Senate Republican staff reportedly spied on Democrats [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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 () engineer com>
To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan () well com>
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 () Engineer com
(248) 542-5216  (voice)
(419) 735-17-87  (fax)

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