Letter from extremist group gives Utah governor three days to leave office
Published: Thursday, April 1, 2010 10:11 p.m. MDT
SALT LAKE CITY — Governors from several states, including Utah and Nevada, have received threatening letters this week, spurring increased security at state capitols.
The letters demand that all 50 governors need to remove themselves from office within three days or they will be forcibly removed, according to a source close to one of the governors.
The threat comes less than a week after the FBI arrested members of a Michigan militia group who are suspected of plotting to kill law enforcement officers in hopes of starting an uprising against the federal government.
And while the FBI reports that it is conducting an investigation into the letters, which were received by both Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons on Tuesday, local law enforcement told the Deseret News that the extra security around the Capitol was simply a precautionary measure, said Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Nigbur.
The letter is said to contain no explicit threat of violence.
Herbert's office confirmed that it had received the letter but said other than extra security around the governor, the letter "will not impact his work or detract from his focus as he governs the state of Utah."
A source close to the Nevada governor told the Deseret News on condition of anonymity that the letter Gibbons received was from a group called The Guardians of the Free Republics.
On its Web site, The Guardians of the Free Republics, a Texas-based group, calls for a "bold achievable strategy for behind-the-scenes peaceful reconstruction of the de jure institutions of government without controversy, violence or civil war."
Calls Thursday to the group's office were not immediately returned.
Calls requesting information from the Department of Homeland Security were not immediately returned.
Besides Utah and Nevada, governors in Vermont, Wisconsin and Iowa also received a copy of the letter, according to early news reports. The Associated Press reported that on Wednesday governors received an advisory about the letter, which the FBI said came from an "identified sovereign citizens extremist group."
"Sovereign citizen extremists are individuals who reject all forms of government authority and believe they are emancipated from the responsibilities with being a U.S. citizen," the FBI told the Des Moines Register. "These extremists advocate for their views through the use, support and facilitation of violence or other illegal conduct."
A spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based nonprofit that monitors extremist groups, told the Register that the letters seem to be part of a trend "in an explosion in extremism on the far right." As examples, he cited people throwing bricks through Democratic offices after the health care vote to a tax protester flying an airplane into an IRS office in Texas in February.
Between 2008 and 2009, the number of extremist anti-government groups grew from 149 to 512, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. One adherent of the loosely affiliated sovereign citizens movement, according to the Anti-Defamation League, was Terry Nichols, an accomplice to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
While local officials seemed to downplay the significance of the threat Thursday night, security was increased at the Utah and Nevada state capitols. But UHP Sgt. Nigbur said there won't be armed guards in the building.
A spokesperson for Gibbon's office said increased security at the Nevada Capitol was triggered by information from the FBI before the letter had been received.
The Nevada Capitol now has an X-ray scanner and metal detector, as well as at least two Nevada Highway Patrol cars that usually aren't there, said Daniel Burns, a spokesman for the Nevada governor's office.
e-mail: lgroves@desnews.com
© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved |
