PETA accuses senator of new breed of McCarthyism

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Saturday, March 16, 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has accused Rep. Scott McInnis of participating in a "new McCarthyism" by trying to link the animal-rights group to a prominent ecoterrorist group.

The Colorado Republican had challenged PETA for making a $1,500 contribution to the Earth Liberation Front, an underground group that, along with the Animal Liberation Front, the FBI calls the nation's most active domestic terrorist organization.

PETA attorney Jeffrey S. Kerr issued a scathing letter Thursday, claiming McInnis is collaborating with animal-exploitative corporations to defame the group.

However, Kerr said that last April the group did write a $1,500 check to the North American ELF press office to assist in the legal defense for the group's spokesman, Craig Rosebraugh, in free speech matters.

In written responses to questions from McInnis' committee, Rosebraugh said he did not recall receiving a check from PETA, although Kerr said the signature on the check appears to be his.

"PETA does not provide financial or any other assistance to any person or group for the purpose of so-called terrorist activities," Kerr wrote. "Any suggestion to the contrary is simply wrong, defamatory, and the product of lobbyists, public relations consultants, and other paid spokespeople for animal-exploitive industries."

But McInnis spokesman Josh Penry said, whether it went to the ELF press office or not, the bottom line is that PETA sent money to support a group that advocates ecoterrorism.

"The remarkable thing is, these people seem surprised that they're getting called on the carpet for giving money to an ecoterrorist group," Penry said. "Here's a hint: Stop underwriting domestic terrorist groups, and people will leave you alone."

The FBI estimates that, since 1996, ALF and ELF have committed more than 600 criminal acts in the United States, resulting in more than $43 million in damage.

Rosebraugh, who said he relayed anonymous messages to the media about ELF attacks from 1997 until last September, was subpoenaed to appear before McInnis' committee last month to testify about his knowledge of ELF activities.

Regarding a firebombing that destroyed $5.4 million horticulture building at the University of Washington, Rosebraugh said: "I do not find it disconcerting that ELF firebombed, without physically harming anyone, research into genetic modification of our natural world for profit. Genetic engineering is a threat to life on this planet."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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