Local Oath Keeper says his group is as much left as right

By Frances Ruth Harris
GOSHEN — Chip Murray of Slate Hill said he doesn't know where the idea came from that the Oath Keepers are right wing.
They are "as much left as right," said Murray, who is a member of the group. He said they are a community preparedness team that responds to community or natural disasters.
That's not how the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, describes them.
"The Oath Keepers, which claims tens of thousands of present and former law enforcement officials and military veterans as members, is one of the largest radical antigovernment groups in the U.S. today," says the center's website. "While it claims only to be defending the Constitution, the entire organization is based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy the liberties of Americans."
The Oath Keepers have fought the federal government in disputes over public lands, including the case of Cliven Bundy in Nevada, according to the center. They went to Ferguson, Mo., during the racial unrest after Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, was shot by a police officer, the center says. After the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting, the Oath Keepers posted on its website a national call to action: "We call on you to post up armed outside your local school, as close as the local laws allow, and stand guard in defense of the children of your community....When it comes to standing outside schools within the limits of the law to defend the lives of our children, you don’t need to ask permission of bureaucrats or politicians."
But the local chapter may be different. Did local agencies ever ask the Oath Keepers for help?
Murray said the Oath Keepers network with the police but do not have an on-going working relationship. The police are aware that the Oath Keepers are willing to help them, even in an active shooter situation, he said. Many Oath Keepers carry concealed weapons, he said.
Murray said the group's motto is "Reach Teach Inspire." He doesn't know why the group is called a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which he said perceives the Constitution in a negative light. That's why the center is attacking the Oath Keepers, he said.
Twenty Oath Keepers plan to march again in the Mid-Hudson St. Patrick's Parade to be held in Goshen on Sunday, he said.
Keri Keane of the LAOH, who is in charge of the parade's lineup, said the Oath Keepers were in the parade last year, and that past participants were invited to return.
Attorney Michael Sussman of Chester said the First Amendment covers everyone, and everyone has the right to organize.
Another Chester attorney, Ben Ostrer, said, "The Oath Keepers have a right to hold their own parade. The sponsors of the St. Patrick's parade have a right to chose who can be in their parade as an expression of their First Amendment rights. It is up to the sponsors of the parade to determine if the Oath Keepers' message is consistent with the parade's theme."