JUDI BARI ACCUSATIONS AGAINST IRV SUTLEY
REFUTED BY LIE DETECTOR

The results of a polygraph examination call into question serious accusations made by Earth First! activist Judi Bari (whose attempted assassination with a car bomb on May 24, 1990 drew national headlines) that Northern California political activist Irv Sutley is an FBI informant who may have participated in the assassination attempt against her.

Jan Tucker, a private investigator from Toluca Lake, Calif., assisted Irv in taking a polygraph exam since virtually all of Bari's charges involved a "swearing contest" between Sutley and herself. Tucker arranged for the lie detector test to be administered by nationally renowned polygrapher Joseph Paolella, former United States Secret Service Agent (who guarded President Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis and at Dallas) Mr. Paolella is a licensed California Polygrapher, Investigator and Private Patrol operator.

The test results indicated conclusively that contrary to Bari's accusations--which are expected to be reiterated in a forthcoming biography called TIMBER WARS--Sutley is not an FBI informant and had nothing to do with Bari's car bombing. Perhaps even more striking is that the exam confirmed Sutley's countercharge that he was solicited to kill Bari's estranged husband, Mike Sweeney, by Bari associate Pam Davis. Another test question ruled out Sutley's involvement with the so-called "Argus" letter sent to the Ukiah Police Dept, which revealed that whoever the author was, he or she had intimate details of the attack on Judi Bari's life. Bari has accused Sutley of authoring or being involved with the contents of the letter. The following is excerpted from Mr. Paolella's report:

The subject was asked the following questions:

1. Did you receive any payment from law enforcement agencies to be an informant against Earth First or Judi Bari? -- Response: NO

2. Were you solicited by Pam Davis to kill Bari's estranged husband, Mike Sweeney? -- Response: YES

3. Did you write the Argus letter to the Ukiah, Ca. Police Department in 1989 or 1990? -- Response: NO

4. Were you involved in any way with the bombing of Bari's car on May 24, 1990? -- Response: NO

Conclusion: After carefully reviewing the polygraph charts, it is the opinion of the examiner that the subject told the truth during the polygraph examination.

Ed. note: I am as weary of this ongoing controversy as anyone but I have been criticized for printing Irv Sutleys counter charge against Judi Bari regarding her alleged solicitation of Irv to kill her ex-husband. This whole affair has been bizarre and scary from its beginning and the fact that we still don't have answers as to who was responsible for the bombing of Judi Bari has resulted in a demoralized and divided activist community with alot of ugly finger pointing.

I have no answers as to why Judi continues to make unproven accusations against Irv. When she began her accusations against him over four years ago, Irv attempted to meet with Judi and/or her friends to defend himself. She refused. At that time he kept quiet about her alleged solicitation of him (before the bombing) but did confide in some close friends. After Judi escalated her attacks in an article by Ward Churchill, published in Covert Action Quarterly in 1994, he began to defend himself and made his counter accusations public for the first time.

In spite of many attempts to solve this dispute Judi has consistently refused mediation, refused to offer proof of her allegations, but has not stopped the accusations. They continue to be on the Internet and are in her forthcoming book as well as other forums.

Now I lived through and witnessed the Black Panther/US (Ron Karenga) struggle of the 1960's in Los Angeles where guns, not words, were used to settle disputes. This is classic COINTELPRO stuff (divide & conquer) and this newspaper has twice printed the hard earned wisdom of Julius Lester who also bore witness to the 1960's and its demoralizing divisions. Bottom line, you just don't go around accusing fellow activists of being FBI informants unless you've got some damn good proof and are willing to put it out there. Judi needs to publicly retract what she has said about Irv and an apology would be nice also. And finally, I've said it before and I'll say it again: THIS SITUATION NEEDS TO BE MEDIATED!! We have professional mediators in our midst who are willing. Irv is willing. Judi, please be willing!!! There is too much at stake and we need unity now more than ever. Please don't continue to play into the hands of the very people (FBI) that you are attempting to expose!!)

Statement by Toni Novak & Elden McFarland

The unfortunate mess in which the northcoast movement finds itself because of Judi Bari's careless attempts to smear Irv Sutley, points to the need for everyone involved to consider the effects of even trivial actions. When Irv first told us in 1989 that Pam Davis had suggested that he do away with Bari's ex-husband Mike Sweeney, we treated it as a tasteless joke. Pam herself also later asserted that her comment was just a joke. When Irv, Judi, Pam and Darryl Cherney posed for pictures with a gun they also felt it was a great joke. The consequences of these "jokes" now haunt us, making our protestations of non violence sound hollow. If nothing else comes out of this mess maybe we will all learn to be more careful about what we call a joke. Guns are serious not the stuff of humor, and jokes about knocking off ex husbands while they may provide emotional relief, can boomerang. Let us all exercise a little more self restraint because our movement is too important to become the victim of bad "jokes" )

LESSONS FROM THE PAST

Excerpts from "RUMORS" by Julius Lester:

"The eagerness of movement people to spread any and all rumors makes the movement that much more vulnerable to exploitation by government agents. It becomes a simple matter for an FBI infiltrator to accuse a leader or potential leader of an organization of being an agent and with everyone's eagerness to believe it, the accusation is flung far and wide and the movement has lost a valuable person. .....For the accused it is an impossible situation. How can one prove that he is NOT an agent? It is as difficult a task as proving that someone IS an agent. But the mere allegation is too often taken as proof in itself...the seeds of McCarthyism do exist within the movement and they are seeds which must not be allowed to take root. This kind of situation can be guarded against very easily by simply asking whoever is spreading the rumor for proof. That is generally enough to end the conversation....It is vital that every person in the movement act responsibly at all times. Being responsible means being eager to stop gossip, not listen to it and spread it. If ones revolutionary commitment is not strong enough to stop gossip, then one's own sense of self preservation should be. One day the gossip and the rumors might be about you."