MIAC Report

 You may have thought the controversy surrounding last year's "Modern Militia" report from the state highway patrol had died down, seeing how it wasn't nearly as evil as Peter Kinder and GOP state legislators were alleging.  If so, you'd be wrong.

Today, Media Matters catches the ridiculous Fox Nation website cribbing an article from World Net Daily, and alleging that Jay Nixon "links Christians with violence." 

If this absurd attack sounds familiar, it's because Kinder tried it (unsuccessfully) last March.  The report in question actually talked about the radical Christian Identity sect, not "Christians." And, much to the Republicans chagrin, the report was actually developed when Matt Blunt was governor. 

Once upon a time, Rep. Bob Dixon wanted a series of hearings to retread information we already knew about MIAC's controversial Modern Militia report. Speaker Ron Richard acquiesced, and Dixon convened a hearing in June.  At that hearing, Dixon promised future grandstanding in Springfield, St. Louis and Kansas City, and wanted to schedule those hearings ASAP.

What happened?

Don't Dixon, Jim Guest, Shane Schoeller and Jim Viebrock want to be on teevee again interrogating Highway Patrol officers?  Didn't Peter Kinder think the MIAC report needed a full investigation?

Are Freedom and Justice on vacation? 

The House's interim MIAC study committee (officially know as the Interim Committee on State Intelligence Analysis Oversight, or ICOSIAO, for short) finally met this afternoon in Jefferson City, with none of the fireworks you might have expected in March or April.

The tone of today's hearing was decidedly more reasonable than the over-the-top rhetorical flourishes offered a few months ago.   A few months ago, Peter Kinder was demanding investigations and the MO GOP was decrying a "21st Century ‘Enemies List." But now that a few of them have actually taken time to read the report, let go of conspiracy theories about Jay Nixon's desire to imprison all conservatives everywhere, become aware of the Dr. George Tiller's murder, and seen today's news from Washington -- the grandstanding has been ratcheted down a notch.

It's somewhat odd that we're learning about previously poo-poo'd MIAC hearings in the House from the Libertarian Party, but Speaker Ron Richard has apparently named a "special interim committee" to investigate the much-discussed MIAC "Modern Militia" report. The Party has an obvious interest in dragging this controversy out as long as possible, but Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder has been silent on the issue in recent weeks. It's not hard to see why -- there isn't much to investigate, and the more we learned about the creation of the report, the more uncomfortable it became for Kinder and the GOP establishment.  

After watching Kinder willfully misrepresent the report's contents again and again, it's hard to feel bad when the outrage he helped foment is redirected at him:

“In contrast to Lt. Governor Peter Kinder’s grandiose statements and rhetoric in his press conference last month, he’s nowhere to be found on actually delivering the solution to this problem. Despite his skillfully taking a public bow for the hard work of others, it should be pointed out that Mr. Kinder contributed nothing to this effort other than empty words.

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I've signed up for Cynthia Davis' email list about a dozen times, but still have to wait until she posts her weekly newsletters on the web before I can read them. So this is a little dated (it's from last week), but here's Davis' take on the MIAC report controversy:

Commonly recognized terrorist groups were not even mentioned in the report. In fact, most groups listed in this report are more likely to be good citizens - and even legislators! 

She has a point. Apart from the Atlantic Olympic Park bomber, the Oklahoma City bombers, the Militia of Montana, the Christian Identity nuts who think that non-whites are "mud-people," Neo-Nazis, Branch Davidians, the Ruby Ridge folks, the anti-Semites who fear the "ZOG," the Oklahoma Constitutional Militia, the Aryan Republican Army, the Arizona Viper Team, the Mountaineer Militia, the Third Continental Congress, the North American Militia, the Montana Freemen, the Idaho Mountain Boys Militia, the Kentucky Militia, the Texas Militia, the Michigan Militia and the Alabama Free Militia, there weren't any violent groups mentioned in the report.

And members of the groups listed above are "likely to be good citizens - and even legislators!"

It's hard to feel bad about this when Peter Kinder worked so hard to stoke the flames on the MIAC report:

The Missouri Libertarian Party asks how Mr. Kinder expects to lead our state when he cannot lead his own party to honor his call for an investigation into the now-defunct “strategic memo” that outraged Missourians...

If Peter Kinder cannot lead his own party on something with overwhelming public support, how does he expect to lead Missouri as governor?

