Investigators have linked an anarchist group prosecuted for the 2008 Republican National Convention Molotov plot in St. Paul to a 2008 arson at the Texas Governor’s Mansion, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

Texas Department of Public Safety Officials have released two sketches of one suspect who has not been identified, along with two videos, one of which shows a person throwing a Molotov cocktail at the front door of the Mansion, which then burst into flames.

In 2009, Paul Demko, then of the Minnesota Independent, reported on the prosecution of Austin-based activist David Guy McKay, who pleaded guilty to making Molotov cocktails for the purpose of disrupting the 2008 RNC. An issue that arose during McKay’s trial was the role of FBI informant Brandon Darby in the plot. McKay’s admission of guilt was accepted by a judge only after McKay stopped insisting that Darby helped make the incendiary devices.

As Demko reported in March 2009:

“McKay had initially pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. A trial last month ended in a hung jury. But prosecutors had since come up with additional evidence, including a phone conversation between McKay and his father in which he acknowledged that the Molotov cocktails were produced without assistance from Darby.”

In January 2009, a group calling itself the Austin Informant Working Group accused Darby of provoking the violent plot and also spying on lawful, nonviolent activists on behalf of the federal government.

On December 29, 2008, Darby released a statement attempting to explain why he worked for the FBI, as well as a video of Darby advocating for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

McKay is serving a four-year sentence, which began immediately after his guilty plea was accepted in March 2009. Another activist, Bradley Crowder, was released in May 2010, according to the Statesman.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

MINNEAPOLIS: Ex-zombie vowed to kill RNC-protest snitch, say Texas officials. But it seems the woman — a former resident of Minneapolis, where in 2006 she was arrested along with six other Zombie Dance partiers — did not actually threaten to eat FBI informant Brandon Darby. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

ST. PAUL: Inspection skipped on circus bleachers. It may seem like 2006 was a long time ago, even in zombie years, but that’s the last time city inspectors took a look at the Circus Juventus bleachers that collapsed Sunday. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

FRIDLEY: Defense contractor BAE Systems delivers 314 pink slips. For people laid off from the Future Combat Systems project, that’s got to especially sting, coming on the same day President Obama told the VFW, “If a project doesn’t support our troops, we will not fund it. If a system doesn’t perform, we will terminate it.” [Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal; Stars and Stripes]

WORTHINGTON: “Don’t sleep in the subway, darling.” The subway Petula Clark was singing about in her 1967 hit was the kind of pedestrian tunnel that Worthington officials are proposing to go under Minnesota 60 — a state highway that is also getting a roundabout nearby. Very Euro. [Worthington Daily Globe]

DULUTH: Tribe calls casino contract bad, won’t pay city. The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will stop funding major street repairs from its take at downtown’s Fond-du-Luth Casino. (Insert your own broken-treaty gag here.) [Duluth News Tribune]

MINNEAPOLIS: Plank road to be history — again. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board — which is now seeking its own taxing authority via a voter referendum — will pay more than $400,000 to repave in concrete a block-long, wood-plank road it built as an historic replica only six years ago. [Downtown Journal]

The Austin, Texas–based activist acknowledged producing eight Molotov cocktails and conspiring to violently disrupt the Republican National Convention in September.

McKay initially attempted to plead guilty to the three felony counts Monday, but his admission of guilt was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis. The reason? McKay continued to insist that a government informant, Brandon Darby, was partly responsible for producing the incendiary devices.

McKay had initially pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. A trial last month ended in a hung jury. But prosecutors had since come up with additional evidence, including a phone conversation between McKay and his father in which he acknowledged that the Molotov cocktails were produced without assistance from Darby.

This morning, under direct questioning from Davis, McKay repeatedly acknowledged criminal wrongdoing.

“Just so I’m clear, you did not come to Minneapolis-St. Paul to peacefully demonstrate?” Davis asked at one point.

“No sir,” McKay responded.

“Are you making any claim that you’re innocent?” Davis queried at another point.

“No, I am not,” the defendant acknowledged.

The use of informants to infiltrate activist groups planning to engage in civil disobedience during the RNC has proven problematic in obtaining prosecutions. In an unrelated case, an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation was recently arrested and charged with five criminal counts, including burglary and assault.

Davis ordered a pre-sentence investigation, but no date has been set for McKay’s sentencing. His longtime friend and fellow activist, Bradley Neal Crowder, pleaded guilty in January to illegally possessing the Molotov cocktails.

After accepting McKay’s guilty plea, Davis ruled that he was to begin serving time immediately. The defendant removed his suit jacket, necktie and belt and was taken into custody.

Here is the court schedule for the RNC8 hearings. All will take place at the Ramsey County Courthouse, 15 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul (courtroom assignments listed on screens in the lobby).

Max Specktor: Feb. 24, 1:30 p.m.
Monica Bicking: Feb. 24, 2:30 p.m.
Luce Guillen-Givens: Feb. 27, 9:30 a.m.
Eryn Trimmer: Feb. 10:30 a.m.
Erik Oseland: Monday, March 2, 9 a.m.
Rob Czernik: Tuesday, March 3, 9 a.m.
Nathanael Secor: Tuesday, March 3, 10 a.m.
Garrett Fitzgerald: Tuesday, March 3, 1:30 p.m.

Here is the text of a statement released today by the Austin Informant Working Group, a follow-up to the group’s Dec. 31 statement that, among other things, cites an Oct. 29 Pioneer Press article outing Darby.

