2023 A Look Back: Didn’t Read the Fine Print Award
Founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association Richard Mack (left) looks on as Ronald J. Wright speaks at an event in Murphy earlier this year.
Kyle Perrotti photo
Congressman Chuck Edwards apparently doesn’t read The Smoky Mountain News, but if he did, it may have saved him some humiliation earlier this year.
On Sept. 5, SMN first reported on a meeting of shady sovereign-types who’ve formed an organization espousing the preposterous “constitutional sheriffs” movement, which is anything but.
The group, founded by a former sheriff from Utah, held a meeting in Murphy that same month to share its crackpot theories on how a “constitutional” sheriff:
· has more authority than even the President;
· can pick and choose which laws they decide to enforce; and
· may ignore centuries of precedent, jurisprudence and legislation regarding the Constitution.
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Veering off into the bizarre, the group also espouses election denialism and COVID-19 conspiracy theories and has strong ties to the disgraced Oath Keepers movement.
So what did Edwards do?
He sent some poor staffer all the way from the other end of his district to Murphy to present the leader of the group with an award.
If that’s not revolting enough for you, a pledge on the group’s website, which ostensibly exists for law enforcement officers to download and sign, was authored by a self-avowed Christian nationalist and white supremacist who now serves on the group’s board of directors.
The pledge also contains a threat, similar to threats made by former Haywood County resident/Aliceville FCI inmate # 20217-510 Darris Moody, to “arrest, detain and recommend prosecution” of government officials who don’t agree with their perverted interpretation of the law.
The new chairman of the group’s board runs an internet “news radio” service that the Southern Poverty Law Center says airs white supremacist content.
As is his custom, Edwards refused to speak to SMN about the award.
