Phone (949)600-8889 Fax (949\297-3767 274O5 Puerla Real, Suite 25O, Mission Viejo, CA 92691 HOFFMAN LEGAL CORPORATION hoffmanlegal.net August 17,2018 VIA E-MAIL Rep.Tavlor@lesis.wi.sov; Lisa@PRWatch.ors and FIRST GIÁSS MAIL Rep. Chris Taylor Assembly District 306-West P.O. Box 8953 Madison, Wisconsin 53708 76th Lisa Graves, Executive Director Center for Media and Democracy P.O. Box 259010 Madison, Wisconsin 5371 5-901 0 Re: Defamatory statements regarding David Horowitz Dear Rep. Taylor and Ms. Graves: This firm represents David Horowitz and the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, regarding the defamatory claims about David Horowitz that you caused to be published on your PR Watch website, on August 13,2018, in an article written by Rep. Taylor entitled "ALEC in Disarray." Without critical examination, Rep. Taylor's artícle refers to and blindly adopts the Southern Poverty Law Center's ("SPLC') defamatory labeling of Mr. Horowitz as a "dangerous hatemonger" and as "antilslamic". There is not a shred of truth to these false accusations. Although Rep. Taylor uncritically adopts SPLC's accusation that Mr. Horowitz is a "dangerous hatemonger" and "anti-lslamic," David Horowitz personally challenges you to produce one statement of his or of the Freedom Center that is anti-lslamic. Mr. Horowitz has written and published over a million words. There is not a single sentence of his that could qualify as antilslamic. Nor are you or the SPLC able to quote any. Rep. Taylor should have factchecked SPLC's false designation of Mr. Horowitz before publishing her article. David Horowitz's life work embodies his support for equal rights for people of all creeds, including Muslims. He has in fact organized protests on more than 100 college campuses against the oppression of Muslim women. He has published booklets against the oppression of Muslim women. He has sponsored panels with Muslim speakers against the oppression of Muslim women. There are numerous videos of his campus speeches on the lnternet where he can be seen saying that his efforts are not directed against all Muslims, but are conducted on behalf of most Muslims against the hijacking of their religion by totalitarian radicals who are conducting a campaign of hatred against Jews, gays, and other minority groups. Did Rep. Taylor investigate any of these things? HOFFMAN LEGAL CORPORATION Rep. Chris Taylor Ms. Lisa Graves August 17,2018 Page 2 Very few people have done as much as David Horowitz to expose the ongoing oppression of Muslim women, Jews, gays, and other minorities in Middle Eastern countries, which should have been self-evident to you from recent news stories demonstrating mass murder and repression of Muslims by lSlS in Syria, lraq, and Turkey. Mr. Horowitz's research and exposure of the abuse of minority groups at the hands of extremist elements in such countries should be a legitimate part of any dialogue about extremism. You cite the SPLC as the source of the defamatory claim that Mr. Horowitz is a "dangerous hatemonger" and "anti-lslamic", but you have failed to critically examine that source before republishing this defamation. You have adopted, without adequate investigation, specious third pafty claims by the SPLC that Mr. Horowitz is "anti-lslamic". lf you had thoroughly investigated these claims, you would have discovered that, on October 30, 2016, Tablet Magazine published on the lnternet an arlicle exposing the SPLC's recent blacklisting of David Horowitz and other writers and intellectuals. The adicle, entitled "A New Blacklist From the Southern Poverty Law Center Marks the Demise of a Once-Vital Organization," is written by Lee Smíth, a senior editor at the Weekly Standard and a senior fellow at the Hudson lnstitute. (See attached adicle.) Smith's article outlines in detail how the SPLC, which once valiantly fought against violent supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and defended those advocating nonviolence, has turned on advocates of non-violence, like Maajid Nawaz, a practicing Muslim who is working within his Muslim community to push back against extremism. Nawaz frequently insists that "lslam is a religion of peace," but because he is critical of those within his own faith who preach violent resolution of conflicts, the SPLC accuses Nawaz of "blasphemy" (a surprising term for an alleged civil rights organization) and targets him and others on SPLC's blacklist as being anti-Muslim extremists. Really? Why are you adopting and republishing such misdirected defamation? lnstead of defending Nawaz's advocacy of non-violence and diversity of thought, the SPLC is "now aggressively defending the kind of violent supremacists it had once sought to prosecute, and attacking types like Nawaz it had once defended against violence." The article explores several reasons for the SPLC's betrayal of its prior mission, suggesting that the blacklist has nothing to do with real anti-Muslim extremism and is simply being used to smear the SPLC's political enemies. Attached is an article entitled, "D.C. Shooter A Fan of the Southern Poverty Law Center." https://www.lc.orq/newsroom/details/061517-dc-shooter-a-fan-of-the-southernpoveftv-law-center-1. Not only has the SPLC's hate list been connected to at least two incidents of attempted mass murder, the article quotes Mark Potock, of the SPLC, who admitted in an interview'. "Our criteria for a'hate group,'first of all, have nothing to Ms. Lisa Graves August 17,2018 Page 3 do with criminality, orviolence, or any kind of guess we're making about'this group could be dangerous.'It's strictly ideological." (Emphasis added.) ln another attached article, "A Demagogic Bully: The Southern Povedy Law Center Demonizes Respectable Political Opponents as 'Hate Groups'-And Keeps its Coffers Bulging," Mark Pulliam catalogues the SPLC's biased listings and describes how the SPLC unfairly uses a loose definition to smear ideological opponents having no connection to actual hate groups: "The SPLC claims that'917 Hate Groups are currently operating in the U.S.,' but offers only vague guidelines for what qualifies: 'groups hav[ing] beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.' Despite its insinuations that hate groups are inherently violent, the SPLC casts a much broader net: 'Hate group activities can include criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafletting or publishing' (emphasis added). lndeed, some of the SPLC's hate 'groups' are merely websites or publications-even record labels and religious sects. "This fluid and subjective definition allows the SPLC to lump together-along with the KKK, neo-Nazis, and racist skinheads-such varied groups as religious-liberty advocates Alliance Defending Freedom and Liberty Counsel; pro-family groups such as the World Congress of Families; Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy; the David Horowitz Freedom Center and, separately, its Jihad Watch program; Ann Corcoran's Refugee Resettlement Watch; and many immigration-reform groups, including CIS and FAlR." (See https:/iwww.citv-iournal.org/html/demaqoqic-bullv-15370.htm1.) Pulliam even cites left-leaning lawyers and journalists who are openly critical of the SPLC's motives and methods: "Atlanta-based civil rights lawyer Stephen B. Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights and longtime lecturer at Yale Law School, declined to accept the [Morris Dees] award in 2007 because he saw Dees as a 'con man and fraud."' . . . "'l've long regarded Morris Dees and his Southern Poverty Law Center as collectively one of the greatestfrauds in American life,' wrote the late progressive journalist Alexander Cockburn in 2007. "Even left-leaning Politico has become skeptical; Ben Schreckinger's recent article "Has a Civil Rights Stalwart Lost lts Way?" notes longstanding charges "that the SPLC is overplaying its hand, becoming more of a partisan progressive hit operation than a civil rights watchdog." (lbid.) (Emphasis added.) Rep. Taylor's and PR Watch's utter disregard of Mr. Horowitz's long history of work on behalf of persecuted minorities is reckless, and appears to be driven by political malice. By repeating the SPLC's ideologically-driven blacklisting of Mr. Horowitz and the Freedom Center, Rep. Taylor and the Center for Media and Democracy (as publisher of HOFFMAN LEGAL CORPORATION Rep. Chris Taylor Ms. Lisa Graves August 17,2018 Page 4 PR Watch) are engaging in the very kind of rhetoric which is contributing to politicallymotivated violence, are damaging their own reputations as neutral arbiters of information, and are continuing to republish false, defamatory accusations that exposes the Center for Media and Democracy to substantial legal liability. David Horowitz hereby demands that Rep. Taylor and PR Watch immediately apologize and retract the defamatory claim that Mr. Horowitz is a "dangerous hatemonger" or is "anti-lslamic" and cease and desist from further republication of these defamatory claims. Although he would prefer to resolve this matter on an amicable basis, Mr. Horowitz reseryes the right to exercise all civil remedies to limit any damage to his reputation resulting from your continuing violation of his rights. lf the Center for Media and Democracy intends to wholesale adopt SPLC's defamations without publishing relevant data and links that disclose material counterinformation, it will put Mr. Horowitz in a false light. Moreover, if you disclose SPLC's false labeling of the Freedom Center, but do not disclose SPLC's admission that its "hate group" list is "strictly ideological," this magnifies the damage to Mr. Horowitz. Further dissemination of such pernicious misinformation on your PR Watch website will also demonstrate a malicious intent and will support the imposition of punitive damages against the Center for Media and Democracy and Rep. Taylor personally. Sincerely yours, HOFFMAN LEGAL CORPORATION n'/ 4 PaulA. Hoffman, lndividual Rights Foundation affiliate counsel Encls. (3) PAH:sg cc: Mr. David Horowitz (w/out encls.) Manuel S. Klausner, Esq. (w/out encls.) 7 t5t2018 A New Blacklist From the Southern Poverty Law Center Marks the Demise of a Once-Vital Organization - by Lee Smith Hudson Institute Author Ayaan IIirsiAli, r¡ne: of thc book presenlation cln r\pril 20,2o ¡'-S L5 lrrominent thinlËrIÊ-;E--- https://c-fam.org/aboutus/ rþrrrrcrr¡;rsev 24 believês that the ffiy formdational unit of society,,; that .h¡ge is the between a man and woman,i is the ffiy stræEe rhåt is most beneficial to society; lH aiÊ b sacr€d and should be protected, ls¿l3 fu tife of rmbom children',f and that lctgl- hcrty emphasizes the right to live our Its æatlng ûo our religious õonvictions.,jrt i/about us.cfm 25 o Faith2Action a "pro-active launching pad for the pro-family movement" based on Christian religious principles.5e describes itself as o The SPLC has also criticized Focus on the Family (FOTF), which has long been a respected and influential evangelical ministry as a "fringe group" that uses "smarmy tactics" to "make schools less safe for LGBT students and more safe for their harassers." Most objectionable to the Center is FOTF's suggestion that "too often, classroom materials promoted in the name of 'safety,"tolerance' or'anti-bullying' teaching go far beyond the realm of safety prevention into political advocacy, and even indoctrination."60 -I:lemophobia- and "-{nti-Muslim" Groups .:= S?LC >æs "Islamophobia" hatred --: -;r- r::-€J it :r.e "mutable" trait of- religious :.--- - li '. it -r-rìii:r major reason for the surge .:- --r:-: _:_ a;_::--.-¿- panicularll, post-9/l1. The . -:,= I -I ;:::-:,: ..i irs -/¡¡r¿l/igence Report, fot --:.-=-,::- :-=:---¡: - :i¡.-e titled "30 New Activists ---::c--; - : --:= R=i:¡:l Right." rvhich claimed that -- :-l.l ._.__::- :tlarement. almost entirely --_1ç: _: _--. :.----::;._ ¡rppor-tunists and hard_line -r;=,-t¡-.-t:- t1i _5rr,,\tì enOrmOuSly SinCe taking - - l . - - --¡ ---:- :::¡::ed anri-\luslim hate crimes ;-- i :-. j,':: -- Tiai seemingly ominous ;-:-}:,: :]:-i -Si =_.:::ning. ho$'et.er, when the ¡---i- ,-:-- - _=_-€--i _:-:: :i'ì3 SPLC omitted from its :r-,,:--rE: -'-= ---<.:-i:i arù taken intO account. :-:- _.::i _ : 3 - -- -:: :.umber of"reporled anti"\1--* - -.:-: _ttt:-::: :::::rrn\\'ide increased from - - l r,- _: -:, -:, -r-¡'r-r _ technically a50yo -_ :':-- =:--- _-'-: _---:_-. t- :: ts--: :- : se http://www.f2a.org/about.php 60 http://humanevents.comi20 I 1/07/28/isntthe-southern-povertylaw-center-the-real-hate-group-2/; https ://www.splcenter.org/ news/20 1 0/09/03/focus-family-goes-after-lgbt-students; https :// wwwtolerance. o r gl magazineI focus-on-the-family- goes-after-l gbtstudents; https://www.truetolerance.org/educate-yourselfl 26 ; :-=: ¡..Uld be CharaCtef iZed aS _::-!-:- o: _¡10 million people.62 !-! - ¡: ;=--i :C- --:::-:--::: ::-::]]igenCeI : -:..u -r: :.-_::¿_:: _-_----:::::l-riSht -,::=\ r'i-ri:r .: i::.:ì '.: '=-'-t,l¿_r¡l.html: https://ucr --: ': -.: ::::-:--::. I - -: :- -::::l:nts-olìènses-r,ictimsIr:-i:, :,! :-: --t=-- :-, -: . :--, - .. -.' -- - -_-l I r,t-¡l 5 ::=\ -l:¡:r- I _ r r The SPLC's "30 New Activists" report stigmatizes as purveyors of hate a number of scholars, researchers, and journalists who have examined and discussed, in a thoughtful and responsible manner, the teachings, values, history, and objectives of militant Islamists. Among those smeared in the report are WorldNetDaily publisher Joseph Farah,American Center for Security Policy founder Frank Gaffney, blogger/activist Pamela Geller, Accuracy In Media director Cliff Kincaid, writer David Horowitz, and attorney David Yerushalmi-all of whom are lumped together with Klansmen and neo-Nazis'63 The SPLC's list of "anti-Muslim groups" likewise conflates responsible expositors of hard truths about Islamic extremism with bands of hate mongers.6a Thus the Center has, at various times, condemned such organizations as Concemed American Citizens, whose objective is to "develop a coalition with moderate Muslims "' for promoting Islamic reform in America";ut the ó3 that Islam is "a political ideology" that "divides the world into Muslims and unbelievers, the latter of whom "must submit to Islam in all politics and public life.-67 Neither the declared motives nor the public statements of these organizations call for anytype of mistreatment of Muslims, butthe SPLC divining the hidden motives of its ideological -adversaries nonetheless maintains that all are driven by "anti-Muslim" hatred. In June 2015, the SPLC published "Women Against Islam," a survey of what it described as twelve conservative women who promote antiIslamic messages. The list of "Muslim-bashing activists" included author Ann Coulter; Pamela Geller, publisher ofAtlasShrugs.com and president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative; radio host Laura Ingraham; Brigitte Gabriel, founder of ACT!; and former district attorney and Fox talk https ://www. splcenter. org/fl ghting-hate/intelligence- r ep or tt 20 12 / 30 -new-activists-headin g-radical-ri ght 6a https://www.splcenter.orglfighting-hate/intelligence-repor1201 active-anti-muslim- grouPs 65 Sharia Awareness Action Network, which seeks to educate "the American citizenry about how Sharia Law stands in opposition to Constitutional Law";66 and Politicallslam.com, a website which points out https ://concernedamericancitizens.wordpress.com/our-purpose/ 28 5/ 66 htçs ://counterj ihadreport.com/sharia-awareness-action-network/ 67 http ://dev-political-islam.pantheonsite.io/about/ 29 show host Jeanine Pirro.68 In October 2016, the SPLC published report titled Field Guide to AntiMuslim Extremists, a blacklist profiling l5 .,Islambashing activists" whose "propaganda,, was allegedly responsible for "fueling,' acts of public "hatred" against "American Muslims,', who purportedly "have been under attack,' in the U.S. "ever since the Al eaeda massacre of Sept. ll, 2001." The subjects of these profiles a included: Steven Emerson, Frank Gaffney,pamela Geller, John Guandolo, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, David Horowitz, Maajid Nawaz, Robert Muise, Daniel Pipes, Walid Shoebat, and Robert Spencer,6e Rather than taking on the hard task of disputing the ideas and arguments of these respected public intellectuals, the SPLC takes the easy way of smearing them all as wild-eyed Islamophobes, extracting statements made by these individuals as evidence of their unhinged bigotry: 68 . Emerson's assertion . Geller's assertion that Islam is "the most radical and extreme ideology on the face of the earth"; . Horowitz's 2008 ad campaign stating that the Muslim Students Association was "founded by members ofthe Muslim Brotherhood, the godfather organization ofAl Qaeda and Hamas, to bringjihad into the heart ofAmerican higher education"; https://medium.com/hatewatch-blog/women-against-islam- https://www.splcenter.org/201 guide-anti-muslim-extremists 6 1 30 Obama . Gaffney's assertion that "we're witnessing not just the violent kind ofjihad that these Islamists believe God compels them to engage in, but also, where they must for tactical reasons, a more stealthy kind, or civilizational jihad as the Muslim Brotherhood calls it"; a9f42563elc2 6e that the administration "extensively collaborated" with the Muslim Brotherhood, and that Europe has numerous "no-go zones" which non-Muslims cannot enter without greatperil to their own safety; 025/journalists-manual-field- 3l . Pipes's assertion that the infamous terrorist organization ISIS is "100 percent Islamic" and "profoundly Islamic," 70 In response to fhe Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists, Islam expert Robert Spencer wrote of the SPLC: "They wish to silence those who speak honestly about the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat, blaming us for a supposed rise in 'Islamophobia.' If they really want to stamp out suspicion of Islam, of course, they will move against not us, but fagainst] the ... Mrislims who commit violence in the name of Islam and justify it by reference to Islamic teachings. The SPLC doesn't do that because its objective is not really to stop 'Islamophobia' af all, but to create the illusion of a powerful and moneyed network of 'Islamophobes,' who can only be stopped if you write a check to the SPLC. That's what this is really all about."7r In an October 2016 interview with the Tablet, 70 https://www.splcenter.org/20 guide-anti-muslim-extremists 16 I 025/joumalists-manual-field- 7I http://wwwfrontpagemag.com/ fpm/264645 I splcs-libelous-newreport-anti-muslim-extremists-robert-spencer 32 Maajid Nawaz, a British former radical Muslim who now speaks out against jihadism as a Liberal Democrat politician and radio host, stated that the SPLC staffers who had collaborated on writing the Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Exlremisls were "a bunch of first-world, comfortable liberal Americans who are not Muslims [and] have decided from their comfortable perch to label ffe, an activist who is working within his Muslim community to push back against extremism, an anti-Muslim extremist." Emphasizing that because the SPLC's blacklist had "put a target on my head," Nawaz said he believed that his own life was now in danger, and in June 2017 he sued the SPLC for defamation. "They are ideologically driven to silence any voice that introspects from within the Muslim community," Nawaz said of the SPLC, adding that the group is mostly "interested in point-scoring against the right wing."72 Below is a list of mainstream conservative organizations that the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as Anti-Muslim hate groups, not because 2 htrp I / ww w.tabletmag.com/j ewish-news-and-po Li¡ics/ 21 6494 I southem-poverty-law-center-blacklist; http ://insi der.foxnews. conl 20 l7 I 0 6 I 26lislamic-extrem ism-rnaaj id-nawaz-suing.southempoverly-l aw-center-defarnation?page= 1 &nmsrc=amp 1 : 33 they preach hate but because their political views differ from leftist orthodoxy on issues involving Islam. The American Freedom Alliance describes itself as "a non-partisan, non-aligned movement which promotes, defends and upholds Western values and ideals." Toward that end, it "sponsors conferences, publishes opinions, distributes information, and creates networking groups to identify threats to Western civilization and to motivate, educate and ' unite citizens in support of that cause,"73 The American Freedom Law Center is a public interest litigation firm that "aggressively seeks to advance and defend our Nation's Judeo-Christian heritage in courts all across our Nation,"Ta ' . The Center for Security Policy aims "to expose the threat to America from Shariah," some of whose adherents "seek to install Shariah as a parallel legal and political system in the United finance and homeland security." ' The Clarion Project is a nonprofit organization that "educates the public about the dangers of radical Islam"; "expose[s] how radical Islamists use terrorism, murder, subjugation of women, indoctrination of children, religious persecution, genocide of minorities, widespread human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation and cultural jihad to threaten the West"; and "delivers news, expert analysis, videos, and unique perspectives about radical Islam, while giving a platform to moderate Muslims and human rights activists to speak out against extremism."7s ' The David Horowitz Freedom Center "combats the efforts of the radical left and its Islamist allies to destroyAmerican values and disarm this country as it attempts to defend itself in a time of terror."76 o Family Security Matters produces reports and analyses on numerous subjects, including such topics as the dangers posed by unregulated immigration and the rise of radical Islam.i]. States, constituting a separate governance system for the Muslim community with respect to family law, civil society, media and political discourse, 75 73 ?6 htçs ://www.horowitzfreedomcenter'.org/about 77 htç ://www. familysecuritymatters.org/about/ 74 http://www.americanfreedomalliance.orglaboutusjsp hftp : II w w w.americanfreedomlawcenter.orglaboul 34 https ://clarionproj ect. orgiabout-us/ 35 o Jihad Watch is "dedicated to bringing public attention to the role thatjihadtheology and ideology play in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role ofjihad and religion in modern-day conflicts."78 o Refugee Resettlement Watch claims that "it makes no sense to bring in tens ofthousands ofrefugees and place them onwelfare and otherpublic assistance."Te hate-infested - 78 https://wwwjihadwatch.org/why-jihad-watch 79 htçs ://refu geeresottlementwatch.wordpress.com/about/ 80 https://www.splcenter.org/issues/immi grant-justice I https://www.splcenter.org/20 1201 3 lialabamas-shame-hb-56and-war-immigrants 36 - ¿g a "hate group."S2 "What we are hoping very much to accomplish is to marginalize FAIR," admitted SPLC senior fellow Mark Potok. "We don't think they should be a part of the mainstream media."83 To emphasize just how dangerous FAIR's rhetoric could be, the the Hate" initiative, that "hate crimes targeting United States, the SPLC charges that Hispanic immigrants are victims of "false propaganda that blames fthem] for our nation's problems" while "enacting discriminatory laws thaf sligmalize them."so Holding conservatives responsible for launching a "war on immigrants,"sr the SPLC in late 2007 labeled the well-regarded Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) which seeks to "improve border security," 8 future needs" SPLC announced, soon after commencing its "Stop "Anti-Immi gr ant') Hate GrouPs Adhering to the theme of a "stop illegal immigration," and ensure "that our immigration policies and laws ... serve the nation's Latino s increased ag ain in 2007, capping a 40o/o r ise in the four years since 2003" from 426 incidents in 2003 to 595 incidents in 2007. Why did the SPLC choos e 2003 as the stafting point? Perhaps it was because in2002, the number of reported anti- - Hispanic hate crimes in the U.S. was 480, a fact that would have failed to advance the narrative of consistently rising levels of bigoted violence. Evert more inconvenient was the fact that in 2001 , there were 597 reported anti-Hispanic hate crimes i.e., two more than in2007, whose total allegedly 82 https://cis.orgllmmigration-and-SPLC 83 http://elreporterosf.com/?p:1 403 JI represented the high point of an alarming trend.sa The SPLC's misleading statistics played into the left-wing National Council of La Raza's own "Stop the Hate" campaign, which it launched, on behalf of "undocumented immigrants," soon after FAIR had played a key role in persuading members ofthe U.S. Senate to reject a sweeping immigrationreform proposal that would have created a pathway to amnesty and citizenship for millions of illegals. As part of "Stop the Hate," LaRazapresident and CEO Janet Murguia cited the SPLC's designation and declared, "FAIR is a known, documented hate group."8s Below is a list of additional noteworthy organizations that the Southern Poverty Law Center classifles as Anti-Immigrant hate groups: o American Border Patrol monitors traffic across Southeastern Arizona's border with Mexico - the heart of a major smuggling corridor.86 o Americans for Immigration Control contends that illegal immigration is a "lawless" phenomenon that "puts the future of our country in jeopardy."si o The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization whose mission is to provide "reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States."88 o Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) "works to formulate and advance policies and programs designed to stabilize the population of California, the U.S. and the world at levels which will preserve the environment and a good quality of life for all." CAPS gets the hate label even though it has emphasized, "We don't blame people from other countries for wanting to come live here. We we strive to meaningfully are pro immigrant - the American Dream for uphold and nurture people who want to come to the U.S. through legal 84 https ://ww w. splcenter.orglfi ghting-hate/intell i gence-reporl2008/ hate-crimes; https://ucr.fbi. gov lhate-crime/2}03/; https ://ucr.fbi. gov/hate-crime/2007 I ; hlfps: I lwr,fbi.gov/hate-crimel2002/ ; https: I I ucr.fbi.gov/hate- crimel2}}l l, 85 https://cis.org/Immigration-and-SPLC 38 86 http://wwwamericanborderpatrol.com/About.html 87 http://www.aicfoundation.com/index.html 88 https ://cis.org/About-Center-Immigration-Studies 39 channels in numbers that our environment and resources can reasonably accommodate...."8e o The for Immigration "pro-legal immigrant and pro-legal immigration, but at numbers consistent Colorado