» Daniel Bice: State Republican Rep. Joel Kleefisch defends meeting with an antigovernment group known as the Three Percenters.
State Rep. Joel Kleefisch says he knew next to nothing about the Three Percenter movement when he recently agreed to speak to a local chapter of the fringe, anti-government group.
“I was asked to speak to a patriot group,” the veteran lawmaker said. “I spoke to a patriot group.”
But the Three Percenters are more than just a bunch of American patriots. The group has garnered attention in recent days when a man charged with trying to detonate a bomb in downtown Oklahoma City allied himself with the group. Jerry Drake Varnell,
23, told undercover agents that he was acting out of a hatred for the U.S. government and an admiration for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, according to the criminal complaint. He also said he agreed with the Three Percenter ideology and was hoping to start the next American revolution.
On its website, the Three Percenter group pledges resistance to the U.S. government for infringing citizens’ constitutional rights, including their right to bear arms. Those in the loosely organized movement says they will act as “the last defense to protect the citizens of the United States if there ever comes a day when our government takes up arms against the American people.”
The name of the farright group, which has chapters in all 50 states, comes from its mistaken belief that only 3% of the colonial population fought in the American Revolution.
The liberal Southern Poverty Law Center labels the Three Percenter movement an anti-government hate group.
Kleefisch said he was unaware of all this when he posted on Aug. 6 a picture of his recent meeting with a local Three Percenter group on his Facebook page.
Some in the photo are flashing an “OK” hand signal, with three extended fingers and the index finger and thumb forming a circle, apparently in reference to the group’s name, though others have suggested a more nefarious meaning when used by those in the white supremacist crowd.
Kleefisch said he accepted an invitation from a longtime friend, Gary
Oliver, to speak with the Three Percenter affiliate at the Range of Richfield — which advertises itself as “the ultimate shooting experience” — a couple of weeks ago about the current legislative session. Oliver did not return calls or other messages.
Told the group supports the U.S. Constitution and Second Amendment rights, Kleefisch said he updated the members on firearms-related legislation as well as other matters. He said he spoke for 15 to 20 minutes.
“Everybody deserves to know about legislation if they want,” Kleefisch said. He said he neither supports nor defends the Three Percenter beliefs.
The Oconomowoc Republican chafed at critics on social media who have been suggesting that the group bears some similarities to the white supremacists who incited a deadly, hate-driven clash in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend.
He noted that several minorities attended his talk in Washington County. He also cited a number of bills he has worked on with African-American lawmakers.
“I have spent my entire life living the tenets of equality,” Kleefisch said. “I have a visceral disdain for any hate group, any anti-Semitic group, any racist group. My record will show that.”
Scot Ross, head of the liberal One Wisconsin
Now, said it was unbelievable that Kleefisch, who is married to Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, was hanging out with anti-government folks.
“I don’t even know what to say about Kleefisch, an elected official with taxpayer salary and health care since 2005 whose wife has been lieutenant governor for the last seven years, standing with a group dedicated to overthrowing the government,” Ross said.