It also seeks to intimidate and coerce others into silence. It undermines Phone: (202) 483-6900 Wilcox has his own “extremist” lists. One Long-Distance: (800) 459-3950 basic principles of civil society and is called “The Watchdogs … organizations democratic discussion. E-mail Address: who ‘monitor’ and combat the activities of [email protected] their ideological opponents,” including many Web Site: SPLC senior fellow Mark Potok doesn’t “organizations and individuals who have http://www.capitalresearch.org mince words about illegal-immigration op- nothing to do with racism.” SPLC tops the Organization Trends welcomes let- ponents: “Sometimes the press will describe ters to the editor. us as monitoring hate crimes and so on … I list. (See http://www.lairdwilcox.com/tool/ Reprints are available for $2.50 pre- want to say plainly that our aim in life is to order00-01.html#Left.) paid to Capital Research Center. destroy these groups, to completely destroy 2 October 2012 OrganizationTrends

A Morally Bankrupt Organization Founded by a Morally Bankrupt Man SPLC’s co-founder, Morris Dees, has been harshly criticized by former SPLC employ- ees, a former business partner, and many liberal critics. They see him as little more than a rank opportunist and the SPLC’s chief purpose as raising money for SPLC coffers.

Though trained as a lawyer, Dees is best known for his fundraising ability. Raising $25 million for the George McGovern presi- dential campaign in 1972, his payment was the donor list, the gold mine that boosted SPLC’s funding. A position with Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign in 1976 added another sterling list. It paid off.

With over $238 million in net assets, the SPLC is one of the wealthiest nonprofi t organizations in the United States. Despite this massive endowment, the Center devotes almost 20 percent of its $34.5 million oper- Everybody’s a racist (except liberals) according to SPLC’s Mark Potok. ating expenses – $6.5 million in 2011 – to $30 million—roughly equivalent to its entire 2001 – 2004); Grousbeck Family Foundation fundraising. This includes $1 million for ($1,600,000, 2007 – 2011); Grove Founda- fundraising services and $5.5 million in operating budget! Why fundraise at all? tion ( $875,000, 2001 – 2011); Rice Fam- fundraising staff salaries and administrative ily Foundation ($535,000 , 1999 – 2010); expenses. Each year the SPLC is able to add tens of millions of dollars to its endowment. Despite Rockefeller Philanthropy ($510,000, 2008 – 2010); Unbound Philanthropy ($500,000, Meanwhile, the group spent only $11 million being a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, 2006 – 2010); Public Welfare Foundation on its supposed primary mission: “provid- supposedly with nothing to hide, some ($500,000, 2008 – 2010); Vanguard Charita- ing legal services to victims of civil rights of SPLC’s assets are squirreled away in ble Endowment ($469,120, 2006 – 2011); injustices and hate crimes.” The Center spent untraceable Bermuda and Cayman Island Rocking Moon Foundation ($350,000, 2006 an astounding $12.5 million maintaining, accounts. Why? – 2010); and the Jewish Community Fund publishing, and promoting its “hate” list pro- ($347,274, 1999 – 2010). paganda, including a program to “educate” SPLC’s leaders are among the highest children, according to its 2010 tax return. paid in the nonprofi t fi eld. As Chief Trial Counsel, Morris Dees receives $343,676. Space constraints prevent inclusion of the Richard Cohen, the Center’s president, is many more foundations and small family SPLC received $36 million in contributions paid $339,764. funds that regularly contribute $10,000 to in 2011. Excess contributions and investment $25,000 per year. Do these donors realize income allowed the Center to boost assets by SPLC boasts many high-dollar donors. they are merely contributing to a quarter- $9.4 million. Its 2010 tax return shows the The top 10 for recent years are: Picower billion-dollar investment fund? SPLC realized a net gain of $28.8 million, Foundation ($3,813,112, 1999 – 2008); following a similar net gain in 2009 of almost Cisco Systems Foundation ($1,620,000, SPLC’s biggest benefactor, the Picower October 2012 3 OrganizationTrends

