ACTION ALERT: First Amendment needs your help NOW

Friends,

 

Many of the groups in the Maryland State Police terrorist database sent representatives to testify in Annapolis on March 3.   See my tetimony below.  We appeared before the House Judicial Committee and the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.  While many of the legislators claim an interest in supporting us, they seeem to be a fog, confused by the bogus O’Malley legislation and Terry Sheridan’s testimony that the MSP has rectified the situtation and released all the files.  Sheridan was utterly misleading last Wednesday.   We the people must take action.

 

Kagiso,

 

Max

 

Cindy Boersma [mailto:boersma@aclu-md.org]
Sunday, March 08, 2009 1:24 PM

Dear Friends of the First Amendment,

It is essential that both the Governor and the committees hear from you now if you support strong legislation to ban political spying.  This is the most decisive moment in the legislative process.  With the bill hearings completed, the committees in the House and Senate will be meeting to decide what legislation to approve and consulting with the Administration during this process.
 
TIME TO URGE THE GOVERNOR AND COMMITTEES TO EMBRACE STRONG PROHIBITIONS AGAINST POLITICAL SPYING

The Administration has yet to embrace strong protections for the First Amendment.  At the bill hearings this week, the Administration opposed the strong legislation in the Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009 (HB182/SB256). And continued to advance dangerously weak legislation. The standards in the Administration bill are so weak and vague, they would condone the most offensive police spying and dossier dissemination documented by the Sachs report.  This analysis has been echoed by the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun and by a public safety expert in a recent op-ed in the Gazette.  
Tell Governor O’Malley that you expect him to support legislation that establishes meaningful and effective protections for First Amendment activities –you expect the Administration to accept amendments to its bill (HB 311/ SB 266) that strengthen it; that you expect nothing less than the strong standards included in the Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009 (HB182/SB256).
 
Tell your legislators on the House and Senate committees that you expect them to adopt strong legislation and that the First Amendment demands that they settle for nothing less than the Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009 (HB182/SB256).
 
ACT NOW.
 
Sample language is below.

Meaningful legislation depends on you.  Thank you for your support,
Cindy Boersma

----
Dear Governor O’M
I remain deeply disturbed by this Administration’s failure to advance strong legislation to ensure that Maryland police cannot spy on political organizations or compile dossiers on Marylanders’ political beliefs. HB 311/ SB 266 fails in numerous ways to set the necessary standards to protect the First Amendment.  Meanwhile, the Administration opposed the proposed legislation that does establish strong standards, HB182/SB256.   The Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act fulfills the need for effective legislation in Maryland, consistent with protecting public safety and the First Amendment, while the Administration bill does not, as has been recognized by the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun and a recent op-ed in the Maryland Gazette.   I am writing to urge you to advance strong legislation as reflected in HB 182/SB 256.
 
Dear [legislator]
I am writing to urge you to promote advance strong legislation to ensure that Maryland police cannot spy on political organizations or compile dossiers on Marylanders’ political beliefs.   It is very disturbing that the Administration is promoting a bill (HB 311/ SB 266) that fails in numerous ways to set the necessary standards to protect the First Amendment while opposing legislation that does establish strong standards, HB182/SB256.   The Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act fulfills the need for effective legislation in Maryland, consistent with protecting public safety and the First Amendment, while the Administration bill does not, as has been recognized by the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun and a recent op-ed in the Maryland Gazette.   I am writing to urge you to advance strong legislation as reflected in HB 182/SB 256.  

 

Testimony of Max Obuszewski of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore

to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 3, 2009

 

SB 256 –Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009

 

SUPPORT

 

  As a First Amendment advocate, I am here today labeled a “terrorist” and a “drug-trafficker” by the Maryland State Police.   MSP officers wasted precious resources spying on me and numerous other dissidents and then entered our personal information into a database.

 

  To right this wrong, legislation must be passed to protect those of us bold enough to speak out against injustice—the death penalty, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, poverty, lack of equality, climate change and spying on dissidents.  I support the Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act (HB182/SB256) and oppose the State Police bill (HB311/SB266). 

 

 The Bush administration shredded the Bill of Rights, and some of us took to the streets to condemn this abuse of power.  Members of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore were aware police agencies were watching us, yet we were shocked that the MSP entered at least 53 names in a terrorist database. 

 

 I do not drink, do drugs, smoke or even take aspirin, but I have the distinction of being entered into a drug-trafficking database.  Some who were labeled terrorists are afraid to acknowledge the fact publically. And there are people, out of fear of being entered into a database, who will not attend meetings or demonstrations.  

 

 Tim Hutchins claimed he was unaware of the snooping until informed by officers in the MSP Homeland Security department. Even if this were true, why didn’t he shut down “Operation Snoopy?” As superintendent he took an oath to uphold the Constitution.  He also testified his boss, the governor, was unaware.  This raises many unanswered questions.  For example, why would the MSP spy on a pacifist, a former Peace Corps volunteer and a citizen quite cognizant of his Constitutional rights?  

 

  The original “official story” was that “Operation Snoopy” was mounted because of a concern for possible violent behavior during protests against upcoming executions.  Of course this was false.  I have protested all five executions in Maryland, and there have never been any acts of violence outside the prison complex.  As more information trickled out from the State Police, we discovered that the snooping included organizations, which were uninvolved in anti-death penalty activities. And today, I still have not had unredacted access to my files. And note the surveillance began before March 2005 and continued beyond November 2006.

