R.W. Moore's Letter to the Editor of TR pertaining to article of March 10, 2006
When you use Morris Dees as someone that we as citizens should look up
to, did you do any research before you slammed Nelson Waller in your
story about the court cast filed in Federal Court?
I think in all fairness to Mr. Waller you should print this history of
this man Morris Dees. Just look at who he has been a lawyer for.
R. W. Moore
Mis Dees Fact Sheet
"'Til the Cash Comes Flowing Like a River..."
Full Name: Morris Seligman Dees, Jr.
Born: 16 December, 1936 in Shorter, Macon County, Alabama
Education:
- Graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama in
1955
- Received B.A. & J.D. Law degree [1960] from University of Alabama
In an article titled Poverty Palace, Morris Dees told journalist John
Edgerton that "I had a traditional white Southerner's feeling for
segregation." [The Progressive, July 1988 - Edgerton, John. Poverty
Palace, How the SPLC Got Rich Fighting the Klan]
Millard Fuller [who later founded Habitat for Humanity.] [Fuller,
Millard. Bokotola. New Century Press: 1977]
Fuller has this to say about his 8 year association with Dees:
Dees and Full er formed the law firm of Dees & Fuller in
"Morris Dees and I, from the first day of our partnership, shared one
overriding purpose: to make a pile of money. We were not particular
about how we did it; we just wanted to be independently rich. During
the eight years we worked together we never wavered in that resolve."
"But everything has a price. And I paid for our success in several
ways. One price I paid was estrangement from the church."
attorney general candidate McDonald Gallion and also worked for George
C. Wallace. Fuller stated: "We wanted to be sure of having friends in
high places."
In 1961 when Freedom Riders were beaten by a white mob at a
bus station, Dees [and Fuller] expressed openly his sympathies and
support for what had happened at the bus station.
When one of the men charged wit h beating the Freedom Riders came to
their office for legal representation,
The legal fee was paid by the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizen's
Council. [Fuller, Millard. Love in the Mortar Joints. New Century
Press: 1980 and The Progressive, July 1988]
[who left the SPLC in 1976] and Julian Bond [resigned late 1970's.]
[Articles of Incorporation. Southern Poverty Law Center, Inc.]
Acted as Chief fundraiser for George McGovern's 1972 presidential
campaign in return for the campaign's mailing list. Raised $20 million
for McGovern. [
1988.]
Arrested and removed from court in 1975 for attempting to suborn
perjury [bribing a witness] in the Joan Little murder trial in
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
after the Supreme Court of the
appeal. [Ibid.]
"The great untold story of the JoAnn Little trial was the role of the
Communist Party, through its National Alliance Against Racist and
Political Repression, in controlling the entire political movement
surrounding the case. Angela Davis, a leading figure in both
organizations became the most frequently quoted movement figure and
constant companion of JoAnn Little... Party members were visible and
influential on the defense committee, and the party frequently set up
rallies of support around the country." [
Pirsky, Mark. March/April, 1976.]
Fund-raised for Jimmy Carter in 1976 hoping to be named
Attorney-General, but was unenthused by the campaign for its middle of
the road appeal “You’ve got to have a candidate who is way out on the
extremes!" [The Progressive, July 1988.]
Acted as a fundraiser for both Ted Kennedy's 1980 and Gary Hart's 1984
presidential campaigns and received their mailing lists as reward.
[Ibid.]
Perhaps explaining the SPLC's 'Gay' rights activism,
1979 by his ex-wife with a homosexual encounter during their marriage.
She also cited numerous affairs with women including his
daughter-in-law and underage stepdaughter. [
Appeals CIV 2114, 1979]
The SPLC's fundraising practices have provoked the disapproval of
watchdog groups that monitor charities: In 1993, the American Institute
of Philanthropy assigned the SPLC a 'D' grade on a scale of A to F.
[American Institute of Philanthropy xxxx 1993 Charity Watchdog Report]
"By frequently mailing out such persuasive appeals, Dees and his
assoc iates have drawn financial support from about half a million
Americans [by 1988.] The number of contributors and the amount they
have given are probably greater than any left-of-center group has
recorded in a comparable period in the history of American
philanthropy." [The Progressive>, July 1988.]