Too weeks ago, the Libertarian Party was lauding a "peaceful resolution" to the MIAC controversy.  Now they're "fuming" over the lack of legislative hearings on the matter. (They also think that Kinder "said the right things" in his MIAC editorial series -- I think there's a pretty strong case that he did not.)

Desperate for some relevance in the public sphere, the Libertarian Party needs to keep this controversy going. But with a more complete understanding of how and when the controversial report was created, legislative hearings seem unlikely.

An odd turn of events for Kinder.

Despite being confronted on numerous occasions about his misrepresentations of the controversial MIAC report, Peter Kinder continues to delight in sharing his very selective reading of the document.  I know that Kinder and his staff have very busy schedules that make it hard to get bogged down with the details, so I'm humbly offering these edits for the next newspaper that chooses to reprint his misleading and incendiary op-ed on the matter:

Militia report warrants a complete investigation

Friday, April 3, 2009
[Note: be sure to change the date for the next reprint]
By Peter D. Kinder

On March 20 March 14, reporters broke the astonishing news that a report from the [the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC), part of the] Missouri Department of Public Safety[,] was distributed to law enforcement agencies across our state[. This report] depicted Christians [members of the violent Christian Identity movement that think non-whites are “mud people”], [militant] anti-abortionists [like Eric Rudolph who take up arms in support of their beliefs], advocates for protecting [militia units who take it upon themselves to patrol] our borders and supporters of certain political candidates as potential "threats" to public safety.

The report was developed [researched in 2008 and written in very early 2009] by the Missouri Information Analysis Center [under the direction of my good friend, Van Godsey,] and was titled "The Modern Militia Movement." By title alone, the imagination conjures up images of commando renegades on remote outposts in secluded mountainous terrain.

"We now know it [the MIAC report] was formulated under Blunt's watch."

A few readers have asked about the release referenced by Van Godsey in the email to Henry Hershel referenced in a Thursday post.

Here is the paragraph on MIAC that Godsey appreciated in a release about fighting illegal immigration:

The governor also spotlighted his Missouri Information and Analysis Center as a resource for law enforcement. Blunt created the center in 2005 and it has now become both a regional and national example of information collection, analysis, and dissemination. Earlier this year the center played an important role in helping uncover and research illegal workers who had been employed by a state contractor.

From PenroseOnPolitics

Somehow lost in the MIAC report fury is MIAC director Van Godsey.  Godsey has been the MIAC director since its creation, and the Superintendent of the Highway Patrol has identified Godsey as the man who reviewed and approved the report.

Godsey has long been close with top Republican leaders.  He was appointed to his current position as Director of MIAC under Governor Blunt. He was a confidant of former Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Kenny Hulshof, and worked directly with Hulshof in the tragic Joshua Kezer case. Once, Van Godsey described himself to Matt Blunt's former chief counsel, Henry Herschel, as Blunt's "smartest hardworking asset." Herschel, in turn, called Godsey one of the Governor's "best employees."

When and how did Godsey approve the report for distribution?

Are any of tomorrow's stories about the MIAC report going to mention Peter Kinder's dishonest/obtuse statements about what it contains?

David Catanese has posted video of an interview conducted yesterday with Peter Kinder, and it illustrates precisely what I was trying describe yesterday.

Catanese: The Nixon Administration points out that it [the MIAC report] does not target Christians. It targets Christian Identity, which, according the to Anti Defamation League, is a anti-Semitic, racist group that has been involved in violent actions. Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta...

Kinder: They should be watched.

Catanese: So you're not saying that the [MIAC] report targets Christians. Or are you?  In your reading of the report.

Kinder: I'm saying it could be read that way, and we need more answers on how this got focused on one side of the political spectrum.

Kinder is definitely saying that the report targets Christians.  He said it just moments earlier (see Catanese's first video from the same post). Reading the MIAC report, and then watching Kinder's responses, one can only conclude that: (1) Kinder still hasn't read the report, (2) he's completely misinformed about the Christian Identity movement, and hasn't bothered to do some homework, or (3) is intentionally misrepresenting the report to stoke the flames.

This morning, I attended Peter Kinder's Capitol press conference, at which he outlined his concerns with the controversial report by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC).  As has been widely reported, the document has created a "firestorm among conservatives" because it includes language stating that militia members are commonly supporters of third-party political candidates like Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr.

Here's what Peter Kinder said this morning: