>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "Macdonald Stainsby" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >=========================== >Rumors had troopers seeing Reds during the GOP convention > >State police based their suspicions of protesters on information supplied by >a right-wing group. > >By Craig R. McCoy and Linda K. Harris >INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS > >The cold war is long over but Pennsylvania State Police were still on the >lookout for communists and Soviet sympathizers among the demonstrators >protesting last month's Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. > >In state police affidavits justifying a raid on a West Philadelphia >warehouse >used by convention protesters, troopers alleged that communists were behind >the demonstrations. > >"Funds allegedly originate with Communist and leftist parties and from >sympathetic trade unions," the state police declared in the affidavits. >"Other funds reportedly come from the former Soviet-allied World Federation >of Trade Unions." > >The language left critics, including demonstrators and civil-liberties >lawyers, both a little amused and a lot indignant. They said it seemed like >something out of a musty red-baiting periodical of the 1950s - Red Channels >and the like. > >The allegations - passed to state police by a private group funded by >conservative multimillionaire Richard Mellon Scaife - did not belong in >government affidavits seeking judicial approval for a search warrant that >led >to 75 arrests, they said. > >"It's McCarthyite. It's tarring people," said David Kairys, a law professor >at Temple University. "It's reminiscent of the worst of the '50s." > >The allegations of communist money made up only a small part of the 23-page >affidavits in support of search warrants for three vehicles and the >warehouse, at 4100 Haverford Ave. The affidavits, made public Wednesday >after >having been sealed for more than a month, relied most heavily on the direct >observations of undercover troopers who infiltrated the warehouse. > >Known as "the puppet warehouse," police called it a center of illegal >activity; activists said it was a workshop in which they made more than 100 >puppets and a large satirical float, "Corpzilla." > >The documents were the first public acknowledgement that police had >infiltrated groups planning to protest during last month's Republican >National Convention. > >Without elaboration, the affidavits stated that the allegations of communist >funding had come from the little-known Maldon Institute. > >Asked last week about the Maldon Institute, Jack Lewis, a state police >spokesman, seemed a little unsure. > >"Our people said they believed this institute is based in the United >Kingdom," he said. > >The Maldon Institute - named after an obscure battle in England in the 10th >century - is based in Baltimore and has a mailing address in Washington, >D.C. > >Lewis added: "I'm told by our intelligence people that the Maldon Institute >is a private organization that provides intelligence information to police >departments. > >"We have found in the past that the Maldon Institute generally presents >reliable information." > >Lewis said that state police and other police departments "routinely receive >information from the Maldon Institute at no cost, via e-mail. The department >did not solicit this information." > >Asked whether state police had attended Maldon Institute conferences, Lewis >responded: "State police personnel have had contact in the U.S. with >representatives of the institute." > >According to public records, the institute is funded, at least in part, by >Scaife, the Pittsburgh political philanthropist best known for his financial >support of several private investigations of President Clinton in recent >years. > >Financial forms for Scaife's Carthage Foundation show it provided Maldon >with >$250,000 in 1998. > >Institute documents show that board members have included D. James Kennedy, >a >Florida televangelist who is cofounder of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Moral >Majority; and Robert Moss, a journalist and novelist who in the 1980s wrote >that the KGB used Western media to manipulate public opinion. > >The institute's officials did not return repeated telephone calls seeking >comment Friday. > >In an interview last week, Chip Berlet, who studies conservative and >far-right groups, said a key figure within the 15-year-old institute has >been >John H. Rees, a British-born contributor to the John Birch Society and >publisher of a newsletter devoted to intelligence-gathering and distributed >to police. > >In the 1970s, Rees published the Information Digest, which gave details >gathered after he infiltrated left-leaning groups under a false name, the >Baltimore Sun reported in 1988. > >Just this year, Rees, as director of the Maldon Institute, helped organize >an >invitation-only conference in New York City on terrorism that drew FBI >agents >and police, according to conference sponsors. > >Berlet said state police erred in using the institute as a basis for police >action. > >"It issues monographs and monitors cults and terrorist groups and left-wing >groups," said Berlet, senior analyst with the left-leaning Political >Research >Associates, based in Massachusetts. "It does so from an old-fashioned >counter-subversion perspective that is obsessed with finding reds under >every >bed." > >Berlet said police needed to distinguish protesters who were engaged in >nonviolent and legal protest from those breaking the law. > >"You're never going to draw those appropriate distinctions if you're relying >on these kind of scurrilous, McCarthyite allegations," he said. > >Lewis, the state police spokesman, noted that the affidavit drew from "a >wide >variety of sources" and did not rely solely on the Maldon Institute's work. >The affidavits drew most heavily on information developed by troopers who >had >infiltrated the warehouse. > >The affidavits, in alleging communist links to the protest, cited >specifically a Maldon Institute research report dated April 7. Lewis said >the >state police would not release that report. > >"The department does not believe it has an obligation to provide the public >with all information it receives as part of its intelligence-gathering >operation, whether or not the department pays for that information," he >said. > >The affidavit's specific allegation is that communist money flowed to a >protest group called the Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network through its >supposed ties to People's Global Action, an anti-capitalist group formed in >Switzerland two years ago. > >All of this astounded Mike Morrill, a leader of the Pennsylvania Consumer >Action Network. His group organized a peaceful march for July 30 - one >permitted by the city. > >Morrill last week released his group's donor list. It showed that the group >raised about $48,000 for the Republican convention protests, with the >largest >contributions coming from well-known city labor unions. Of the total, $200 >came from the Communist Party of Eastern Pennsylvania, the only communist >group listed. > >Morrill said he took no part in the Aug. 1 street blockades that disrupted >city traffic. > >"Imagine my surprise when I found out my organization was awash in money, >funded by Soviet-era organizations and communist-inspired groups from around >the world," Morrill said. > >"Were it so, I'd probably have a better wardrobe and live in a nicer house." >============ >Michael Morrill >PA Consumer Action Network >529 Court St., #509 >Reading, PA 19601 >1-610-478-7888 > > > > > > >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. 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