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Southern group says it didn't host Tancredo event
By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
September 13, 2006

A leader of a controversial Southern nationalist group said Wednesday it had had nothing to do with organizing an event for Rep. Tom Tancredo last weekend in South Carolina.

And, Lourie Salley, a board member of the South Carolina League of the South, lashed out at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which described the gathering where Tancredo spoke as "a hate-group event."

Salley defended Tancredo after the Law Center claimed a barbecue held at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia on Saturday was hosted by the South Carolina League of the South.

Salley described the League as a "southern nationalist organization" and said that he and more than a dozen members did attend the Tancredo event. But he said the group's only involvement was to encourage its members to turn out for it.

The room was booked by the non-profit group Americans Have Had Enough, which backs Tancredo's anti-illegal immigration stand and said it wants to stand up for conservative principles once championed by the likes of former President Ronald Reagan. Tancredo serves as honorary chairman.

But, citing an online invitation (www.sclos.org/news.htm), the Southern Poverty Law Center tried to link the event to the South Carolina chapter of the League of the South, which it describes as a "hate group."

In an interview, Salley said, "Many of our goals are different from Congressman Tancredo's. In South Carolina, we share a concern about illegal immigration. I get the impression that (Tancredo) believes the union should stay together."

"The League of the South is a Southern nationalist organization," Salley said. "Obviously, Congressman Tancredo is not a Southern nationalist. As far as I know, he has got no contacts with the League."

Salley blasted the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose Intelligence Report program is known for investigating what it considers to be "hate groups."

"I think it's absolutely absurd," Salley said of the SPLC's charges about the Tancredo event. "The SPLC has called the Boy Scouts and several churches hate groups. If that's who (they) consider hate groups, I consider myself to be in good company."

Heidi Beirich, deputy director of the Intelligence Project for the SPLC, said she stands by an online article about the event that was widely circulated on the Internet on Tuesday (http://www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?aid=79).

"We stand by exactly what we wrote," Beirich said Wednesday. "Whatever Salley is saying now is not what came across at the event or in the advertisement."

A spokesman for Tancredo has vehemently disputed the group's charges, accusing the Southern Poverty Law Center of intentionally distorting the facts in order to discredit Tancredo.

"I think they knew exactly what they were doing," Espinosa said Tuesday. "They've had it out for Tom for some time now. We're talking about attorneys who make their money by exploiting illegal immigrants...I'm just shocked people are giving them any sort of credibility on this. They never bothered to call us. They never bothered to pay attention to things called facts."

Tancredo appeared at the event as part of his trip to South Carolina, a key battleground state in presidential politics. Tancredo has flirted with a run for president in 2008, although he said his travels to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina are really about making sure bigger-name contenders don't ignore the immigration issue.

As Tancredo's national profile has grown in the past year, he has tried to distance himself from racists who might share his views opposing illegal immigration. In several speeches, he has told audience members that if they come to the immigration issue with racial motivations, he has no interest in working with them.

Beirich said she did not know whether Tancredo was familiar with the League of the South, but that he should have been concerned about Confederate battle flags and other paraphernalia on display at Saturday's event.

"Our job here is to follow hate groups," Beirich said Wednesday. "When hate groups start advertising events where there are politicians, we're going to be following. We don't want hate ideology, hate anything, affecting the political process."