Larry Darby

Larry Darby (born 1957) is a practicing attorney in Montgomery, Alabama. He was runner-up candidate for Alabama Attorney-General in the 2006 Democratic Party Primary. Darby's campaign ran into controversy and gained momentum when he questioned the veracity and scale of the Holocaust.[1]

Background and education

Larry Darby was born in 1957 in Conecuh County, Alabama. Darby's ancestors have been in Alabama since the early 19th century.[2] He earned his BS degree at the University of Alabama, his MBA degree at Auburn University and Doctor of Jurisprudence degree at Faulkner University's Thomas Goode Jones School of Law.[3]

Darby is the Chairman of the Alabama Capital Region Chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens.

Darby is Commander of the Confederate Constitution Camp 2143 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.[3]

Politics

Larry Darby, in his first run for public office, was the runner-up candidate for Alabama Attorney-General in the 2006 Democratic Primary. Darby garnered 43% of the vote, carrying 33 of 67 Alabama counties.[4]

The Darby campaign attracted attention when he questioned the number of Jews who died during the Third Reich, placing the number around 140,000 suggesting that many of those succumbed to typhus.[1] The Associated Press quoted him as saying, "I am what the propagandists call a Holocaust denier, but I do not deny mass deaths that included some Jews," and "there was no systematic extermination of Jews. There's no evidence of that at all."[5] Darby attributed the claims of millions of deaths in the Holocaust to the "Holocaust Industry."[5] He also spoke positively of David Irving[6][7] and attended a meeting of the group National Vanguard.[8][9] Darby also expressed anti-immigration views, declaring that the United States was undergoing a "Mexican invasion" and compared the current immigration to the Civil Rights Movement, seeing them both as events which have hurt the South.[10]

During the Alabama Ten Commandments dispute Darby promoted the constitutional principle of separation between religion and government. Darby also supported Judge Moore's early argument that the federal government had no jurisdiction over this matter. He opposed the placement of what he called "a monument to Jewish law" in a government building and saw it as an attempt to send the message that "Jewish Supremacism is the law" despite several Jewish organizations coming out against the placement of the commandments because they flouted the separation of church and state when placed in a judicial building.[11]

Darby is a former atheist and the founder of the Atheist Law Center [12] as well as being the former state director of American Atheists.[13] Larry Darby is also an advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana.[14]

After his surprising showing in the 2006 AG election, Darby publicly lobbied for the Alabama state Democratic Party leadership to replace the candidates who were running as Democrats in the 2008 gubernatorial election with him, claiming he was the only Democrat with a legitimate chance to be elected. The state's Democratic leadership responded in turn by publicly stating that they disavowed Darby and his beliefs and said they would not put him forward for any public office in the future. Darby lashed out against the leadership but has seen his political career completely evaporate since that time.

See also

References
  1. NBC News (5/12/2006) Alabama Democrat's views shock his party Viewed: 1/29/2007
  2. WHNT-TV http://www.whnt.com/Global/story.asp?S=4691568 Viewed: 1/30/2006
  3. Campaign site Larry Darby Stands for Alabama. Larry Darby for Attorney General Committee. Retrieved January 29, 2007.
  4. State Democratic Executive Committee of Alabama. Democratic Primary - Official Certification Archived 2012-02-07 at the Wayback Machine Alabama Secretary of State Office. Viewed: 1/29/2007
  5. Reeves, Jay (May 12, 2006). "Alabama candidate for AG disputes Holocaust, is coming to NJ". The Associated Press State & Local Wire. Associated Press.
    Convenience link: Washington Post Ala. Candidate's Views Startle Democrats Visited: 1/30/2007
  6. "Strange Bedfellows". Southern Poverty Law Center. Fall 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-03.
  7. Rawls, Phillip (2006-01-19). "Lawmakers add sexual orientation to hate crimes law". Decatur Daily News. Retrieved 2007-02-03.
  8. Shiel, M. P. (2006-05-17). "National Vanguard Conference a Rousing Success". National Vanguard. Archived from the original on 2006-11-08. Retrieved 2007-01-31. The gathering featured prominent speakers and guests including Dr. David Duke(pictured), […] Alabama State Attorney General candidate Larry Darby
  9. "ADL Backgrounder on Larry Darby". Anti-Defamation League. 2007-06-07. Archived from the original on 2006-12-02. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
  10. Hughes, Bayne (2006-05-14). "Attorney general hopeful advocates martial law". Decatur Daily News. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
  11. Siegel, Jennifer (2006-05-19). "Ala. Democrats Scramble To Bounce Shoah Denier From Primary Ballot". The Jewish Daily Forward. Archived from the original on 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
  12. Darby, Larry (2006-07-07). "History of the Atheist Law Center and Statement Disavowing Atheism". Mathaba. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
  13. Allen, Michael (2003-08-23). "Archived copy". Ohio Atheists. Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2009-03-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "Alabama Attorney Map". NORML. Retrieved 2009-03-30.
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