Anti-polygamists protest panel

An anti-polygamy group is criticizing Sen. Orrin Hatch for his financial support of a committee set up by Utah's attorney general to handle abuses and build bridges with polygamous communities.

Tapestry Against Polygamy says federal funding going to the Utah Attorney General's Safety Net Committee is enabling polygamy and its crimes.

"On the Safety Net Committee he's got pro-polygamists — those are his advisers — including abusers," said Tapestry board member Andrea Moore-Emmett. "Tapestry is very concerned about money being used that way. There's not one dime they can show us that they've used to help women and children leaving."

Paul Murphy, the Utah Attorney General's Safety Net Committee coordinator, disputed Tapestry's claims.

"We have a grant coordinator, a case manager, shelters, women being provided with the first month's rent so they can get a place to stay. There's lawyers to help, there's a 24-hour domestic violence hotline," he said Saturday. "I find the assertions from Tapestry that we're not helping women and children bizarre."

The Safety Net Committee was set up in part with a $700,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. Committee members include representatives of several polygamous groups in Utah and Arizona.

"You build a dialogue. Some of these groups have been taught to fear the government," Murphy said. "We are extending a hand of help."

Tapestry Against Polygamy has repeatedly criticized the committee and refused to participate in meetings.

"There are so many who are still falling through the cracks of the Safety Net," Moore-Emmett said Saturday. "The Safety Net is not cutting it and they're still calling Tapestry."

In a statement released Saturday, Tapestry Against Polygamy took Hatch to task and demanded an accounting of where the federal money has gone. Calls to Hatch's offices in Utah and Washington, D.C., were not returned Saturday.

Hatch has been recently criticized for comments he's made about polygamy. During a debate on gay marriage last week, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy said Hatch has expressed support for polygamy in past years.

"I never said that," Hatch replied. "I know some (polygamists) that are very sincere . . . Don't accuse me of wanting to have polygamy."

Murphy said Hatch is to be praised for his support of the Safety Net Committee. He said they hope the senior senator will use his influence to secure more federal dollars to fund it.

---

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com