"The SPLC is already the wealthiest civil rights group in
promised that his organization would quit fund-raising and live off
interest as soon as its endowment hit $55 million. But as it approached
that figure, the SPLC upped the bar to $100 million, a sum that, one
1989 newsletter promised, would allow the Center 'to cease the costly
and often unreliable task of fund raising.' Today, the SPLC's treasury
bulges with $120 million, and it spends twice as much on
fund-raising-$5.76 million last year-as it does on legal services for
victims of civil rights ab uses. The American Institute of Philanthropy
gives the Center one of the worst ratings of any group it monitors,
estimating that the SPLC could operate for 4.6 years without making
another tax-exempt nickel from its investments or raising another
tax-deductible cent from well-meaning 'people like you.'" [The
of
"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
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." [JoAnn Wypijewski in The Nation,
February 26, 2001, as quoted in FrontPage Magazine.]
Randall Williams who formed Klanwatch in 1981 as part of the SPLC's
said in 1988: "We were sharing information with the FBI, the police,
undercover agents. Instead of defending clients and victims we were
more of a super snoop outfit, an arm of law enforcement. Randall and
four staff attorney's res igned from the Center in 1986. [The
Progressive>, July 1988.]
In 1994 the Montgomery Advertiser won a journalism award for a series
of incisive and penetrating investigative articles exposing the
unethical fundraising practices of Dees and the Southern Poverty Law
Center including:
Since August 1, 1984, the Law Center has taken in about $62 million in
contributions and yet only spent about $21 million on actual programs,
according to federal tax records.
In a series of fund-raising letters the
the United Klan's of American to pay $7 million to the mother of
lynching victim Michael Donald in 1987. Beulah Mae Donald actually
received only $51,874.70 from the Klansmen. The
millions as the result of fund-raising letters about the case.
The Montgomery Advertiser conducted a "random sampling of donors -
people who receive a steady stream of fund-raising letters an d
newsletters - showed they had no idea the Law Center was so wealthy."
"They're drowning in their own affluence," Pamela Summers, a former
SPLC legal fellow told The Montgomery Advertiser. "What they are doing
in the legal department is not done for the best interest of everybody
[but] is done as though the sole, overriding goal is to make money. “I
think people associate the SPLC with going to court. And that's why
they get the money. And they don't go to court." There have only been a
handful of court cases over the years, many of which remain unresolved.
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
1994.]
In 1986 the entire SPLC legal staff resigned in protest of
refusal to address issues such as poverty, homelessness, voter
registration and other issues they considered more pertinent to poor
minorities rather than to get rich fighting a Klan chimera. [Harpers
Magazine. Silverstein, Ken. The
The Birmingham News has also investigated Dees and the SPLC in 1994
and found the following:
Christine Lee, a
in 1989, "I would definitely say that there was not a single black
employee with whom I spoke who was happy to be working there." "As I
was told [at the SPLC,] they don't need Black people telling them how
to handle Black issues," Lee said.
Probably the most discriminated people in Amer ican today are white men
when it comes to jobs because there are more of those who had more
education opportunities and who the test scores show are scoring better
and on paper look more qualified. That's why you have so many reverse
discrimination cases around." [
USA Today reported in 1996 that
the "nations richest civil rights organization" with $68 million in
assets. [
of a $100 million endowment.
In the same article Stephen Bright, one of Dees numerous former
associates told a reporter that
of very wonderful, well intentioned people." [Ibid.]
At a news conference in
"Those [black] churches that have been burned in the South were
certainly burned by racists." After subsequent investigation revealed
there was no rash of black church burnings, many newspapers, including
The Charlotte Observer, concluded that
[Charlotte Observer. October 10, 1996.]
two or more persons" who train in the use of firearms for defensive
purposes are declared "illegal militias." [Selected Speeches and
Writings of Morris Dees.]
Dees is well known for putting 'Hate on Trial' in the 1990
that trial, Greg Withrow, now accuses
paying witnesses [and then hush money for another 5 years] for their
testimony. [
Dees & the SPLC defames the entire Southern Heritage Community by
labeling them 'Neo-Confederates.' [SPLC Intelligence Update. Summer
2000]
Dees assaulted an elderly journalist at a symposium sponsored by the
journalist had asked
journalist physically hauled out of the building by two policemen. [The
First Freedom. February, 2002.]