Alliance Reform describes itself as with assimilation and sustainability."e0 o New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement describes itself as a "grassroots activist group dedicated to having our existing immigration laws enforced."eL o ProEnglish "work[s] through the courts and in the court of public opinion to defend English's historic role as America's common, uni$ing language, and to persuade lawmakers to adopt English as the official language at all levels of government."e2 So vehement and overwrought has been the SPLC's effort to portray conservatives as anti-Hispanic racists, that even the Obama 89 Administration at one point chastised the organization for its irresponsible rhetoric. The moment came after a March 2016 court hearing during which the SPLC had accused the Federation for American Immigration Reform of being a number of partner groups for having smeared FAIR as "a discredited, extremist anti-immigrant organization espousing white supremacist, eugenicist, anti- Semitic, and anfi-Catholic views.', Barnes wrote: "None of this language was related or relevant to the underlying factual or legal matters. Such language is not appropriate in a filing before the Board (or any judicial tribunal) because it constitutes frivolous behavior and does not aid the administration ofjustice."e3 https ://wwwcapsweb.org/about/about-us 90 e http://www.cairco.org/ I http ://www.nyice,us/AboutUs.html 92 https://proenglish.org/our-missìon/ 40 a racist organizalion. Jennifer J. Barnes, disciplinary counsel for the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review, wrote a letter scolding an SPLC attorney as well as lawyers from e3 http I I daily 201 i I 0 5/08/obamas-doj -reprim anded{he"uller.coml splc-for-accusing-an-immigration-reduction i st- group-of-be ingracist/ 4l featured "Teaching Tolerance" The SPLC tries hard to maintain that it non-paftisan "civil rights" organization. But that façade is stripped away by one of its its Teaching most highly touted initiatives is a Tolerance program, which works to "foster school environments that are inclusive and nurturing," and to help teachers "prepare a new generation to live in a diverse world." The program produces a biannual publication, Teaching Tolerance magazine, which reaches more than 400,000 educators nationwide, as well as multimedia teaching kits, online curicula, and professional development resources. All of these are provided to educators at no cost. The Teaching Tolerance lesson kits contain reading materials and suggested classroom activities designed to steer K-12 students toward the conclusion that America is an inequitable, racist, and sexist society'ea Showing the SPLC's true colors, the Spring 1998 edition of Teaching Tolerance magazine an interview with former Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, under the title "An Unconditional Embrace." In the prologue to that interview, Ayers, who had become a professor education at the University of Illinois at Chicago after coming up from the underground, was described variously as "a highly respected figure in the field of multicultural education"; a man who "has developed a rich vision of teaching that interweaves passion, responsibility and self-reflection"; a professor who "helps aspiring teachers recognize and tap the potential of every child"; and someone who believes that "challenging stereotypes and reforming inner-city schools is as much about fighting for social justice as about improving the quality of teaching and learning."e5 of It would be impossible to understand from this article that Ayers's ideas in academia were little different than what they were in his underground days with the Weatherman tertor group-inspiring teachers and students to rebel against capitalism and the "imperialism" and "oppression" it carries with it; frankly advocating for U.S. public schools e5 9a http ://www. discoverthenetworks. org/groupProfi le. asp?grpid=17 45 42 Weather http ://www. discoverthenetworks. org/individualProfi le. asp?indid:2 1 69; https://www.tolerance.org/mag azinel spring-l 998 I an-unconditional -embrace 43 to nufture a generation of revolutionaries who will overturn America's social and economic regime. The SPLC's Teaching Tolerance program and its companion website, tolerance.org, market Ayers's books.e6 organization working on a shoestring budget.eT The SPLC's endowmentpassedthe $ 100 million plateau in the late 1990s, at which time the Center was spending about twice as much on fundraising as on Raking in the Hate Dollars In 1978, when the SPLC's assets were still below $10 million, Morris Dees pledged that as soon as that figure reached $55 million, the Center would discontinue its fundraising effofts, use income from its investments to cover its operating expenses, and focus exclusively on its "civil-rights work." But as its assets approached $55 million in 1989, the organization revised its pledge, stating that it would actually need to accumulate $100 million before it could flnally "cease the costly and often unreliable task of fund raising." Even though money continued to flow as a result of a relentless and effective direct mail campaign, the Center persisted in depicting itself as a cash-strapped e6 https ://www.city-j ournal.org/html/demagogic-bully- 44 legal services.Yet even after securing its