Elected officials from 6 Wisconsin communities on Oath Keepers membership list

The Anti-Defamation League Heart on Extremism pored over greater than 38,000 names on leaked Oath Keepers membership lists and recognized greater than 370 individuals it believes at present work in regulation enforcement — together with as police chiefs and sheriffs — and greater than 100 people who find themselves at present members of the navy.

It additionally recognized greater than 80 individuals who have been operating for or served in public workplace as of early August. The hacked membership data was compiled right into a database revealed by the transparency collective Distributed Denial of Secrets and techniques.

The information elevate contemporary issues concerning the presence of extremists in regulation enforcement and the navy who’re tasked with imposing legal guidelines and defending the U.S. It is particularly problematic for public servants to be related to extremists at a time when lies concerning the 2020 election are fueling threats of violence in opposition to lawmakers and establishments.

The Anti-Defamation League recognized elected officers from throughout Wisconsin, together with Madison, Rock County, Two Rivers, Sullivan, North Hudson, and Holmen in addition to 4 regulation enforcement officers, three first responders and one service member whose names weren’t launched.

“This report isn’t meant to unmask or ‘dox’ rank-and-file personnel,” mentioned Jake Hyman, affiliate director of communications for the Anti-Defamation League, who added the group has contacted regulation enforcement companies with officers on the record and is working to deal with “the challenges of extremism inside their ranks.”

The Anti-Defamation League cautions that showing within the Oath Keepers’ database isn’t proof that an individual was ever an lively member of the group or shares its ideology.

Not one of the elected officers contacted by the Wisconsin State Journal mentioned they have been present members. Some mentioned they give up as a result of the group was too excessive, whereas others denied affiliation or refused to say.

Madison Ald. Gary Halverson, seventeenth District, who was elected after operating unopposed in 2021, mentioned he joined the group in 2020 with out vetting the group and is now not a member.

“I assumed I joined a corporation that welcomed veterans who cared about our democracy,” Halverson wrote in an electronic mail. “I used to be misled and I terminated the membership two months later in Aug 2020.”

Rock County Sup. Rick Richard mentioned he has by no means belonged and had no thought how his title ended up on the roster.

Richard mentioned he’s conscious of the group however couldn’t say if he helps its mission.

“I don’t actually know that a lot about them,” he mentioned.

Randy McHugh, trustee for the village of Sullivan in Jefferson County, refused to say if he belongs to the group, as an alternative saying he was “involved” that the membership record was illegally obtained by the nonprofit group Distributed Denial of Secrets and techniques.

“I’m not going to say both means if I’m a member or not,” McHugh mentioned.

Rodney Stanek, a trustee for the village of Holmen, mentioned he was a member about 10 years in the past however left earlier than he was elected.

“I simply let my subscription expire as a result of I now not wished to be related to that,” he mentioned. “Typically I feel they step throughout the road. However that doesn’t make them dangerous individuals. They’ve an ideology, and so they’re following that. So long as they don’t carry hurt to different individuals and themselves — that’s the place I draw the road.”

Darla LeClaire, vp of the Two Rivers Metropolis Council, mentioned she joined about 15 years in the past however rapidly minimize ties and is “ashamed” to be related to the group.

“It made sense to me at the time,” the Military veteran mentioned. “It turned crystal clear fairly rapidly what they stood for, which is in the other way I’m going. They’re reactionary. They’re nuts.”

North Hudson village president Stan Wekkin had not responded to messages left Wednesday.

The Oath Keepers, based in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, is a loosely organized conspiracy theory-fueled group that recruits present and former navy, police and first responders. It asks its members to vow to defend the Structure “in opposition to all enemies, international and home,” promotes the assumption that the federal authorities is out to strip residents of their civil liberties and paints its followers as defenders in opposition to tyranny.

Greater than two dozen individuals related to the Oath Keepers — together with Rhodes — have been charged in reference to the Jan. 6 assault. Rhodes and 4 different Oath Keeper members or associates are heading to trial this month on seditious conspiracy fees for what prosecutors have described as a weekslong plot to maintain then-President Donald Trump in energy. Rhodes and the opposite Oath Keepers say that they’re harmless and that there was no plan to assault the Capitol.

The Oath Keepers has grown rapidly together with the broader anti-government motion and used the instruments of the web to unfold their message throughout Barack Obama’s presidency, mentioned Rachel Carroll Rivas, interim deputy director of analysis with the Southern Poverty Legislation Heart’s Intelligence Mission. However since Jan. 6 and Rhodes’ arrest, the group has struggled to maintain members, she mentioned.

That is partly as a result of Oath Keepers had been related so strongly with Rhodes that the removing of the central determine had an outsized impression, and partly as a result of many related to the group have been typically those that wished to be thought of respectable of their communities, she mentioned.

“The picture of being related to Jan. 6 was an excessive amount of for a lot of of these people,” she mentioned.

State Journal reporter Chris Hubbuch contributed to this report.