The Texas Observer

A well-known Austin activist fingered as an FBI informant has acknowledged that he provided information leading to the arrest and felony indictment of two Austin men who participated in protests last September at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN.

“The simple truth is that I have chosen to work with the Federal Bureau of investigation [sic],” Brandon Darby said in an open letter he sent this week to friends he has worked with since 2002.

Darby’s activist network stretches from Austin to New Orleans, where he co-founded Common Ground Relief, a grassroots reconstruction effort that drew thousands of volunteers from around the country. In 2004, he helped organize and was arrested during anti-Halliburton protests in Houston. His letter suggests that he disagreed with tactics some members of the Austin Area Affinity Group planned to use to disrupt the Republican Convention. Darby was a member of the group.

“When people act out of anger and hatred, and then claim that their actions were part of a movement or somehow tied into the struggle for social justice only after being caught, it’s damaging to the efforts of those who do give of themselves to better this world,” reads Darby’s letter.

Darby’s fellow activists say they identified him as “CHS 1” – confidential human source 1 – after reviewing an affidavit (PDF) by FBI agent Christopher Langert that was released in discovery in the case against David Guy McKay, 22, and Bradley Neal Crowder, 23. They say information described in the affidavit came from conversations between McKay and Darby.

The informant told Langert that McKay and Crowder fashioned protest shields made from cutting traffic barrels in half. After describing how police seized these items from a trailer the two helped drive from Austin to St. Paul, Langert refers to conversations gathered when the informant wore a wire to record McKay talking about how he and Crowder had made Molotov cocktails, using tampons soaked in lighter fluid for wicks.

The Molotov cocktails were among the items seized in a raid that led to felony indictments of McCay and Crowder, now known as the “Texas Two.” They were charged with possession of unregistered firearms (the cocktails). Information gathered by Darby may have contributed to broader charges against eight others from around the country for conspiracy to riot and conspiracy to damage property in the furtherance of terrorism.

Several of Darby’s friends initially defended him against accusations that he was an informant, but after they acquired additional court documents from sources close to the case against McCay and Crowder, they confronted him days before he went public.

“I don’t feel like I lost my credibility,” says longtime Austin-based activist Scott Crow. “But I staked my credibility defending him, and people backed me up.” Now that Darby has gone public, Crow is ready to go on the offensive.

“While it is not yet clear how long or to what extent Darby has been acting as an informant, the emerging truth about Darby’s malicious involvement in our communities is heart-breaking and utterly ground-shattering to some of us who were closest to him,” says Crow, who in 2005 co-founded Common Ground Relief with Darby.

Activists in St. Paul with the RNC Welcoming Committee posted a video in October 2007 that showed a tongue-in-cheek use of a Molotov cocktail to light a barbeque. Langert’s affidavit states that Darby had been working with the FBI since November 2007.

Crow and another member of the group claim the additional court documents – which the group has so far declined to make public - show Darby actively encouraged, enabled and provoked McKay and Croder to take illegal action. Crow asserts that Darby “hadn’t even met these guys yet” when he began reporting to the FBI. “How can you know they’re going to plan something,” he asks, “if you hadn’t met them yet?”

McCay’s father has previously argued that his son was naïve and gullible.

McCay and Crowder have been denied bail and remain in federal detention in St. Paul. Their trial date has been postponed indefinitely. They each face seven to 10 years in prison.

–Renee Feltz is a fellow at the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and an intern with the investigative unit at The New York Times.

John McCain tried to unify his party with his prime time acceptance speech. “We’re going to fix Washington,” McCain said. “We’ve got a record that proves just that.”

Most delegates seemed pleased with his talk but not everyone was buying it. “I don’t believe there will be any change between McCain and Bush,” said Washington State delegate Stephen Hardy, a college student and small business owner. He said Bush campaigned in 2000 on “Republican ideals of a humble foreign policy, sound monetary policy, and getting back to the Constitution,” but never lived up to them while in office. “I don’t see what McCain champions regarding the Republican ideals.”

Hardy was wearing a “Goldwater ‘64″ button alongside a “The Old Right–Good Ideas Never Die” button. He’s a Ron Paul supporter and like dozens of other delegates, he had managed to find time to attend Paul’s counter-event in Minneapolis held at the same time as the RNC.

