Batt Asks Fbi To Cooperate With Local Law Enforcement Governor Believes Militias Unneeded, But Concedes Growing Hostilities

Gov. Phil Batt, who has acknowledged public hostility toward the federal government but called the militia movement unneeded, said on Thursday that he asked the director of the FBI to have his agents cooperate with local law enforcement authorities.

“I told him there were some tense feelings in Idaho,” Batt said in recalling the brief meeting earlier this week in Washington with FBI Director Louis Freeh.

“I thought he should work through county sheriffs as much as possible and he agreed,” Batt said.

The governor also said he encouraged Freeh to make sure his agents avoid any actions that could be viewed as inflammatory by Idahoans.

Batt’s brief visit followed his statements that militias were unnecessary and in some cases unwelcomed.

He made the remarks he made a week ago in North Idaho, the site of the 1992 siege of white separatist Randy Weaver’s remote cabin that left a federal marshal and Weaver’s wife and son dead.

“I don’t have any problem with anybody assembling in a peaceable fashion, but I condemn any group which meets for the purpose of inciting racial hatred or bigotry,” the governor said.

“I am concerned that some of those groups may have a few members, at least, that focus on those items,” he said.

“I have no intention of ever calling a militia to operate in any state function at all.”