The Southern Poverty Law Center is under federal indictment for wire fraud and money laundering.
And an Alaska state fair just used the SPLC's "hate group" label to ban a group of moms from setting up a table.
Here's how one former fair employee used that list to get a group of Alaska moms permanently shut out – and what the board never bothered to check before they voted.
The Fairbanks Rejection
The Tanana Valley State Fair in Fairbanks – Alaska's oldest – rejected a one-day table application from the local Moms for Liberty chapter on April 27.
No formal reason was given in the rejection letter.
But the setup had happened two weeks earlier at an April 15 board meeting.
Gail McBride, chair of the Fairbanks chapter, attended to introduce the group and correct what she called local misinformation about Moms for Liberty.
Then David Leslie stepped up.
Leslie is a former fair employee who remains heavily involved in the organization.
He told the board that Moms for Liberty is an "anti-government, extremist hate group."
His source? The SPLC's "hate map."
"They target LGBT people specifically," Leslie told the board. "This is extremely dangerous. People die because of hate. People kill themselves."
Scott Vance, the fair's executive director, told Fox News that people associated with the local chapter had lacked decorum at board meetings and antagonized staff in recent months.
https://twitter.com/RYboating/status/2072384704389779727?s=20
McBride called it something else entirely.
"It's another one of these attempts to cancel conservatives by screaming loudly," she told the Alaska Watchman.
The Organization That Branded These Moms Is Now a Federal Defendant
Here is what every fair board member in Fairbanks needed to know before that vote.
The SPLC was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2026 – not for politics, but for fraud.
The DOJ charged the organization with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The allegation is breathtaking: the SPLC secretly paid more than $3 million in donor funds to leaders and members of the KKK, the Aryan Nations, and the National Socialist Party of America – the same groups it was publicly claiming to fight.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche put it plainly: "The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence."
FBI Director Kash Patel added that they "lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups."
And this organization's label – its opinion – was the weapon used to shut Moms for Liberty out of a state fair in Alaska.
McBride's June 25 response letter to the board pointed directly to the indictment.
The board didn't respond.
A Pattern Across the Country
Moms for Liberty founder and CEO Tina Descovich told Fox News the organization is "exploring legal actions right now."
She also made clear this is not an isolated incident.
"The one that comes to mind is in Williamson County, Texas," Descovich said. "They can't participate because they're on the SPLC hate map. Yes, it is a continuing problem all across the country."
This is the SPLC's playbook – and it has a body count.
In 2012, a gunman walked into Family Research Council headquarters in Washington D.C. with a pistol, shot a security guard, and told FBI agents he selected the target using the SPLC's hate map.
Floyd Lee Corkins II is serving 25 years in federal prison.
The SPLC kept FRC on the hate map anyway.
https://twitter.com/Moms4Liberty/status/2072363249803161864?s=20
The Heritage Foundation has documented how the SPLC's "hate group" label has been used by Amazon to strip charitable giving status from conservative nonprofits and by FBI training materials to flag traditional Catholics as potential extremists.
FBI Director Patel cut all federal ties with the SPLC in October 2025, calling it a "partisan smear machine."
None of that stopped the Tanana Valley State Fair from treating it as authoritative source material to kick out a group of Alaska moms.
This Is What Cancellation Looks Like at the Local Level
The national media covers the SPLC story.
Nobody covers what happens in Fairbanks.
A chapter of women who want to protect parental rights applies for a one-day table at their local state fair – a community gathering with farm animals, homemade crafts, and families.
A former employee stands up and calls them dangerous.
He points to a list made by an organization now under federal indictment for secretly funding the KKK.
The board votes to keep the moms out.
No explanation offered.
The fair's stated mission says it "encourages and welcomes involvement by all."
Vance's statement to Fox News claimed the decision was about "fostering a welcoming environment."
Welcoming to everyone – except mothers who want a table to talk about their kids' education.
Moms for Liberty founder Tina Descovich said it plainly: "Defending parental rights and standing up for your children is not extremist."
She's right.
That's not a welcoming environment.
That's a cancellation dressed up in fair board minutes.
Sources:
- Joshua Q. Nelson, "Alaska state fair bars parental rights group due to 'extremist' group designation by far-left organization," Fox News, July 1, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Justice, "Federal Grand Jury Charges Southern Poverty Law Center for Wire Fraud, False Statements, and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering," justice.gov, April 21, 2026.
- House Judiciary Committee Republicans, "Chairman Jordan Requests Documents about Southern Poverty Law Center Paying Extremists," judiciary.house.gov, April 23, 2026.
- Fox News Digital, "SPLC faces blowback from 'hate map' targets after DOJ fraud indictment," Fox News, April 22, 2026.
- Tyler O'Neil, "Conservatives Wrongly Demonized As 'Hate Groups' May Get Justice at Last," The Heritage Foundation.