Thread: SPLC Silent on MIAC Docs: Efforts to hold hearings on militi

ALIPAC NOTE: We need immediate calls and emails sent to MO state lawmakers demanding hearings on the MIAC documents to determine the roll of the SPLC and ADL.

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Efforts to hold hearings on militia report stall

Controversy dies down as budget takes priority.

Chad Livengood • News-Leader • April 6, 2009

Jefferson City -- Outrage in the Capitol over a controversial militia report has receded, and it appears there is little political will to hold investigative hearings over the matter.

More than three weeks after a controversy ensued over the Missouri Information Analysis Center's Feb. 20 report linking supporters of third-party candidates and conservative causes to militias, efforts to haul members of Gov. Jay Nixon's administration into legislative hearings appear stalled.

Rep. Jim Guest, chairman of the House Committee on Real I.D. and Personal Privacy who previously vowed to hold hearings on the matter, said he hasn't received clearance from House Speaker Ron Richard.

Richard, R-Joplin, said no committee chair, including Guest, needs his permission to hold a hearing.

Guest, R-King City, introduced legislation last week to create a special oversight committee of MIAC "to assure that the activities are in conformance with the constitution," according to a bill summary.

Richard also indicated he wouldn't initiate any investigation or create a special oversight committee of one agency with the Department of Public Safety unless it was wanted by Nixon.

And the Missouri Libertarian Party -- fuming over MIAC's report labeling its members as having links to militias -- called on chairmen of other committees in the House and Senate to hold hearings but to no avail.

"So far, it looks like leadership is not responding and everybody is trying to pass off the responsibility to someone else, which is really frustrating," said Mike Ferguson, spokesman for the Missouri Libertarian Party. "We need somebody to step up and do the right thing."

Ferguson also tried to get House Public Safety Committee Chairman Mark Bruns to hold hearings, but Bruns said it's not part of his job.

"If the Speaker of the House is so inclined to have my committee take a look at MIAC, I would do that," said Bruns, R-Jefferson City. "But I don't think it falls under my purview."

With lawmakers hunkered down for the final six weeks of the legislative session, most are focused on passing a balanced budget, managing the $4.3 billion influx of federal economic stimulus dollars and passing legislation to spur job growth and nurse the state's health care system.

"I can't say it's been a top priority," Bruns said about investigating MIAC.
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Meanwhile, the Missouri Highway Patrol is conducting a review of MIAC's operations and how the report was researched and released. Two weeks ago, patrol Superintendent James Keathley ordered the report be retracted.

"The review is currently being conducted and is ongoing," said Lt. John Hotz, spokesman for the patrol. "It will involve a thorough review of the Missouri Information Analysis Center to ensure that the agency is getting accurate, relevant and timely information to law enforcement."

Nixon, a Democrat, has indicated he is pleased with Keathley's actions, but said MIAC's work on the militia report began under his predecessor, Gov. Matt Blunt.

Blunt, a Republican, shot back at Nixon last week in a statement, criticizing his longtime political enemy for passing the blame.

"The assertion that I am somehow responsible for an offensive report that was issued more than a month after I left office and that profiles conservatives is so absurd that one would not think it requires a response from me, but evidently it does," Blunt said in a written statement.

Had he still been governor, Blunt said, he would have taken "corrective action immediately and certainly held those responsible accountable for their actions." So far, officials have said no state employee has been disciplined over the matter.

Critics of the report have pointed to passages that mirror a 2005 "intelligence report" from the Southern Poverty Law Center titled "Terror From The Right."

The MIAC report contains a section titled, "Noteworthy militia activity from 1995 to 1999." It includes bullet points with dates of incidents involving known militia groups and right-wing domestic terrorism in the United States during that time period.

Many of the sentences match phrases and summaries contained in the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Ala.-based liberal organization that monitors hate speech and discrimination. Mark Potok, one of the co-authors of the 2005 report, did not return calls seeking comment.

The Highway Patrol had no comment on the striking similarities of the MIAC report and information contained in the Southern Poverty Law Center report.

Hotz said the patrol has no timeframe for completing its review of MIAC.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/2009 ... 007/NEWS01

Many of the sentences match phrases and summaries contained in the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Ala.-based liberal organization that monitors hate speech and discrimination. Mark Potok, one of the co-authors of the 2005 report, did not return calls seeking comment.

Their objective is more their self enrichment and definition of hate is self defined and is self serving