GOP FRONT GROUP-- BACKED BY JOE LIEBERMAN AND ZELL MILLER-- ATTACK CAROL SHEA-PORTER (D-NH) AND 14 OTHER DEMOCRATIC FRESHMEN

Carol Shea-Porter: A patriot pushes back against lawless thugs

As I mentioned the other day, a Republican front organization, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (aided and abetted by renegade Bush "Democrats" Zell Miller, Jim Marshall and Joe Lieberman) is on the attack against freshmen Democrats, trying to use the old GOP scare and smear routine around, of all things, Democrats' attempts to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law regarding Bush's attempts to get retroactive immunity for himself and his corporate allies. We mentioned previously that a well-funded campaign of TV spots had been launched against Democrats Chris Murphy (D-CT), Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Ron Klein (D-FL). Today we hear that a Blue America incumbent, Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), has also been targeted.

Last week the Democratic Leadership in the House exposed the Republican Party's baseless fearmongering on this issue and showed how, once again, the right is willing, even eager, to use the nation's security as a tool for their divisive partisan political maneuvers. While Democrats are working on putting together a sensible bipartisan plan to modernize the FISA legislation, GOP hacks are running around spreading their misinformation and hatred. Their fiction and the facts:

Fiction: “By not giving the professionals the tools they need, it’s going to be a lot harder to do the job we need to be able to defend America.”
- President George W. Bush, 2/15/08

Fact: All sides agree that the intelligence community should have the tools it needs to protect America. Indeed, right now, intelligence professionals have what they need to conduct surveillance of terrorists. Expansive authorizations to conduct surveillance of all known terrorist organizations and targets are already in place. All surveillance being conducted today can continue for at least another six months, and new targets can be added under existing authorizations. In the unlikely event that new warrants for new surveillance against previously unknown terrorist organizations are needed, they can be obtained quickly from the FISA court. In an emergency, surveillance can begin immediately and permission can be obtained from the FISA court later.

Fiction: “There is no longer a way to compel the private sector to help us.”
- Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, 2/14/08

Fact: First, telecommunications companies surely want to continue to help protect our nation. In addition, under current law, telecommunications companies can be compelled by the Administration to help with surveillance. Lastly, these companies have had, and continue to have, immunity from prosecution when legally providing information to the government.

Fiction: “When this Protect America Act expires, we are going to go back under the same set of rules and regulations that were in place before 9/11.”
- Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Ranking Member, House Intelligence Committee, 2/15/08

Fact: Even with the expiration of the PAA-- which Democrats offered to extend and Republicans refused-- surveillance that began under its guidelines will continue for at least another six months. Democrats agree that FISA needs modernization, and we have invited Republicans to work with us in a constructive manner to quickly achieve that goal.

Fiction: “We can’t go up on new targets. Let’s say, for example, you’ve got a terrorist in Baghdad communicating with a terrorist in London. You can’t go up on a new target without going through the extensive warrant provisions at FISA that have made this law not work in the first place.”
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 2/17/08

Fact: In fact, in the slim chance that intelligence officials become aware of a currently unknown terrorist organization not already under surveillance, they can get an emergency approval to begin surveillance within minutes. There is no backlog of cases to slow down getting surveillance approvals from the FISA court, like there was last summer. In the case of an emergency, surveillance can begin immediately, and approval from the FISA court can be obtained later, within 72 hours.

Congresswoman Shea-Porter has been responding to letters from constituents who have been confused by the GOP attacks and she posted a similar explanation on her website. Calls to her congressional office have been running around 50/50, especially interesting because the attack ads were designed and targeted to stoke people who are predisposed to oppose her position. A large majority of New Hampshire residents, however, do understand what the GOP is up to and seem ready to support her position against retroactive immunity.

Congresswoman Shea-Porter explains that Bush's plan is to grant retroactive immunity to his cronies who have broken the law by giving "Americans’ private information to spy agencies without a court order. If the companies are granted immunity, the congressional intelligence committees and the FISA court will never learn what happened and will never know who asked the companies to break the law. This would be like a defendant saying to a judge, 'I can’t tell you what I’ve done, but let me off the hook anyway.'”

Many members of Congress, including myself, believe that the FISA process should be updated. It is critical that we continue to provide our intelligence agencies the tools they need to intercept communications between suspected terrorists. But the President is wrong to combine legislation intended to address these security issues with unrelated and perhaps unconstitutional provisions. Furthermore, it is clearly wrong to take oversight authority from the courts and to give it to the President. And we should not provide “retroactive immunity” to telecommunications companies that may have engaged in illegal activity.

Yesterday in the Washington Independent Spencer Ackerman exposed what the GOP front group is up to and says they are running their poisonous ads in 15 districts where they think they can damage Democratic freshmen. "On Friday, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies had four prominent Democrats on its board of advisers: Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Eliot Engel of New York; former Al Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile; and Rep. Jim Marshall of Georgia. By Tuesday afternoon all had resigned." Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman, of course, are still on board.

If this issue is meaningful to you, today might be a good day to visit Congresswoman Shea-Porter's Blue America page and show her a token of your appreciation for standing up to Bush and his bullies.