Last evening on the way home from casting my vote in the Texas primary, I spoke with Stacy McCain. Mr. MCCain gave me a quote that was too good not to use despite its saltiness. Stacy said — and said that I can quote him on this — that “Lying felon Brett Kimberlin is a f****** criminal.” Stacy verified that he was and still is in an undisclosed location following the threat that Kimberlin clearly does pose to Stacy and his entire innocent family. Stacy McCain cannot go to his home.
Kimberlin is, as Mark Tapscott writes at the Washington Examiner, a sinister enemy of free speech. The question is, how did Kimberlin go from convicted bomber and perjurer to free man receiving funding for leftwing activism. Sweetness and Light’s Ed Barnes clears that up: Kimberlin was the man who falsely claimed that he sold marijuana to Dan Quayle in the 1970s.
Kimberlin, a convicted bomber and drug dealer, learned that lesson in 1988, when he claimed from his prison cell that he had been Dan Quayle’s marijuana dealer in college. The claim got a lot of attention because Quayle was running for vice president of the United States at the time.
Now, 22 years later, Kimberlin has taken that lesson and made unfounded accusations a profession of sorts. Using two popular leftist blogs, the 56-year-old from Bethesda, Md., has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from the public and left-leaning foundations by promising to put conservatives he disagrees with in jail, often with offers of large rewards. So far — without success — he has called for the arrest of Karl Rove, Andrew Breitbart, Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue, Massey Energy Chairman Don Blankenship and other high-profile public figures.
Brett Kimberlin was convicted of perjury before he left high school. He would later be convicted of the Speedway bombing, which would lead to an innocent man’s suicide. But rather than becoming a pariah for the rest of his life, Kimberlin parlayed his criminal career into well-funded leftwing activism at Velvet Revolution and Justice Through Music.
Kimberlin’s threats against McCain and Patterico — who was also “swatted” and could have been killed — and Aaron Walker, all aimed at covering his past and his tracks, have earned him this attention today. Everyone’s blogging about him. Even Foxnews.com.
A review of tax filings for Kimberlin’s blogs, “Velvet Revolution” and “Justice Through Music,” raises troubling questions about whether his “nonprofit” operations are dedicated to public activism — or are just a new facade for a longtime con artist.
Though neither website publicly reveals Kimberlin’s role, tax and corporate documents show that he is one of four directors who incorporated the Velvet Revolution, and that he is the registered agent for the tax-exempt, non-stock company, which is registered at his mother’s house in Bethesda. In 2008, the last year for which tax records are available, Velvet Revolution took in $83,000 in gifts and contributions.
Kimberlin is also one of two incorporators of Justice Through Music, as well as a $19,500-a-year employee of the non-profit, whose purpose is to “shed light on some of the injustices of the world through music” and which took in more than $550,000 in contributions in 2008.
He deserves the notoriety. So do his financial backers: Barbra Streisand, George Soros and Teresa Heinz Kerry are among the left’s leaders who fund this convicted perjurer, convicted bomber and career criminal.
Update: Ali Akbar has set up a donation tool to help out Stacy, Patterico, Walker any anyone else who is facing legal fees from Kimberlin’s harassment.
Update: Lee Stranahan’s video is the best and most succinct primer on Kimberlin’s extensive criminal career.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gco5nQVZYo
Update: The Blaze has a long, detailed examination of Kimberlin’s career.
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