Taxpayers Have Sent Millions To The Southern Poverty Law Center

Taxpayers Have Sent Millions To The Southern Poverty Law Center

Millions of taxpayer dollars have flowed to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) since 2016, according to a new report from Open the Books.

The government watchdog group already identified $3.85 million that the SPLC has raked in from taxpayers, but said the real amount is likely much higher.

The organization is currently facing federal wire fraud, false statements, and money laundering charges, as previously reported by Legal Insurrection.

The Department of Justice alleges that the organization funneled money to extremist leaders and groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, ostensibly to act as informants. The SPLC then fundraised off the alleged resurgence of those organizations.

The same group that was paying an organizer of the deadly Charlottesville 2017 rally was also receiving money for its “Teaching Tolerance” curriculum and other K-12 materials.

Open the Books reported:

Since FY 2016, at least $1,352,655.07 worth of taxpayer funds have been paid directly to SPLC from school districts, states, cities, counties, universities and other public entities. Most of the 63 reported payments lack an explanation, but the relatively small amounts suggest payment for materials, speakers or licensing fees.

There is likely more spending out there to uncover, Open the Books suggested.

“A second FOIA related to our investigation of the Pentagon’s K-12 public schools turned up SPLC, too,” the watchdog group said.

Beyond the spending, there might also be “free resources” containing “radical SPLC content” that is showing up in “teacher training or classrooms.” That means the Southern Poverty Law Center’s ideology is continuing to infect teachers and students.

The true work of the Southern Poverty Law Center may continue to be exposed as well in the coming months, as the federal charges progress.

Furthermore, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced his own investigation into the Montgomery-based group.

His office is investigating the group under the “State’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act” and other charitable organization laws, though no charges have been filed yet.

“We have always suspected that they were monetizing hate and trading on race-baiting, it was just a matter of proving it,” Marshall announced on May 11.

“We look forward to learning more about the inner workings of an organization that we have long believed was rotten, but until recently, has been impervious,” he said.

In a recent filing, the Southern Poverty Law Center argues that the informant program is now “defunct” and that law enforcement officials were aware of what it was doing, according to the Associated Press.

Editor’s note: The author of this article is a former intern for Open the Books.

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