Foundation, made the most of its money out there in the hinterland with The positive contributions Dees from the Bernie Madoff scam. Founder Jeffry massed legions of haters, ready to has made to justice—most under- Picower, who was friends with Madoff for march down Main Street draped taken based upon calculations as 30 years, profi ted by $5 billion from his “in- in Klan robes, a copy of “Mein to their publicity and fundraising vestments” with his friend, an amount larger Kampf” tucked under one arm and potential—are far overshadowed than Madoff personally “earned.” Picower a Bible under the other. What is the by what Harper’s described as his died in 2009, but as ProPublica.org reported arch-salesman of hate mongering, “fl agrantly misleading” solicita- December 27, 2010, federal prosecutors and Mr. Morris Dees of the Southern tions for money. He has raised mil- the trustee charged with recovering money Poverty Law Center, going to do lions upon millions of dollars with for Madoff’s victims took Picower’s estate now? Ever since 1971, U.S. Postal various schemes, never mentioning to court. The estate agreed to a settlement Service mailbags have bulged with that he does not need the money of $7.2 billion to compensate victims of his fundraising letters, scaring dol- because he has $175 million and two Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Federal prosecutors lars out of the pockets of trembling “poverty palace” buildings in Mont- apparently thought Picower, an accountant, liberals aghast at his lurid depictions gomery. He has taken advantage of should have questioned returns on investment of hate-sodden America, in dire naive, well-meaning people—some that ranged up to 950 percent. The Picower need of legal confrontation by the of moderate or low incomes—who Foundation has closed its doors, but will the SPLC. (See http://www.creators. believe his pitches and give to his SPLC refund any of its ill-gotten gains? com/opinion/alexander-cockburn/ $175-million operation. He has king-of-the-hate-business.html.) spent most of what they have sent Dees’ fi rst business partner was Millard him to raise still more millions, pay Fuller, who later went on to found Habitat for Harper’s published a similarly critical high salaries, and promote himself. Humanity. In an article in The Progressive, analysis of the SPLC titled, “The Church (See http://www.thesocialcontract. he described their relationship: of Morris Dees”: com/answering_our_critics/art- 2000nov.html.) Morris and I, from the fi rst day of Today, the SPLC spends most of our partnership, shared the over- its time—and money—on a relent- The Fairfax (Virginia) Journal counseled riding purpose of making a pile less fund-raising campaign, ped- federal employees to forego contributions of money. We were not particu- dling memberships in the church to the SPLC in the Combined Federal lar about how we did it; we just of tolerance with all the zeal of a Campaign: wanted to be independently rich. circuit rider passing the collection During the eight years we worked plate. “He’s the Jim and Tammy ... give your hard-earned dollars to together, we never wavered in Faye Bakker of the civil rights a real charity, not a bunch of slick, that resolve. (See http://www.sec- movement,” renowned anti-death- parasitic hucksters who live high ondclassjustice.com/wp-content/ penalty lawyer Millard Farmer (not on the hog by raising money on uploads/2011/08/Egerton-Poverty- Dees’s business partner, ed.) says of behalf of needy people who never Palace-July-1988.pdf.) Dees, his former associate, “though see a dime of it. (MDJonline.com, I don’t mean to malign Jim and Sept. 30, 2011.) Many of Dees’s most virulent critics are on Tammy Faye.” the Left. Nation magazine’s Alexander Cock- SPLC’s fi rst president was Julian Bond, a burn wrote a scathing article in 2009, “King Harper’s also published a letter from Stephen socialist who has supported and participated of the Hate Business.” Recent Republican Bright, president of the Southern Center for in socialist, communist, and other radical electoral losses, Cockburn wrote, were Human Rights, to the University of Alabama, leftist organizations and activities his entire declining an invitation to a “Morris Dees life. As a rising star in the Left he received horrible news for people who raise Justice Award” presentation. Bright called the early endorsement and support of the money and make money selling the Dees “a con man and fraud,” and added: Communist Party USA, and he assisted, notion there’s a right resurgence 4 October 2012 OrganizationTrends endorsed, and campaigned for radical causes “enchanted by the revolution.” Following a anywhere, and he didn’t control where it ap- and politicians, according to DiscoverThe- repeat visit in 2006 he said that it “simply re- peared. When the Daily Caller news website Networks.org. inforced my admiration for the Cuban people asked Potok last year if he objected to the and the society they are building.” (See Communist Party newspaper printing his In the 1960s Bond was elected to the Geor- http://www.medicc.org/cubahealthreports/ piece, he refused comment. Potok did say, gia legislature three times, but each time chr-article.php?&a=1027.) Bond remains however, that the SPLC uses an organization on SPLC’s board to this day. the legislature refused to seat him because called OtherWords to place SPLC’s op-eds of his agitation against the Vietnam War. in other journals. OtherWords is a nonprofi t Bond called on the communist lawyer SPLC’s board of directors also includes editorial service of the Institute for Policy Leonard Boudin to represent him. Boudin’s James Rucker, who co-founded Color of Studies (IPS), one of the most infl uential other clients included the government of Change in 2005 with self-described com- far-left organizations in the United States. Fidel Castro, Soviet agent of infl uence Paul munist Van Jones. Before that, Rucker was (IPS was profi led in the February 2011 Robeson, and Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel grassroots organizing director at the Soros- Ellsberg. Boudin’s daughter, Kathie, was a funded activist group MoveOn. Foundation Watch.) Weather Underground terrorist, who served 25 years for her participation in the 1981 Another board member, Patricia Clark, spent King of Sophistry Radical leftists are extremely adept at the use Brinks robbery that left two policemen and time as National Criminal Justice Representa- of language and propaganda. They have to one Brinks guard dead. tive of the American Friends Service Com- be. An ideology that has brought more hard- mittee. This nominally Quaker organization ship, misery, and death over the last century Along with radical activists such as Ella was created by socialist Quakers in 1917 and than all the wars of history combined always Baker, Bond co-founded the Student Non- began colluding with Communists in the violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1920s, when it worked with Soviet agents 1960. SNCC was later led by black separat- Jessica Smith, Harold Ware, and John Abt. Please remember CRC in ists Stokeley Carmichael and H. Rap Brown, (See http://keywiki.org/index.php/Ameri- who openly advocated guerrilla warfare in your estate planning. can_Friends_Service_Committee.) U.S. cities. In 1967 Bond served as co-chair of the National Conference for New Politics A simple, commonly used method (NCNP), described by the late Sen. James Gabrielle Lyon, an SPLC research fellow, Eastland as a group “working hand-in-glove has spoken glowingly of domestic terrorist to ensure CRC’s legacy is to name Bill Ayers. Ayers is famous for his Weather with the Communist Party” to foment “revo- the Capital Research Center as a lution in the United States.” Underground years and has yet to be tried, benefi ciary in your will. You can do along with his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, for Bond’s most signifi cant contact as co-chair the murder of San Francisco police Sgt. this in several ways, such as giving of the NCNP was fellow NCNP member Brian McDonnell in 1970. Larry Grathwohl, specifi c assets or a percentage of Herbert Marcuse. A Marxist who fl ed Nazi the only FBI informant to ever successfully your estate. Whichever method you Germany in 1933, Marcuse ultimately took penetrate the Weathermen, has testifi ed under choose, if properly structured your up residence in a number of American oath that Ayers told him of their complicity in universities, including Columbia, Harvard, the bombing that killed McDonnell. This case bequest will be fully deductible from Brandeis, and the University of California, is still open. (See http://www.usasurvival. your estate, thus decreasing your San Diego, where he mentored the black org/docs/Grathwohl_names_Dohrn.pdf.) communist, Angela Davis. Bond and Mar- tax liability. The estate tax charitable cuse helped found the radical journal In deduction is unlimited. More recently, an editorial written by SPLC’s These Times. Mark Potok was published in the Communist Bond visited Castro’s Cuba in 1959 and was Party USA newspaper, People’s World. Potok claimed the editorial was free for publication October 2012 5 OrganizationTrends needs image makeovers. The Soviet Union’s expensive, long distance, lengthy, sive tolerance” that Americans suffer because fi rst leader, Vladimir Lenin, explained, “We discovery laden litigation doesn’t of the First Amendment is to suppress all can and must write in a language which sows seem to cross their minds. The real- voices except those from the Left: among the masses hate, revulsion, and scorn ity of travel, or frightful expenses, toward those who disagree with us.” or summary judgments needs to Liberating tolerance, then, would be made real. We probably need mean intolerance against move- The entire leftist movement has adopted this to make a very visible example of ments from the Right and toleration technique. Thus, any person who opposes il- at least one of them before the rest of movements from the Left.… Not legal immigration becomes a “xenophobe.” understand. (See http://communi- ‘equal’ but more representation of Any person who cites the devastating ad- ties.washingtontimes.com/neigh- the Left would be equalization of verse impacts of “anti-poverty” programs borhood/middle-class-guy/2012/ the prevailing inequality. is “selfi sh” or worse. Any person who op- jun/28/who-neal-rauhauser/.) poses affi rmative action is a “racist.” Anyone Today you can see this tactic in operation who opposes ever-increasing taxes must be Cultural Marxism and Hate Crimes every day when left-wing professors, jour- “greedy.” This kind of sophistry also has roots in the nalists, and politicians ridicule, misrepresent, teachings of Julian Bond’s friend and leftist ignore, or threaten anyone they disagree with. Straw man arguments, misinformation, icon Herbert Marcuse. He was an infl uential The Southern Poverty Law Center assists in and other forms of sophistry, coupled with member of the Marxist Institute for Social this effort. vitriolic smears of opponents can easily Research that was founded in Frankfurt, Ger- intimidate average citizens, who haven’t the many, in 1923 and modeled after Moscow’s Even more ominously, but in line with Mar- time or inclination to look deeper and are Marx-Engels Institute. It came to be known cuse’s call to arms, the SPLC is a consultant naturally anxious about being tarred with the simply as “the Frankfurt School.” Marcuse same brush. With suffi cient media promotion, and other scholars affi liated with the Insti- to both the FBI and Department of Homeland this fraudulent narrative becomes accepted as tute reestablished it in the U.S. following Security, and the latter has labeled conser- the “truth,” even chic. Most people want to their exodus from Germany, and developed vatives potential “domestic terrorists.” The be seen as siding with the “good guys.” philosophical studies specifi cally dedicated SPLC has not been identifying enemies of to subverting American culture. America. It has been identifying enemies Critics are isolated and polarized, and de- of the Left. spite the Left’s phony characterization of a Marcuse was often called the Father of the deep-pocketed Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, New Left, and he helped pioneer the ideas Some of the people and groups on the SPLC’s the Left’s critics are usually independent of political correctness and hate crimes. In hate lists genuinely do express hatred and voices of little or no means, not necessar- a 1965 tract called “Repressive Tolerance,” bigotry, like Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of ily even conservative, with scant resources Marcuse declared: Islam, the New Black Panther Party, the to defend themselves against defamation KKK, Nazi parties, and the like. But mixed campaigns and frivolous lawsuits, which are This essay examines the idea of in are many well known, widely respected favored tactics of the well-heeled SPLC and tolerance in our advanced industrial individuals and groups who have taken other leftist groups. Far-left agitator Neal society. The conclusion reached is principled positions on matters of national Rauhauser even admitted as much when he that the realization of the objective advocated for a policy of “lawfare” against of tolerance would call for intoler- importance. Their only sin is their outspoken political opponents: ance toward prevailing policies, at- opposition to the Left’s radical designs. titudes, opinions, and the extension We’re dealing with people who of tolerance to policies, attitudes, By cataloging the statements and writings have likely had no interaction and opinions which are outlawed of individuals and groups with whom they with the court system beyond a or suppressed…. disagree, the SPLC is also creating a paper traffi c ticket; the potential for a trail to use if and when hate crimes laws are pro se litigant to force them into As he explained, the way to fi x the “repres- strengthened suffi ciently to provide pretexts 6 October 2012 OrganizationTrends for lawsuits or other legal action. This is a ists on the group’s “Hate Map”? No, nor is shares strategies, goals, and tactics with other not-so-subtle threat. That sort of attack has Adbusters, an “anti-consumerist” magazine similar organizations and colludes with them begun to happen in Canada, Britain, and that hatched Occupy Wall Street and that in campaigns of defamation, disinformation Sweden. has expressed support for the Black Bloc. and legal threats to silence and/or criminalize (For more on the organization behind the political opponents. magazine, the Adbusters Media Founda- The SPLC’s interaction with the Department tion, see the profi le in Foundation Watch, The SPLC has unjustifi ably secured itself a of Homeland Security and the FBI carries January 2012.) position of infl uence within our government another threat. By deliberately mischarac- and society. Its very presence threatens our terizing conservatives and tea partiers as What about the blatantly terrorist Jumaat al- freedoms and First Amendment rights. It “extremists,” the SPLC implies they have Fuqra and its 35 U.S.-based terrorist training abuses our system of justice, while hiding a potential for violence and thus offers a camps? Crickets from the SPLC. (See http:// behind a Constitution for which it has little justifi cation for the government to keep tabs www.jihadwatch.org/2012/01/35-jamaat-al- respect. on these potential “domestic terrorists.” fuqra-terror-training-camps-still-operating- in-the-us.html.) The same is true for the James Simpson is an economist, business- The Left, on the other hand, has a fi rmly Muslim Brotherhood. man, and freelance writer. His writings have established record of militancy, violence, been published in Accuracy in Media, Ameri- and treasonous, unscrupulous and disgusting Why are none of these groups listed in the can Thinker, Big Government, Washington anti-social behavior. Occupy Wall Street, for SPLC’s “Intelligence” fi les? What about the Times, WorldNetDaily, FrontPage Magazine, example, is an anti-social, violent movement Communist Party? What about union thugs and elsewhere. of the extreme Left. The Black Bloc is a vio- like AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, im- OT lent organization of the extreme Left, and the plicated in murder, or United Steelworkers’ president Leo Gerard, who exhorted Occupy FBI recently conducted raids on suspected Wall Street to “more militancy?” All prone Black Bloc members. to violence, and they proudly say so!

Why have we heard nothing about it from the Despite a mountainous record of violence SPLC? Are these genuine domestic terror- from left-wing individuals and groups, there Please consider contribut- have never been any left-wing groups identi- ing today to the Capital Re- fi ed on the SPLC’s “hate groups” list. search Center. Come to think of it, why isn’t the SPLC We need your help in the listed? current diffi cult economic climate to continue our im- After a bombing attempt on May Day this portant research. year by fi ve Occupy Cleveland activists was thwarted, a reporter for National Review Your contribution to advance asked the SPLC if it planned to put Occupy our watchdog work is deeply Wall Street on its “hate group” list? SPLC’s appreciated. stunning answer: “We’re not really set up to cover the extreme Left.” Many thanks. Conclusion Terrence Scanlon The Southern Poverty Law Center is a President wealthy, well-connected, organized attack machine of the extreme political Left. It October 2012 7 OrganizationTrends Briefl yNoted A New York Times article profi les Texas-based True the Vote, mocking the very idea of voter fraud “because no one can prove it exists.” True the Vote, headed by businesswoman Catherine Englebrecht, is coordinat- ing a nationwide volunteer poll-watching program aimed at preventing voter fraud at the ballot box. Left-wing advocacy groups such as ACORN-affi liated Project Vote and the NAACP Voter Fund say voter fraud is a myth. The same groups have no concern about the incident in Philadelphia in 2008 when members of the New Black Panther Party tried to intimidate voters entering a polling station, yet claim they that asking voters to produce photo identifi cation before voting is somehow racist. Voter fraud is real, according to former Project Vote employee Anita MonCrief. Left-wing groups target minority areas, MonCrief says, and then defl ect criti- cism about the fraud they encourage by telling their critics, “Oh, you’re a racist. You don’t want black people to vote,” said MonCrief, an African-American. “Vote fraud deniers is what I call them.”

