The Washington Free Beacon reports:
“Bayh was responsible for deciding whether to officially incorporate the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan when the group’s leader, Kenneth J. Taylor, submitted its application to the state in 1987 in hopes that incorporation would put ‘horror stories’ about the Klan to rest, according to local reports.”
The Klan leader who filed the paperwork revealed that the application “went right through” once it was submitted to Bayh’s office:
“‘We never had any problem getting it,’ said Taylor, who is no longer associated with the KKK but was second in command nationally at the time of incorporation.
‘The paperwork went right through,’ Taylor said. ‘They didn’t harass us or anything.’”
The Klan’s goals were clear. Their leader told an Indianapolis paper that incorporation meant the “horror stories” reported about the KKK couldn’t be true – and used the legal designation as a weapon to sue newspapers that refused to run Klan advertisements.
“‘By incorporating and getting the paperwork to where Mr. Bayh has signed it, this designates that we are a legal organization,’ Taylor told the Indianapolis News…If all the horror stories that they tell about us were true, they would not have incorporated us.’
“Before incorporation, Taylor had trouble buying ad space in newspapers to spread the Klan’s message. After incorporation, he said his group would file lawsuits against papers that turned it down.”
Evan Bayh owes Hoosiers very clear answers about his role in providing a the Ku Klux Klan with a legal status that allowed it to more easily spread a message of hate. His complicit actions are entirely unacceptable and he has refused to offer an explanation:
"The Bayh campaign could not be reached for comment."
Bayh might think he can avoid accountability when he’s at home in Washington, D.C., but voters deserve more than silence.