status as the wealthiest civil-rights group in America, the SPLC's obsession with fundraising did not diminish. In 2010 alone, the Center took in more 1 5370.html than $36.1 million in contributions and grants, plus another $2.3 million in investment income. By the end of that fiscal year, its total assets amounted ro $260,547,642.e8 These funds were derived not only from many thousands of individual donors, but also from scores of charitable foundations such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Ford Foundation, George Soros's Open Society Institute, the Ploughshares Fund, the Public Welfare Foundation, the Vanguard Public Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. It is little wonder that critics began to deride the SPLC as a money machine merchandising "hate." e7 https://harpers.orglarchive/2000/1 1/the-church-of-monis-dees/ es Ibid.; https://www.splcenter.org/sites/defaullfi les/d6-legaoy20 I 0FORM990.pdf fi les/downloads/resource/SPLC 45 that A20I3 exposé by the Weekly Standard showed the in comparison to other nonprofit organizations' of SPLC ipent an astronomically high percentage fundraising: its revenues on salaries, overhead, and CharityWatch (formerly the American Institute that of Philanthropy), an independent organization their monitors aná-rates leading nonprofits for the given consistently has fundraising efficiency, for its 'poor') (i'e', 'F' SPLC its l-owest grade of stockpiling of assets far beyond what CharityWatch de"*s a ieasonable reserve (three years' worth of operating expenses).." The SPLC's- 201I rax of filing reveals thåt the organ\zation raised.a total year but spent $38.1 million from its donors rhar the only $24.9 million on 'program services,'with ,"sígoing to salaries, overhead, and fundraising'ee Philanthropy Roundtable, another respected the monitor of nonprofrt groups, has characterized SPLC as "a cash-collecting machine'"rOo In early a 2017, PR stated: "Though it styles itself as Law Poverty Southern public-interest law firm, the 99 http://www.weeklystandard.com/kin afticleI 7 I 4 57 3? noPa ger: 00 1 46 individuals. Its two largest expenses are propaganda operations: creating its annual lists of'haters' and 'extremists,' and running a big effort that pushes 'tolerance education' through more than 400,000 public-school teachers. And the single biggest effort undertaken by the SPLC? Fundraising. On the organization's 2015 IRS 990 form it declared $10 million of direct fundraising expenses, far more than it has ever spent on legal services."ror In a talk at Harvard's Niernan Foundation for Journalism, Montgomery Advertiser managing editor Jim Tharpe said of the SPLC: "They've never spent more than 3l percent of the money they were bringing in on programs, and sometimes they spent as little as 18 percent. Most nonprofits spend about 75 percent on programs."r02 In 2015, the SPLC spent approximately for its employees, and S20 million on salaries just S61,000 on the administration of legal : 0l http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence-inphilanthropy/some_people love_to_call names g-fearmongersi https://www.city-journal.org/html/demagogic-bully- Center does shockingly little litigation, and only small amounts of that on behalf of any aggrieved 1 5370 html :,r: Ibid. 47 action services.L03 that they considered far more pertinent if far less marketable to affiuent benefactors, than fighting the KKK.,'IO5 In 2001, lefrwing writer JoAnn Wypijewski wrote: .,Hate - to poor minorities, As of 2016, the SPLC held $319.28 million worth of assets in a massive endowment fund assets not used to bankroll any civil-rights sells; poor people don't, which is why readers who go to the SPLC's website will ûnd only a handful of cases on such non-lucrative causes as -programs.loa The SPLC has accumulated its vast wealth mainly through the calculated maneuverings of Morris Dees, who has repeatedly tailored his fundraising tactics to suit the political fashions of the moment. The renowned anti-death-penalty lawyer (and former Dees associate) Millard Farmer points out, for instance, that the Center, at one point, largely stopped taking capital-punishment cases for fear that a visible opposition to the death penalty might alienate would-be donors. Similarly, joumalist Ken Silverstein notes that "in 1986, the Centet's entire legal staff quit in protest such as of Dees's refusal to address issues homelessness, voter registration, and affirmative I fair housing, worker safety, or healthcare, many those from the 1970s and 1980s.',r06 of Dees's fundraising tactics are as varied as they are creative. In a 1985 fundraising letter to zip codes where many Jewish residents lived, he made conspicuous use of his Jewish-sounding middle name, Seligman, in his signature at the end of the document. Attorney Tom Turnipseed, a fotmer Dees associate, recounts how, on another occasion, ,.about Dees distributed a fundraising letter with six different stamps" afÊxed to the return envelope, so as to make it appear that ,1hey had to cobble them all together to come up with 35 cents."ro7 03 http ://freebeacon.com/issues/southem-poverty-law-centerhttps ://www. transfers-millions-in-cash-to-offshore-entities/; splcenter.org/sites/defaullfiles/990 1 03 1 1 6.pdf. l0a Perhaps the strongest rebuke ì 05 ft I 