[Politech] Senate Republican staff reportedly spied on Democrats [priv]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Sat Jan 24 2004 - 09:58:26 PST

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    Actually it is logical to shy away from politics. The costs of
    learning enough about every candidate's positions on the issues you
    care about so you can make an informed decision are high. (Quick:
    Where does each Democrat stand on H1B visas?) There is also a cost
    involved in going to the polling place. In nearly all elections, the
    actual benefits (as opposed to the feel-good psychological benefits)
    are low. In addition, politicians tend to employ inflammatory
    rhetoric, weak reasoning, and sometimes just say nonsense. Paying
    attention to politicians can make you dumb.
    
    Just look at the idiocy from Al Sharpton in this week's presidential
    debate (others said stupid things too, but this is remarkable):
    http://www.politechbot.com/docs/sharpton.debate.012204.txt
    
    He wants to eliminate "mass production." Because the average standard
    of living for everyone was better in a feudal society, I suppose.
    
    -Declan
    
    ---
    
    From: "Douglas Campbell" <drcampbell@private>
    To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan@private>
    Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:00:35 +0000
    Subject: Senate panel's GOP staff pried on Democrats - from the Boston Globe
    
    
    You'll probably see this more than once, but it definitely belongs on the 
    PoliTech list:
    http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/01/22/infiltration_of_files_seen_as_extensive/
    
    (and they wonder why so many Americans hate politics)
    
    
    
    Infiltration of files seen as extensive
    
    Senate panel's GOP staff pried on Democrats
    
    By Charlie Savage, Boston Globe Staff, 1/22/2004
    
    WASHINGTON -- Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee 
    infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret 
    strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate 
    officials told The Globe.
    
     >From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP 
    committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access 
    restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through 
    hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of 
    private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight 
    -- and with what tactics.
    
    The office of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle has already launched 
    an investigation into how excerpts from 15 Democratic memos showed up in 
    the pages of the conservative-leaning newspapers and were posted to a 
    website last November.
    
    With the help of forensic computer experts from General Dynamics and the US 
    Secret Service, his office has interviewed about 120 people to date and 
    seized more than half a dozen computers -- including four Judiciary 
    servers, one server from the office of Senate majority leader Bill Frist of 
    Tennessee, and several desktop hard drives.
    
    But the scope of both the intrusions and the likely disclosures is now 
    known to have been far more extensive than the November incident, staffers 
    and others familiar with the investigation say.
    
    The revelation comes as the battle of judicial nominees is reaching a new 
    level of intensity. Last week, President Bush used his recess power to 
    appoint Judge Charles Pickering to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, 
    bypassing a Democratic filibuster that blocked a vote on his nomination for 
    a year because of concerns over his civil rights record.
    
    Democrats now claim their private memos formed the basis for a February 
    2003 column by conservative pundit Robert Novak that revealed plans pushed 
    by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, to filibuster 
    certain judicial nominees. Novak is also at the center of an investigation 
    into who leaked the identity of a CIA agent whose husband contradicted a 
    Bush administration claim about Iraqi nuclear programs.
    
    Citing "internal Senate sources," Novak's column described closed-door 
    Democratic meetings about how to handle nominees.
    
    ...
    
    
      - - -
    
    When I die, bury me in Chicago so I can keep voting.
    
    Douglas Campbell, P.E.
    The Green Party's first candidate for Governor of Michigan, 2002
    
    335 e. Lewiston
    Ferndale, Michigan  48220-1356
    42° 27' 52" N  -  83° 8' 5" W  -  645' MSL
    
    DrCampbell@private
    (248) 542-5216  (voice)
    (419) 735-17-87  (fax)
    
    ----- End forwarded message -----
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