He said Sarah Palin is “an excellent choice” for Vice President, due to her stance on the Constitution. Ron Paul supporters “don’t think John McCain shares those values and that’s why we supported Ron Paul.”

I asked Hardy if he was disappointed about how little civil liberties were discussed during the RNC. “I think civil liberties were addressed, unfortunately,” he told me. “When Sarah Palin in her address talked about how unfortunate it was that Senator Obama was concerned about criminals being read their rights, I wondered why this crowd of 15,000 people cheered with abundant applause at the death of habeas corpus.”

Tonight was John McCain’s star turn. This was his chance to show he could pull off some fancy stagecraft too. In fact, the stage itself had been broken down and reconstructed just for tonight’s speech to include a catwalk outlined in neon blue. When the time came, the lights dimmed. Then — like the intro to an old-school Chicago Bulls game — spotlights started roving the darkened arena. A booming voice spoke admirably of McCain. When the candidate entered stage left, all lights went out except one, bathing him in a bright halo.

This was McCain’s show.

However, the crowd — still buzzing from Sarah Palin’s speech last night — responded to McCain’s address with a bit of disappointment. The delegates were unquestioningly energized by a few key phrases such as “security,” “culture of life” and “school choice.” But the senator from Arizona got distinctly less appreciation — crickets, even — for his repeated acknowledgment of, and reaching out to, Democrats, independents and others outside the base. At times, it seemed as if McCain wasn’t speaking to the delegates at all, and they knew it.

The same thing happened when McCain expressed his respect for Obama, and when he stated his desire for peace. The tepid, obligatory applause that greeted him was reminiscent of an opera or a jazz show. The muted reaction was a stark contrast to the rest of the convention. Were these the same people who just last night beat their chests over Palin’s divisive tough talk and heartily whooped in response to Rudy Giuliani’s war cries?

Yet many delegates, when asked about McCain, stuck to their talking points: McCain is great, McCain is good. In a bit of a concession, one delegate from Houston said, “Even things I disagree with, I know where he’s coming from.”

As much as Palin’s speech last night sought to appease the right-wing base, McCain’s address was aimed squarely at independent voters watching on television.

McCain acknowledged more than once the struggles of working families. “Their lives should matter to the people they elect to office and they matter to me,” he said. He thanked undecided voters for their consideration. He said he would fill his administration with members of both parties. McCain sought to portray himself as a different kind of Republican, one less bound to partisanship and ideology — the anti-Bush. He stopped short of criticizing the Bush administration directly, however, except for his repeated references to “change.” He clearly tried to disown much of the record his party has compiled the past eight years.

The speech may not have wowed the delegates, but, lockstep as they are, it might not matter. What matters is how viewers around the country receive his words: as a sincere invitation to join him, or as shallow hucksterism at the 11th hour?

At the Crowne Royal Plaza, where the Texas delegation is staying in downtown St. Paul, the garish Texas flag shirts have been donned. People are starting to head over to the Xcel Center for the RNC finale: Sen. John McCain’s acceptance speech, which is slated for tonight. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is signing cowboy hats for admiring Texans.

But people are still talking mostly about Sarah Palin. “That girl’s got ‘em on a run,” a Texas delegate said this afternoon in the lobby.

Outside, it’s a festive atmosphere. A “Terrorism in America” documentary by the Paul Revere Brigade is showing in a dimly lit bar. Young people are selling McCain/Palin paraphernalia on street corners.

And bored police in riot gear are smoking cigars and posing for photos with pages.

The Republican National Convention may be the place where John McCain officially accepts his party’s nomination. But it’s Sarah Palin’s show.

She dazzled the crowd at the Xcel Center Wednesday night, which had been subdued during the first two evenings. Palin generated excitement with her digs at the Democratic ticket. “A small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities,” she said. A small group of elderly women in the Kansas delegation started chanting “Yes, We Can,” when Palin talked about shattering the glass ceiling.

She didn’t say anything that we haven’t heard before from Republicans. She criticized the media and Washington elites, made Democrats out to be soft on terrorism, and spoke romantically of her small-town roots. She got two Obamas with one quip when she said that people in small towns “are always proud of America.” She made herself seem oh so normal.