0' http://www.washingtonexaminer.com-/conseryative-movement- leaders-call-on-all-reputable-news-orgs-to-stop-citing-the-splc/ artic1e12633537 48 https ://harpe rs.org/ archiv e/2000/1 I /the-church-of-monis-dees/ https://cis.org/Immigration-and-SpLC https://cis.org/Immigration-and-SpLC 49 of Dees comes a pooled investment fund based in the Cayman Islands. A month later, on December 24 and, December 31, the SpLC transferred cash sums of S102.007 and $157,574 to two additional Cayman Islands-based entities. And on March 1,2015, the SPLC made two separate transfers of $2.2 million apiece to a pair of funds incorporated in Canana Bar-. Cayman Islands.rr0 According to the Free Beacon: "SPLC's Form 990-! its business income ra\ return, from the same year shows that they have 'financial interests' in the British Virgin tslands from Stephen Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights, who in 1996 called promote yourself so shamelessly.,'r0s How rich is the SpLC? Of the $320 million in assets that the organizationpossessed as of last year, some $69 million was invested in ,,non_U.S. equity funds," according the to the SpLC,s 2016 2014, the Center transferred $960,000 in cash to Tiger Global Private Investment partners IX, L.p., I ffi http://wwwwashingtontimes.com,/news/200 021048-2889r/ l/fe b/g /200 r020g- and Bermuda" as well.Llr "I've never known a U.S.-based nonprofit dealing in human rights or social services to hale any foreign bank accounts,,' tax expert Amy Sterling Casil, CEO of the nonprofit consulting firm Pacific Human Capital, told the Free Beacon. "l am stunned to learn of transfers of millions to oùìhore bank accounts. It is a huge red flag and u'ould have been completely unacceptable to any *'ealthy, responsible, experienced board member rr-ho was committed to a charitable mission who ' - hnps://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/990_10_3 1_l 5.pdf hnp://freebeacon.com/issues/southern_poverty_law_center_ :=nsfèrs-m i ll ions- in-cash-to-offshore_entities/ 50 51 I ever worked with.,' Casil added. .,I know of no legitimate reason for any U. S -based nonprofit to put money in overseas, unregulated þ¿nlç ¿sçsrr1r.,'rrz Former Wall Street analyst and financial adviser le, Virginia, where a . 0 members of fringe white nationalists and neo-Nazis, held a ,,Unite the Right', rally ostensibly to protest the proposed remãval bf a statue of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a local park. The demonstrators clashed with an even larger group ofhundreds ofleftist counter_ Charles Ortel concurred: .,It seems extremely unusual for a '501(c)(3), concentrating upon reducing poverty in the American South to have multiple bank accounts in tax haven nations."il3 Conclusion The evidence piles up that the Southern poverty - Center is a shell and pea game, Law but Morris Dees continues to laugh all the way to the bank, at home and in the Cayman Islands. Hate is his perpetual motion machine; the gift that keeps on giving. As tensions flare anarchists. Dees is there with his always prepared to SPLC's fundraising efforts received a significant boost in the immediate aftermath of anAugust 12, ¡12 I I i http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupprofi rsp?grpid=7921 Ibid. ll3 Ibid, 52 53 le. The massive publicity that this incident received, coupled with the SPLC's on-the-spot description ofthe rally as the "largest hate-gathering ofits kind in decades,"r 6prompted anumber ofhighprofile individuals and corporations in addition to Apple's Tim Çook and J.P. Morgan's Jamie Dimond to pledge money to the SPLC's professed effort to "monitor and expose the activities of the American I radical right.")ti The actor George Clooney and his wife Amal, for instance, pledged $1 million to The organization.lr8 And large corporate donations were likewise promised by Ubeq MGM Resorts, and Bumble, an online dating seryice.rre bloody and sometimes hospitalize conservatives the SPLC elected not to and Trump supporters include the violent Marxist/anarchist movement in its list of "hate groups." SPLC president Richard Cohen explained that while this organization ''opposes these groups and what they're trying to do" by censoring speech and inevitably provoking "other forms of retaliation," Antifa does not qualify for designation as a "hate group" because its adherents do not discriminate against people on the basis of race, sexual orientation, religion, or other characteristics protected by antidiscrimination laws. In short, said Cohen, Antifa's brand of hate is "not the type of hate we follow."r20 In September 2017, after several months most of violence between right and left -thehooded brutal of it instigated by the masked, streetfighters calling themselves Antifa, who had used chains and clubs on several occasions to I 16 http://www." nn.coml2}I7 /08/14lus/charlottesville-rallytimeline-tick-tocl/index. html II 7 I L8 https ://www.splcenter'.org/hatewatch https://pjmedia.com/faith/20 I 7/08/28/muslim-reformer-joins- christian s-in-suin g-flat-left-terror-li nked-organ ization-for- hate- defamation/; I 1e h ttps ://***. cnbc.conJ201'l /08/21. ljpnorgan-is-pledgingmillions-to-anti-hate-groups-cìting-deep-divì sions.html 54 -'Ïnp: r,'srr.rv.washingtonexaminer.com/southern-poverlyJaw: -:rrer-condem n s-anti fa-but-wont-call-hate- group I atficle I 26332 52 55 John Perazzo is the editor of 56