[Ppnews] Activist is Federal Informant in Convention Case

[Political Prisoner News]

January 5, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/us/05informant.html?_r=1

Activist Unmasks Himself as Federal Informant in G.O.P. Convention Case

By 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/colin_moynihan/index.html?inline=nyt-per>COLIN 
MOYNIHAN

When the scheduled federal trial begins this 
month for two Texas men who were arrested during 
the 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/republican_national_convention/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Republican 
National Convention on charges of making and 
possessing Molotov cocktails, one of the major 
witnesses against them will be a community 
activist who acted as a government informant.

Brandon Darby, an organizer from Austin, Tex., 
made the news public himself, announcing in an 
open letter posted on Dec. 30 on 
<http://Indymedia.org>Indymedia.org that he had 
worked as an informant, most recently at last 
year’s Republican convention in St. Paul.

“The simple truth is that I have chosen to work 
with the 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Federal 
Bureau of Investigation,” wrote Mr. Darby, who 
gained prominence as a member of Common Ground 
Relief, a group that helped victims of 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/hurricane_katrina/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>Hurricane 
Katrina in New Orleans.

He added, “I strongly stand behind my choices in this matter.”

Mr. Darby’s revelations caused shock and 
indignation in the activist community, with 
people in various groups and causes accusing him of betrayal.

“The emerging truth about Darby’s malicious 
involvement in our communities is heart-breaking 
and utterly ground-shattering,” said the Austin 
Informant Working Group, a collection of 
activists from the city who worked with Mr. 
Darby. “Through the history of our struggles for 
a better world, infiltrators and informants have 
acted as tools for the forces of misery in 
disrupting and derailing our movements.”

Mr. Darby’s letter answered lingering questions 
in the case of the two Texas men, David McKay and 
Bradley Crowder, both also from Austin. They are 
scheduled to go on trial in Minnesota on Jan. 26, 
and if convicted on all counts, each faces a prison sentence of up to 30 years.

Neither the United States attorney’s office in 
Minnesota nor the F.B.I. would comment on Mr. Darby’s announcement.

“As a matter of policy, we’re not going to 
confirm or deny the identity of anybody who gives 
us information confidentially,” said E. K. 
Wilson, an F.B.I. spokesman in Minnesota.

But in a telephone interview, Mr. Darby said that 
he had provided information leading to the arrest 
of Mr. Crowder and Mr. McKay, and that he planned to testify at their trial.

Mr. Darby would not provide details about his 
undercover activities, but said he had also 
worked as an informant in cases not involving the 
convention. He defended his decision to work with 
the F.B.I. as “a good moral way to use my time,” 
saying he wanted to prevent violence during the 
convention at the Xcel Energy Center.

Documents that activists said were given to 
defense lawyers by the prosecution and printed on 
F.B.I. letterhead indicated that an informant ­ 
now identified as Mr. Darby ­ carried out a 
thorough surveillance operation that dated back 
to at least 18 months before the Republican 
gathering. He first met Mr. Crowder and Mr. McKay 
in Austin six months before the convention.

Mr. Darby provided descriptions of meetings with 
the defendants and dozens of other people in 
Austin, Minneapolis and St. Paul. He wore 
recording devices at times, including a 
transmitter embedded in his belt during the 
convention. He also went to Minnesota with Mr. 
Crowder four months before the Republican 
gathering and gave detailed narratives to law 
enforcement authorities of several meetings they 
had with activists from New York, San Francisco, Montana and other places.

One of his last conversations with Mr. McKay 
ended in an alley in Minneapolis, according to 
court documents, with Mr. Darby recording Mr. 
McKay talking about plans to use Molotov cocktails.

The F.B.I. reports mentioned dozens of people, 
most of whom have not been accused of any crime. 
In addition to listing biographical and physical 
particulars, Mr. Darby frequently offered 
observations on the motives, attitudes and states 
of mind of activists with whom he dealt.

“Part of what intrigues me is not only how he 
operates but what is the role of the F.B.I. in 
how he operates,” said Lisa Fithian, an organizer 
who is named in the reports. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”

Some former friends of Mr. Darby have denounced 
him as a provocateur and said he might have 
enabled or encouraged Mr. Crowder and Mr. McKay 
to break the law. Mr. Darby denied that.

An F.B.I. agent swore in an affidavit that at one 
point Mr. McKay acknowledged that he intended to 
use firebombs. Such devices were never used, and 
both defendants have pleaded not guilty.

“The claim that the case is solely based on the 
testimony of informants is simply a wanton and 
willful untruth,” Mr. Darby said in the 
interview. “It omits the physical evidence, the 
confession and possibly the testimony of many others.”

In 2005, Mr. Darby went to New Orleans after 
Hurricane Katrina struck, joining Common Ground 
Relief as it provided medical attention and 
helped repair homes. He became a visible member 
of the group, sometimes acting as a spokesman and 
appearing on “The Tavis Smiley Show” on 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/p/public_broadcasting_service/index.html?inline=nyt-org>PBS.

When The St. Paul Pioneer Press published an 
article in October that cited an unidentified 
source who named Mr. Darby as an informant in the 
case against Mr. Crowder and Mr. McKay, a 
co-founder of Common Ground, Scott Crow, defended 
Mr. Darby publicly and warned against “rumors, conjecture and innuendo.”

“I put it all on the line to defend him when 
accusations first came out,” Mr. Crow said. 
“Brandon Darby is somebody I had entrusted with 
my life in New Orleans, and now I feel endangered by him.”

Mr. Darby acknowledged that many people he spied 
on might not accept his explanation that he was motivated by conscience.

“I am well aware,” he said, “that I’ve stepped 
outside of accepted behaviors and that I’ve 
committed a sin in the eyes of many activists.”




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