Austin RNC Informant is Provocateur Not Hero

A group of Austin activists today released their conclusions from reviewing over 70 pages of FBI documents obtained through a legal case regarding alleged actions to protest the Republican National Convention (RNC). From reading the documents, and from their own experience with him, these activists have concluded that the FBI informant Brandon Darby did not heroically intervene to stop violence. Rather it appears that he actively sought out people that he could manipulate and entrap. The two Texas men that Darby was most closely associated with during the convention, Bradley Crowder and David McKay, are accused of making Molotov cocktails and have been in jail since early September. Their trial is set for January 26. The disclosure of Brandon Darby as the informant casts further doubt on the charges against these two men.

According to the FBI’s documents, Darby, posing as an activist, had been covertly gathering information for the FBI since at least February 2007, twelve months before he ever met Crowder or McKay or knew of any plans for the RNC. “As an older seasoned activist, Darby had a lot of sway over Crowder and McKay, making them susceptible to his often militant rhetoric,” said Gabby Hicks, who was in St. Paul with Darby during the Convention. “He was always the one to suggest violence, when the rest of us clearly disagreed with those strategies.”

Darby has been characterized by many people who have known and worked with him as both persuasive and manipulative, with a history of provocation, instigation, and incitement. According to Lisa Fithian, who worked with Darby for years, “Brandon was always provoking discord and aggression, in the anti-war movement in Austin in 2003, in protests in Houston against Halliburton, and in disaster relief at Common Ground in New Orleans.  I worked with Darby in all of those places and saw the disruption he caused.”

The FBI documents make it clear that Darby did not restrict his informing to people he alleges were planning illegal activities. He also gathered information on numerous people who were engaged in lawful activism; including some who had no plans to attend the Republican Convention. “The wider net cast by Darby in his information gathering shows that he was part of an FBI campaign to suppress political dissent and activism,” said Will Potter, an award-winning independent journalist. “By gathering information on law abiding activists and then defending his actions as stopping violence, Darby contributes to the public perception that political dissent is criminal, which has a chilling effect on free speech.”

Because of Darby’s leadership role and his militant rhetoric, two impressionable young men, who have been held without bail since September, now face 7 to 10 years in prison. As the prosecution prepares for trial, friends and family of McKay and Crowder are hoping for a not guilty verdict. “We miss him a lot,” said Mckay’s father. “Every night David calls –- at this point those calls mean everything to me.”

After the jump, Darby’s statement and a short video clip in which Darby, co-founder of Common Ground Collective, advocates for Hurricane Katrina victims.

December 29, 2008

To All Concerned,

The struggles for peace and justice have accomplished significant change throughout history. I’ve had the honor to work with many varying groups and individuals on behalf of marginalized communities and in various struggles. There are currently allegations in the media that I have worked undercover for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This allegation no doubt confuses many activists who know me and probably leaves many wondering why I would seemingly choose to engage in such an endeavor. The simple truth is that I have chosen to work with the Federal Bureau of investigation.
As compelling as the natural human desire to reason and express oneself can be, regardless, I must hold my comments at this time on certain aspects of the situation. That said, there are a few statements and generalizations I will make relating to my recent choices.

Though I’ve made and will no doubt continue to make many mistakes in efforts to better our world, I am satisfied with the efforts in which I have participated. Like many of you, I do my best to act in good conscience and to do what I believe to be most helpful to the world. Though my views on how to give of myself have changed substantially over the years, ultimately the motivations behind my choices remain the same. I strongly stand behind my choices in this matter.

I strongly believe that people innocent of an act should stand up for themselves and that those who choose to engage in an act should accept responsibility and explain the reasoning for their choices.

It is very dangerous when a few individuals engage in or act on a belief system in which they feel they know the real truth and that all others are ignorant and therefore have no right to meet and express their political views.

Additionally, 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. Many people become activists as a result of discovering that others have distorted history and made heroes and assigned intentions to people who really didn’t act to better the world. The practice of placing noble intentions after the fact on actions which did not have noble motivations has no place in a movement for social justice.

The majority of the activists who went to St. Paul did so with pure intentions and simply wanted to express their disagreements with the Republican Party. It’s unfortunate that some used the group as cover for intentions that the rest of the group did not agree with or knew nothing about and are now, consequently, having parts of their lives and their peace of mind uprooted over.

There is no doubt in my mind that many of you reading this letter will say and feel all possible bad things about my choices and for me. I made the choice to have my identity revealed and was well aware of the consequences for doing so. I know that the temptation to silence or ignore the voice of someone who you strongly disagree with can be overwhelming in matters such as this one; and no doubt many people will try to do just that to me. I have confidence that there will be a few people interested in discussion and in better understanding views different from their own, especially from one of their own. My sincere hope is that the entire matter results in better understanding for everyone.

Many of you went against my wishes and spoke publicly in defense of me. Those involved were correct when they wrote that I wasn’t making my choices for financial reasons or to avoid some sort of prosecution. They were incorrect that my ideology didn’t support such choices. One individual who publically defended me stated that they didn’t believe I was working undercover because the government would have used my access to take down a more prominent activist if the allegations were true. If indeed the government or I was interested in doing so, it could have happened in such a manner. However, the incorrect notion that the government was out to silence dissent was the cause for the mistake made by that person. In defense of the individuals who openly did their best to do what they thought was defending me, they did not know the truth and they had no way of knowing the truth due to their ideological and personal attachments to me. It’s unfortunate that the truth couldn’t have come out sooner and that the needed preparations for such a disclosure take time. I really did mean it when I said that I didn’t want to discuss it and that I didn’t want folks addressing the allegations.

Again, I strongly stand behind my choices in this matter. I’m looking forward to open dialogue and debate regarding the motivations and experiences I’ve had and the ethical questions they pose.

In Solidarity,

Brandon Michael Darby