Alaska Passes Anti-Patriot Act ResolutionBy Dean Schabner
ABC News (website)
5/23/2003 May 23—Alaska has joined a growing national rebellion against the USA
Patriot Act, voting to oppose the massive federal anti-terrorism law passed by
Congress soon after Sept. 11, 2001.
The state Legislature used some of the strongest language yet in passing a
resolution condemning USA Patriot, following the lead of Hawaii and 112 cities,
towns and counties around the country that have passed similar resolutions
against the law.
But Alaska's measure goes further than most, advising police and other state
agencies not to "initiate, participate in, or assist or cooperate with an
inquiry, investigation, surveillance or detention" if there is not "reasonable
suspicion of criminal activity under Alaska State law."
"We have a concern that [the Patriot Act] could be abused. The potential for
abuse is too great," said Rep. David Guttenberg, a Democrat who co-sponsored the
resolution. "America is an open state. There's a cost to that. Where are we
willing to sacrifice for that? Guys are dying on the battlefield to protect our
freedoms. It's up to us to protect those freedoms here at home."
"We hope that a resolution like this, with the bipartisan support that it
has, will urge Congress to re-examine the provisions of the USA Patriot Act that
challenge the individual freedoms that make this country great," said Rep. John
Coghill, a Republican from North Pole who co-sponsored the resolution. "If we
sacrifice our freedom, we let terrorism win."
Plea to Fix It
The resolution also says that "the Alaska State Legislature implores the
United States Congress to correct provisions in the USA Patriot Act and other
measures that infringe on civil liberties, and opposes any pending and future
federal legislation to the extent that it infringes on Americans' civil rights
and liberties."
Other local government resolutions have ranged from mild expressions of
discomfort with the powers that the federal law gives law enforcement to orders
to local police and other personnel not to assist federal agents in
investigations, if it seems those investigations violate individuals' civil
rights.
The Alaskan measure passed in the state House, with 27 Republicans and 13
Democrats, by a vote of 32-1. It passed 19-0 in the Senate Wednesday. There are
12 Republicans and eight Democrats in the state Senate.
Rep. Bob Lynn, a Republican from Anchorage, was the only legislator to vote
against the resolution in either house. He said the job of evaluating the
Patriot Act should be left to the state's congressional delegation.
"They have the information they need and the moxy to find anything that needs
to be corrected in that law and to correct them." he said. "We just don't have
the information that we need here."
He said that he doesn't believe the Patriot Act is perfect, but he feels that
some extraordinary measures are needed to protect the country from terrorist
threats.
"We just elevated the attack status up to orange and I think we need to keep
some common sense measures in place to protect people from terrorism," said
Lynn, a retired Air Force officer and a Vietnam War veteran. "I don't think we
need to be second-guessing President Bush."
After Gov. Frank Murkowski signs the resolution to acknowledge that he has
read it, copies will be sent to President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft,
and the Alaska congressional delegation, Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski
and Rep. Don Young, all Republicans.
Balancing Freedom and Protection
Most local governments that have passed the resolutions have been smaller
towns, many of them college communities, but major cities such as Baltimore,
Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Oakland, Calif., San Francisco and Seattle have
all passed measures.
Hawaii, the only other state that has passed a resolution, approved a
statement in April that says in part "to the extent legally possible, no state
resources — including law enforcement funds and educational administrative
resources — may be used for unconstitutional activities."
Hawaii's Legislature is controlled by Democrats, but the resolution passed
35-12 in the House and 21-3 in the Senate.
Members of the Alaska Legislature are not the only state politicians who have
voiced concerns about USA Patriot. The state's lone congressman recently said
that he would likely co-sponsor an amendment to the federal law that would
exempt bookstore and library records from scrutiny under the act.
Young told a group of reporters that he would like to revoke some of the
powers given to federal law enforcement by the act, which he voted for in
October 2001.
"I think the Patriot Act was not really thought out," Young said. "I'm very
concerned that, in our desire for security and our enthusiasm for pursuing
supposedly terrorists, that sometimes we might be on the verge of giving up the
freedoms which we're trying to protect."
He said he was considering co-sponsoring a bill introduced by Rep. Bernie
Sanders, Ind.-Vt., called the Freedom to Read Protection Act.
"It goes to show you I'm willing to look at the right side of an issue,"
Young said. "I think he's right in this issue. I don't think it's anybody's
business what I'm reading in the library."
Maverick Republicans
Sanders' bill would exempt libraries and booksellers from the provisions of
Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows FBI agents to demand patron records
without the individual's knowledge. It also would make it a crime for a
librarian or bookstore to tell anyone that the records had been demanded.
Under the bill, which has 105 co-sponsors including nine Republicans,
bookstore and library records could still be sought by law enforcement, but only
with evidence of probable cause. Though Section 215 applies to any business,
Sanders' bill would only affect bookstores and libraries.
Lynn said that it should come as no surprise that Republicans in Alaska might
not closely resemble others in the party from the lower 48 states.
"We're very independent people up here," he said."Some of the sponsors of
this thing are conservative people, very conservative, but they're independent,
too."
While the resolution does not have the force of law, the legislators hope it
builds support for changes.
"A major part of American political dialogue starts at the local community
and [percolates] up," Guttenberg said. "I think that the Alaksa legislature is
so close to home that we just caught on to it faster than most of the country."
Boost to the War on Terror
Federal law enforcement sources have told ABCNEWS that successes in the war
on terror would have been more difficult to achieve without the Patriot Act,
which, among other provisions, allows tips gathered from foreign intelligence
surveillance to be passed to police and prosecutors.
According to one senior official, following the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI
turned over 4,500 intelligence files to the Justice Department's Criminal
Division to review information to seek criminal prosecutions.
Officials said changes in foreign intelligence surveillance law under Patriot
allowed authorities to make the criminal case against Sami Al-Arian, a Florida
university professor indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in
Israel and the West Bank. The government alleges Al-Arian was a top leader of
Palestinian Islamic Jihad. One official said similar prosecutions are in the
works.
Officials said that the sharing of intelligence information also allowed
officials to indict the suspects responsible for the murder of Wall Street
Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Information was obtained through e-mail traffic
that was routed through U.S. Internet service providers.
Defending the Patriot Act, officials said the "hysteria" over reports that
the FBI was watching libraries was stunning. The act does not specifically
mention libraries, but library records would be considered business records,
which are covered in the law. One senior official said surveilling libraries
would be an "enormous waste of time and … would be an asinine use of FBI
resources." Close |