Meanwhile, Democratic Party leaders in Maryland forced one of their own candidates for Congress, Wendy Rosen, to step down after they learned she had voted in both Florida and Maryland elections in 2006 and 2008. State Democratic Chairwoman Yvette Lewis wrote the state’s attorney general that Rosen’s actions were “a clear violation of Maryland law,” and added, “there should be zero tolerance for voter fraud of any kind.”

Radical academic and activist Frances Fox Piven wrote an op-ed for Britain’s Guardian, arguing that the fl oundering Occupy Wall Street movement is far from dead. Piven rationalizes that “major American movement[s]” like Occupy do not “expand in the shape of a simple rising arc of popular defi ance.” She also compares Occupy to the “underground railway” that bravely smuggled slaves out of the old South.

Barrett Brown, a self-described spokesman for the Anonymous computer hacker group, was arrested in Dal- las, Texas, for allegedly threatening a federal agent. Wired magazine’s Threat Level blog said Brown “posted a long and rambling YouTube video in which he talks ... about retaliating against an FBI Agent named Robert Smith after he learned that his mother might be hit with obstruction-of-justice charges for an incident related to a laptop belonging to Brown that he apparently hid.” Brown boasts that he carried out cyber-attacks against the Church of Scientology, Visa, and MasterCard. Anonymous is allied with the violent Occupy Wall Street move- ment.

Americans for Prosperity’s Colorado chapter is demanding that Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia probe Adams State University over its now-abandoned plan to offer course credit to students who volunteer with the Obama campaign. “It strikes me as baffl ing that an institution of higher ed that is supported by tax dollars would risk doing something that gives the appearance of partisanship,” said AFP spokesman Sean Paige. “They should know better,” he told the Daily Caller news website.

The same Marxist agitators who tried to silence Mitt Romney in the Hawkeye State last year heckled vice president hopeful Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) recently. The agrarian socialists and union goons of the ACORN-like Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) tried to disrupt a Ryan speech at the Iowa State Fair. Iowa CCI activists loudly demanded Ryan halt the “war on the poor” and bragged on their web- site afterward that they shaved 30 percent off his speaking time. “Ryan spoke for only 12 minutes, well under his allotment of 20.” 8 October 2012