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NEWS FROM THE WASHINGTON STATE TYRANNY RESPONSE TEAM
PO Box 3010
Kent, WA  98032
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For immediate release: June 8, 2001
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For additional information:
Jeff Stewart, Co-Founder, WSTRT
Phone: (253) 941-9084
Mailto:jstewart@trt-wa.org
Web: http://www.trt-wa.org
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Anti-Defamation League attacks pro-rights group: Who is defaming whom?

The article, by Denver Post Capitol Bureau reporter Trent Seibert, is a thinly-veiled scare piece intended to demonize the Tyranny Response Team and its activities without evidence of wrongdoing. It contains unsubstantiated allegations of threats made by unidentified "members" of the unashamedly confrontational pro-liberty TRT.

Even a cursory examination of the article quickly reveals one telling fact -- the statements made by ADL representatives are nothing more than speculation, rife with the word "may". From the article:

"That's what it's about: keeping an eye on these groups," said Bobbie Towbin, associate director of the ADL's Denver branch.... "As far as I'm concerned, I don't think they are white supremacists or have an ideology that we'd be concerned about," Towbin said. "It's the type of people they may attract."

"These groups"? Just who is Towbin lumping the TRT in with here? Considering that this article supposedly addresses only the TRT, what possible purpose could this statement serve, unless as an attempt to equate TRT with the anti-Semitic and racist groups usually targeted by the ADL. This seems ironic, however, given that TRT president Bob Glass is himself Jewish.

In describing how the ADL is "compiling information" on Glass' organization, the Seibert article goes on:

"An ADL researcher... talked to some members of Denver's gun-control movement who believe that rogue members of the Tyranny Response Team may have been responsible for sending hate mail and death threats last year to Tom Mauser. Mauser, whose son was killed in the Columbine High School massacre, has advocated tighter gun laws."

Once again, that key word: "may". There is another word used to describe unwarranted fear of that which "may" happen: it is called paranoia. But the real issue here is not the ADL's unwarranted trepidation, rather, it is their evident desire to spread that fear.

The Tyranny Response Team's stated objective is the complete restoration of the Bill of Rights and of Constitutional principles to all levels of government. In the final analysis, there is one crucial question left unaddressed by Siebert's article: what does the ADL fear about an America governed according to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

We can only speculate.

But if it is the direct, uncompromising stance that TRT takes, then we suspect that the ADL's concern is indeed justified. Until the Supreme Law of the land is once again adhered to, the TRT is going to continue making noise, with no apologies.