But not everyone goes from the PTA to the Governor’s mansion. What’s new about Palin is the packaging. She’s giving the GOP and McCain a chance to re-brand: Maverick 2.0.

The Christian conservatives are thrilled about her and will probably motivate their base to get out the vote. Fiscal conservatives are happy. (Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform calls her “a solid Reagan Republican.”) And she might manage to rouse young people inside and outside the party.

Trey Stinnett, the youngest delegate in the Texas delegation, was “ecstatic” after Palin’s speech. “I think Sarah absolutely rocked the house,” he said. He was wearing a cowboy hat that had “Palin is hot” scribbled in a black marker on the top.

His girlfriend, 21- year-old Paula Stang (and alternate delegate) called Palin “refreshing.”

“There’s a palpable feeling of ‘we can do this,’ ” former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele said after Palin’s performance. “Folks in the party are now ready to win this race.”

If anyone had any hesitation — and some members of the Texas delegation seemed to have some concerns — about Sarah Palin’s suitability to be vice president, that doubt was more than swept away by the fiery rhetoric and firm confidence of the Alaska governor during her speech tonight at the RNC. The lady came out swinging, and the Texans were thrilled.

In the immediate aftermath, delegates on the floor went wild. They hugged. They used words like “ecstatic,” “pumped” and “out of sight.” “I can’t contain my excitement,” one delegate said.

“I teach communication, and she was the essence of it,” said an Arizona alternate delegate, a communications instructor who described himself as an old friend of Sen. John McCain.

And that pit bull lipstick joke? Major mileage for Palin, a Tina Fey lookalike.

The only lingering doubts seemed to come from the Texas delegation’s outliers: the dozen or so supporters of Libertarian-leaning Congressman Ron Paul, the presidential candidate who was refused a place at the convention podium.

But even some Paul supporters were wooed by Palin. One alternate delegate from Mineral Wells, an Iraq war veteran, said he thought Palin would be an even better candidate for president than McCain. (Attending his first national convention, he kept running out to see if any votes had been cast for Paul during the official delegate roll call at the end of the evening’s events.)

If the Democrats had any illusions that they were dealing with a light-weight, Palin certainly smashed those tonight. No wonder the grass-roots loved it.

There was some serious business worship at the Texas delegation breakfast this morning.

First came the worship. The opening prayer thanked God for the party’s nominees, John McCain and Sarah Palin, “whom you selected to be our next leaders.”

Then they got down with business. After Anita Perry talked about Hurricane Gustav relief efforts (what would people have been talking about if not Gustav these last few days?), the delegation heard from reps from two major corporations — BNSF Railway and the energy company, Koch Industries.

Matt Schlapp, of Koch, openly thanked the delegation for helping to create a friendly business environment in Texas. Schlapp is a former Bush White House aide who joined Koch’s Washington office as a lobbyist in 2005. (Schlapp also served as a Bush campaign aide in 2000 and took part in the infamous “Brooks Brothers” riot during the Florida recount.)

Matt Rose, chairman, president and CEO of BNSF, offered more platitudes for the business environment in Texas. The railroad was once based in Minnesota, but moved to the more friendly confines of Fort Worth.

But the belle of the breakfast ball was U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. She may have been snubbed for V.P., but she’s still a hit with this crowd. In brief, stately remarks, Hutchison reminded the delegation that future generations just won’t be safe without a Republican in the White House. Hutchison also pledged her ongoing support for offshore drilling (while admonishing restrictions on speculators, investigation of price gouging or buying a fuel-efficient car). She added that by remaining present in Iraq and Afghanistan, and showing our persistence, we are showing a good example to the world.

Meanwhile, the woman who did win the V.P. stakes, the embattled Palin, is slated to address the convention this evening.

(We should add — because you were wondering, and because the TO just doesn’t talk enough fashion — the Texas delegation last night was a vision in resplendently Republican red, monogrammed polos, topped off with cream-colored cowboy hats.)

Finally, the Democrats are trying to get their message out, at least a little, in St. Paul. Sign on a bus shelter several blocks from the Xcel Center: