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Republicans in Washington and
Austin, Texas apparently used a Homeland Security Department agency to
track Texas Democratic legislators who left the state to block passage of
a GOP-backed Congressional redistricting bill.
This is the same Homeland Security Department
that is supposed to be making America safe from foreign terrorists. It's
the agency we were told would never be used for domestic political
purposes.
But today's edition of the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram reports that the Air and Marine
Interdiction and Coordination Center, in Riverside, California, became
involved in the Republican search for 51 Democratic state representatives
who went to Ardmore, Oklahoma to break a quorum of the House and block
action on the redistricting bill.
Here's what the Star-Telegram reported:
"The agency received a call to locate a specific Piper turboprop
aircraft. It was determined that the plane belonged to former House
Speaker Pete Laney." Laney is one of the Democrats who is fighting
against the redistricting bill.
The newspaper said, "Laney's plane proved
to be a key piece of information because, (Republican House Speaker)
Craddick said, it's how he determined that the Democrats were in Ardmore.
'We called someone, and they said they were going to track it. I have no
idea how they tracked it down,' Craddick said. 'That's how we found
them.'"
The Interdiction and Coordination center
"falls under the auspices of the Homeland Security Department,"
the Star-Telegram reported.
Republican Craddick, at the request of U.S.
Rep. Tom DeLay, is pushing a redistricting plan that would eliminate five
Democrats from the U.S. Congress. Currently, the Texas delegation contains
17 Democrats and 15 Republicans.
While saying they "called someone,"
Craddick denied making calls to any federal agency, but DeLay confirmed
that Republicans sought the assistance of federal law enforcement.
The action by the House Democrats, dubbed the
"Heroes of the House" and the "Killer D's" (a
reference to a similar quorum-busting action by Texas Senate Democrats in
the late 1970s), has gained national attention. Their action has also
received a surprising amount of support from Texas newspapers, which have
criticized the deeply partisan actions of Texas Republicans.
Republican leaders in Texas and Washington are
furious. They have called the Democrats, holed up in a Holiday Inn in
Ardmore, "cowards" and "terrorists."
State troopers have followed the Democrats
wives, parents and children. Troopers even staked out a hospital where one
lawmaker's premature twins are being cared for. Staffers have been
harassed. All this has happened after the location of the Democrats was
known.
Now, in a chilling revelation, we discover the
Homeland Security Department was apparently used to try and track the
Democrats' whereabouts.
It was no doubt a ham-fisted, incautious and
bungled attempt (like the Watergate burglary) by Republicans to use all
the law enforcement they could find to overcome the Democrats' temporary
advantage.
But the use of the Homeland Security
Department for partisan political purposes should alarm all Americans. It
deserves a full, complete and independent investigation.
The warnings of civil libertarians appear to
have been justified. Even if it turns out that some half-crazed Republican
staffer or independent investigator called the Air and Marine Interdiction
and Coordination Center, it raises disturbing questions about the
operations of Homeland Security and the lengths Republicans will go
enforce their will.
Americans deserve to know the details of this
scandal. And they deserve to know them now.
Glenn W. Smith is managing
director/consultant to the progressive Rockridge Institute of Oakland,
California. Smith lives in Austin, Texas. His email is glenns@affinitydynamics.com.
originally published in www.commondreams.org
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