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A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 8 sepTember 2022
Elected officials, police chiefs on leaked Oath Keepers list

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER tion with the Jan. 6 attack.
and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Rhodes and four other
Associated Press Oath Keeper members or
The names of hundreds of associates are heading
U.S. law enforcement offi- to trial this month on sedi-
cers, elected officials and tious conspiracy charges
military members appear for what prosecutors have
on the leaked membership described as a weekslong
rolls of a far-right extrem- plot to keep then-President
ist group that’s accused Donald Trump in power.
of playing a key role in the Rhodes and the other Oath
Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at Keepers say that they are
the U.S. Capitol, accord- innocent and that there
ing to a report released was no plan to attack the
Wednesday. Capitol.
The Anti-Defamation The Oath Keepers has
League Center on Extrem- grown quickly along with
ism pored over more than the wider anti-government
38,000 names on leaked movement and used the
Oath Keepers membership tools of the internet to
lists and identified more spread their message dur-
than 370 people it believes Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, center, speaks during a rally outside the White ing Barack Obama’s presi-
currently work in law en- House in Washington, June 25, 2017. Associated Press dency, said Rachel Car-
forcement agencies — in- roll Rivas, interim deputy
cluding as police chiefs for public servants to be as- the group or shares its ide- The Oath Keepers, found- director of research with
and sheriffs — and more sociated with extremists at ology. Some people on the ed in 2009 by Stewart the Southern Poverty Law
than 100 people who are a time when lies about the list contacted by The Asso- Rhodes, is a loosely orga- Center’s Intelligence Proj-
currently members of the 2020 election are fueling ciated Press said they were nized conspiracy theory- ect. But since Jan. 6 and
military. threats of violence against briefly members years ago fueled group that recruits Rhodes’ arrest, the group
It also identified more than lawmakers and institutions. and are no longer affiliated current and former military, has struggled to keep
80 people who were run- “Even for those who with the group. Some said police and first responders. members, she said.
ning for or served in public claimed to have left the or- they were never dues-pay- It asks its members to vow That’s partly because Oath
office as of early August. ganization when it began ing members. to defend the Constitution Keepers had been as-
The membership informa- to employ more aggres- “Their views are far too ex- “against all enemies, for- sociated so strongly with
tion was compiled into a sive tactics in 2014, it is im- treme for me,” said Shawn eign and domestic,” pro- Rhodes that the removal of
database published by portant to remember that Mobley, sheriff of Otero motes the belief that the the central figure had an
the transparency collec- the Oath Keepers have County, Colorado. Mob- federal government is out outsized impact, and partly
tive Distributed Denial of espoused extremism since ley told the AP in an email to strip citizens of their civil because many associated
Secrets. their founding, and this fact that he distanced himself liberties and paints its fol- with the group were often
The data raises fresh con- was not enough to deter from the Oath Keepers lowers as defenders against those who wanted to be
cerns about the presence these individuals from sign- years ago over concerns tyranny. considered respectable in
of extremists in law enforce- ing up,” the report says. about its involvement in the More than two dozen their communities, she said.
ment and the military who Appearing in the Oath standoff against the fed- people associated with “The image of being asso-
are tasked with enforcing Keepers’ database doesn’t eral government at Bundy the Oath Keepers — in- ciated with Jan. 6 was too
laws and protecting the U.S. prove that a person was Ranch in Bunkerville, Ne- cluding Rhodes — have much for many of those
It’s especially problematic ever an active member of vada, among other things. been charged in connec- folks,” she said.q

Starbucks loses appeal, will rehire 7

fired Memphis workers

order to reinstate them. lawsuit. Workers United, the union
Starbucks said the employ- Starbucks appealed, but organizing Starbucks stores,
ees violated company late Tuesday, a three-judge celebrated the appeals
policy by reopening the panel for the 6th U.S. Circuit court decision Wednesday.
store after closing time and Court of Appeals sided with The group claims Starbucks
inviting non-employees — the lower court, ruling that has fired more than 100
including a television crew Starbucks “did not show union leaders from its stores
— to come inside. a likelihood of success” this year.
But the National Labor Re- in challenging the lower “We hope the win helps
lations Board disagreed court’s ruling. provide the precedent for
A group of fired Starbucks employees celebrate the result of a
vote to unionize one of the coffee company’s locations on June with Starbucks’ action, say- The case has been among other cases like ours and
7, 2022, in Memphis, Tenn. ing it was interfering with the most closely watched helps show workers that we
Associated Press workers’ right to organize, in the ongoing unionization have the power to stand
and it asked a federal effort at Starbucks. Since up for a better work life for
By DEE-ANN DURBIN an effort to unionize their court in Memphis to inter- late last year, more than ourselves and every other
AP Business Writer Memphis store. vene. Last month, a federal 230 U.S. Starbucks stores worker out there,” said Ky-
Starbucks said Wednes- The seven will get their jobs judge ordered Starbucks to — including the Memphis lie Throckmorton, one of
day it will reinstate seven back after the Seattle- reinstate the workers within location — have voted to the fired workers, in a state-
employees who were fired based coffee giant lost an five days while the court unionize. Starbucks oppos- ment distributed by the
in February after leading appeal of a lower court’s considers the labor board’s es unionization. union.q