 

 Members of the Pledge of Resistance obtained documents in 2004 which confirmed a number of agencies were involved in surveillance of the group.  This was what led to the Maryland ACLU getting involved in requesting files under the Freedom of Information Act and the Maryland Public Information Act.  In July 2008, under threat of a lawsuit, the MSP was forced to release some files.  I am not confident that the MSP or other police departments have released all documents.  Without seeing all of the documents, we can only speculate as to the extent of this spying scandal.

 

 These citizen-activists who were, and may still be, under surveillance take their citizenship seriously.  Besides entering a voting booth every two or four years, we lobby our elected officials, as recorded in the MSP documents.  We engage in many forms of protected speech--marching in the streets, hosting forums and meetings, educating the public, for example to the barbarity of the death penalty, and most of all working nonviolently for positive social change.  I can assure you that most of those entered into the terrorist database are some of the finest citizens in this State.

 

 The essence of our democracy is the Bill of Rights.  And without the protections accorded by the First Amendment, there is no democracy. As an amateur historian, I want to inform the committee that what has happened to me and others in the 21st Century is not new.  It has happened before in Maryland.

 

 For years, I worked for the American Friends Service Committee in Baltimore.  This Quaker organization has been a target of surveillance over the years.  In 1979, the AFSC published THE POLICE THREAT TO POLITICAL LIBERTY.  In 1992, Frank Donner published a book PROTECTORS OF PRIVILEGE Red Squads and Police Repression in Urban America.  Donner’s book covers some of the same ground as the AFSC book.

 

 In December 1974, the news media reported Baltimore police were spying on activists and accumulating files on citizens not suspected of any criminal behavior.  The following month, a former member of the Inspectional Services Division [ISD] gave the press a list of 125 organizations on which the ISD had filed information.  Some of the groups were the ACLU, AFSC, NAACP and an organization protesting gas and electric rate hikes.  Thirty years later, the police are at it again. 

 

 In response to the ISD spy scandal, a Senate Investigating Committee was established in Annapolis. This investigative body called for legislative action to prevent a recurrence of illegal police investigations.  Unfortunately, the legislature failed to pass a law to protect the First Amendment rights of dissenters in Maryland.  What did pass was Maryland’s Public Information Act.

 

 This Investigating Committee drew this conclusion: “It must be kept in mind that those who are given the duty to collect intelligence information are imbued with the police power of the State.  This is a power which gives an extraordinary license to a few to do what the many cannot.  Those who exercise it are, for the most part, appointed officials, and unlike our elected leaders, are not directly accountable to the citizenry they serve . . . “[Report to the Senate of Maryland, Senate Investigating Committee Established Pursuant to Senate Resolutions 1 and 151 of the 1975 Maryland General Assembly, 12-31-75.]

 

 The report offered this observation: “The genius of the democratic institutions is founded, at least in part, on the realization that persons with unchecked power and unquestioned trust too often come to embrace the belief that their own perceptions of the common good coincide with the will of the people.” [Report to the Senate of Maryland, Senate Investigating Committee Established Pursuant to Senate Resolutions 1 and 151 of the 1975 Maryland General Assembly, 12-31-75.]

 

 Since every member of the legislature swore to uphold the Constitution, I know you are just as indignant over the spying scandal as I am.  Why in the world would the MSP waste money and resources spying on peaceful people?  We can assume the MSP was trying to justify the millions of dollars in federal homeland security funds.  So the MSP began a search for enemies, and conveniently found me and many other citizen activists.

 

 It is known that a 9/11 terrorist cell used a hotel about a mile from the National Security Agency at Fort Meade.  I assume they went about their sordid business unobserved, but peace activists were under surveillance.

 

 Steve Sachs made a substantial effort, within the time and investigative limits imposed, to investigate the MSP surveillance. His report is frank and unsettling in its descriptions of the internal MSP process by which the covert surveillance was generated. 

 

 The Sachs Report, despite its comprehensive approach, leaves room for considerable further discussion on this MSP surveillance. In reality, there is a need for another investigation with subpoena powers to determine who initiated this operation, what resources were expended, when did it start, when did it end and why resources were wasted and the Bill of Rights abused.

 

  We condemn the surveillance as an utterly gross violation of the First Amendment rights of freedom of association, freedom of assembly, and freedom of legitimate and nonviolent protest.  Appropriate legislation in Maryland could serve as a model.  What has taken place in our state is not unique. Unlawful surveillance of dissident activity has been exposed in numerous states across the country. 

 

 We are still seeking an apology from the State Police, from any official of the State government involved in initiating and maintaining this surveillance, and from members of any other police or federal agency involved.  There must be public accountability and a thorough investigation.

 

 This covert surveillance of nonviolent activists is among the most insidious and disturbing activity a supposedly civil society can initiate against its citizens. The Sachs Report confirms that there was no basis, whatsoever, for the State Police or any other law enforcement agencies to undertake covert surveillance of activities of organizations interested only in peace, justice and nonviolent social change.

 

 While the Sachs Report has brought considerable and commendable clarity and precision to the discussion surrounding this MSP surveillance, it is a discussion and a review that is not yet completed. We urge you to support legislative activity regarding this surveillance, and to demand full accountability from the MSP officials involved.

 

In conclusion, I urge the Committee to vote in favor of SB 256 –Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009, and to amend it to include remedies for the victims, which would include the right to sue for damages.  Then work with the victims on a real investigation to bring closure to this sordid mess.

 

Max Obuszewski

325 East 25^th Street

Baltimore, MD 21218

410-366-1637

Mobuszewski at verizon.net