After data leak, Winnebago County Board member says he has no involvement in Oath Keepers militia

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Winnebago County Board member Aaron Booker said this week he has no active ties or involvement with Oath Keepers, a far-right militia whose members say they’re defending the U.S. Constitution.

Booker, a Republican who represents the largest geographical district on the County Board, was named this week as part of a large data leak of Oath Keepers membership. But the District 1 representative said his affiliation with the group largely began and ended with his decision to join about a decade ago.

At that time, he said a friend introduced him to Oath Keepers by explaining it as a group for retired military and law enforcement who have sworn to uphold the Constitution. Booker, who served in both the U.S. Army and Marines and then spent about 30 years in law enforcement, felt he fit the bill.

“I thought it was a proud group of American patriots who have taken their oath sworn to the Constitution,” Booker told the Rock River Current. “It was for people who have taken the oath and sworn to defend the Constitution, and I thought I definitely fit the bill. … I’ve taken that oath a couple of times.”

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Booker said he got a packet of stickers and information from Oath Keepers at the time, but he said he hadn’t thought about his membership until getting a phone call this week from a WBEZ Chicago reporter asking about his name appearing in the data leak.

That call came after the New York-based Anti-Defamation League released its findings that the leaked Oath Keepers membership list includes hundreds of elected officials, law enforcement officers, military members and first responders.

“The Oath Keepers are a virulently anti-government, violent extremist group, whose members have been arrested in connection with a wide range of criminal activities, including seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and including various firearms violations, conspiracy to impede federal workers, possession of explosives and threatening public officials,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in the organization’s report.

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The ADL report showed that 36 Oath Keeepers in Illinois had worked as elected officials, law enforcement, military or first responders. It said the state has 883 Oath Keepers in total found in the data dump.

The report was created using data from the nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets, which published more than 38,000 names on the Oath Keepers’ membership list in September 2021.

The ADL’s report also put a spotlight on Booker, although it didn’t refer to him by name.

“A county board member in Illinois also offered up a variety of skills: ‘Military training, knowledge and enforcement of the UCMJ. Knowledge and enforcement of state and local laws. Graduate of FBI basic SWAT, and FBI advanced SWAT schools. Graduate of Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command,'” the ADL report stated, referring to Booker’s background.

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Booker said he doesn’t recall if he paid any dues to the organization, but he said it has been years since he received any communication from it.

“Throughout the years I saw some radical activism on their part and I thought, good thing I kind of backed out of that,” he said.

One of those instances Booker noted was when Oath Keepers turned up in Ferguson, Missouri, to stand armed guard of private property amid the protests and riots in 2015 over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police.

“That’s not something I would be interested in doing is grabbing a weapon to go stand guard at somebody’s business. There’s way too much liability,” Booker said. “I wasn’t a part of it. Had no interest in it.”

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Most recently and perhaps most notably, Oath Keepers were tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the U.S. Capitol. At least 26 Oath Keepers have been arrested in connection to the events of Jan. 6, according to the ADL. A dozen members, including the group’s founder Stewart Rhodes, were charged with seditious conspiracy. That case is ongoing.

“I don’t know what their involvement was (in Jan. 6). I never got any correspondence on it,” Booker said. “I never got anything saying, ‘come join us in Washington on Jan. 6.'”

Booker, a former candidate for Winnebago County sheriff, was elected to the County Board in 2016. His work as an elected official was preceded by three years as a military police officer and 28 years combined with the Loves Park and Winnebago County sheriff’s departments.

He retired from the sheriff’s department in 2012.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas