Southern Poverty Law Center and Morris Dees

What others say about the Southern Poverty Law Center

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Hate-Mongers (The SPLC takes on the Catholic Church and the church fights back) - the same material is also at http://www.cfnews.org/SPLC.htm

Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors hate groups in America conducts an “investigation” of the traditional Catholic movement in the United States.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Expands - includes pictures of the "Poverty Palace"; the SPLC's headquarters at 400 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama, 36104

Front page mag The SPLC which has crusaded for the rights of blacks for 23 years, is controlled by whites. It has hired only two black staff attorneys in its history, both of whom left unhappy. 12 of 13 former Black employees interviewed by the Montgomery Advertiser complained they experienced or observed racial problems during their employment. Several said the SPLC was "more like a plantation." [The Montgomery Advertiser. Feb. 13-14, 1994.]

Southern Poverty Law Center Pushes Twisted Definition of 'Hate'...they’ve never spent more than 31% of the money they were bringing in on programs, and sometimes they spent as little as 18%. Most nonprofits spend about 75% on programs...

Jewish World Review says that the Southern Poverty Law Center "...is actually a fund-raising scheme that could teach televangelists a thing or two. "

"If it's got headlines, Morris is there."

phxnews.com Statement on Southern Poverty Law Center and Apparent Complicity in Oklahoma City Bombing

When elected Attorney-General for the State of Alabama I intend to launch a thorough probe into possible illegal activities by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SoPo). I believe a probe will expose evidence sufficient to empty SoPo’s coffers and run them out of the State of Alabama...

Till the cash comes flowing like a river...

Amongst other claims this article states Dees was "Arrested and removed from court in 1975 for attempting to suborn perjury [bribing a witness] in the Joan Little murder trial in North Carolina. Little, a black convict, was accused of killing a prison guard with an ice-pick . The felony charge against Dees was subsequently dropped, but the presiding judge, Hamilton Hobgood, refused to re-admit Dees to the case. The refusal was upheld on appeal after the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear Dees appeal."

The same material can also be found at Southern Legal Resource Center

Charity Reports BBB.org say "Despite written BBB Wise Giving Alliance requests in the past year, this organization has declined to be evaluated in relation to the Alliance’s Standards for Charity Accountability. While participation in the Alliance’s charity review efforts is voluntary, the Alliance believes that failure to participate may demonstrate a lack of commitment to transparency.

Reprint of a Washington Times article which says '...Mr. Dees does not take death-penalty cases because this might scare off contributors in safe white liberal neighborhoods, many of whom imagine that the death penalty keeps black robbers, rapists and murderers off their streets. White guilt can be manipulated with black pain, but it has to be done carefully. It's a sordid scam. Some people would call what Morris Dees does a hate crime, but it's a living, and a very good one. ...

Morris Dees' Defamation "What is the Southern Poverty Law Center doing…? Mostly making money…In 1999 it spent $2.4 million on litigation and $5.7' million on fundraising, meanwhile taking in more than $44 million--$27 million from fundraising, the rest from investments…On the subject of 'hate groups' …No one has been more assiduous in inflating the profile of such groups than the center's millionaire huckster, Morris Dees, who in 1999 began a begging letter, 'Dear Friend, The danger presented by the Klan is greater now than at any time in the past ten years.”…With…a salary close to $300,000 putting him among the top 2 percent of Americans, Dees needn't worry about 'fitting in' with the masses of Montgomery [SPLC headquarters]. Naturally, he'd erect a multimillion-dollar office building that's a monstrosity. 'I hate it,' a security guard across the street told me, as the sun's hot rays bounced off the building's vast brushed-stainless-steel-clad southern exposure and onto his face, making him sweat, roasting his skin while he stood watch for the militia nuts Dees would have his donors believe are lurking around every corner."

An Open Letter To Morris Dees By David Horowitz FrontPageMagazine.com | September 2, 2003 "...Shame on you Morris Dees for propagating this filth. An apology would be nice, but taking Berlet’s entire report off your website and notifying your thousands of supporters would be better."

"The only objective the SPLC has ever had is to silence dissent from the right, and the bigots and extremists who control the debate on immigration are the leftist journalists and politicians adored by the SPLC."

Strictly From Hunger: The Morris Dees Story by Kevin Michael Grace

Jewish Journal says American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP), a Maryland nonprofit charity, which publishes the Charity Rating Guide and Watchdog Report four times a year, gave SPLC an "F" rating (abject failure) because of the high expenses and low expenditure on charitable works.

Southern Poverty Law Center IRS return 2004

Tharpe relates how the SPLC sued the Ku Klux Klan for $7 million and won. However the Klansmen had no money so they handed over a $51.000 building which went to the mother of Michael Donald the man the Klan had killed.

"What the Center got and what we reported was they raised $9 million in two years using the Donald case, including a mailing with the body of Michael Donald as part of it."

"The top center officials, I think the top three, got $350,000 in salaries during that time, and Morris got a movie out of it, a TV movie of the week. I think it was called, The Morris Dees Story."

In fact the film, which stared Coben Bernsen as Dees, was called Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story and it is also known as Blind hate

Since the discovery of this heavily redacted document linking the SPLC, Elohim City and Strassmeir to McVeigh and the bombing conspiracy, the FBI has since produced 17 additional documents for Trentadue. However, key sections of those documents were also heavily redacted.

Wesley Pruden, Washington Times Editor in Chief says " nothing more than a scam artist" - Interview on C-Span June 5, 2005

www.answers.com has a lengthy article with many criticisims of the Southern Poverty Law Center and its finances and fund raising.