Activist Admits To Bugging US Senate Minority Leader

cold fjord writes "Curtis Morrison, co-founder of the Progress Kentucky PAC, which had previous issued an apology over a racially charged tweet about Senator McConnell's wife (former Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao), has admitted to bugging Senator McConnell. Morrison admitted he was behind the recording and said a grand jury is investigating the situation. "[Assistant] U.S. attorney, Bryan Calhoun, telephoned my attorney yesterday, asking to meet with him next Friday as charges against me are being presented to a grand jury," Morrison wrote on Salon. Morrison writes that after releasing the recording, his personal life took a negative turn. 'I've never doubted that making the recording was ethical.' He also says that he doesn't believe his actions were illegal, but admits he could be prosecuted for them."' Morrison has said that one of his inspirations was Julian Assange. Given the current direction of government activity, he may simply have been trying to build a suitable resume for future federal employment."

Comments

Re:It is truly sad...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes when assholes commit felonies against an opposing party it should end with the president resigning. That won't happen in this case since his imperial highness has some distance from the perpetrator.

At least Nixon resigned.

Re:Unfortunately, this is illegal.

[Anonymous Coward]

First, they were talking loud enough to be heard in the hallway through a closed door. The recording was made _in the hallway_ on a friggin' camera phone.

Re:News For Nerds

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Slashdot has become politicized well beyond any normal nerditis. Perhaps they're fishing to see how egregious a behavior will get defended, or attacked, depending on which "side" the offender is on?

Re:Unfortunately, this is illegal.

[cold fjord]

An elected official working in his private campaign headquarters discussing this reelection campaign with his campaign staff does have an expectation of privacy while in it. That was the case here. Your post has nothing to do with this situation. I also doubt that your point even holds true in general as even public officials discuss confidential matters not for public release.

Bugged?

[Todd Knarr]

So, let me get this straight. He didn't surreptitiously gain access to any area any random member of the public wouldn't have access to. He didn't plant any recording device to record in his absence. He stood outside a door and with a cel phone recorded what any passerby would have heard had they stopped to listen. Is that correct?

That doesn't even sound particularly unethical to me. A bit sleazy, but then if McConnell's careless enough to have that kind of discussion where anyone in the hallway can overhear the problem doesn't lie with the people in the hallway listening.

Re:Bugged?

[cold fjord]

You didn't quite get it straight, so no, you aren't correct. His stated and only purpose for going to the building, based on an insider tip he received, was to secretly record the meeting of Senator McConnell's reelection committee without their consent. He went there on a holiday with an accomplice, snuck into the building, past an unmanned reception desk (as stated, it was a holiday), until he found Senator McConnell's office. He then used a hand-held device with a microphone and digital recording capability to record the conversations of Senator McConnell's committee for at least 12 minutes while holding his device to the door vent. They must have been at the door for even longer since they apparently checked what they were recording and made adjustments to their equipment, and changed their mind about how and what they were recording, going from an attempt to capture video to only audio. And how does he describe how he felt, and when he left?

I was sweating. My heart was racing. . . . When a gentleman walked out of the campaign headquarters and into the hall, I put my Flip and phone back in my pocket, and headed to the elevator.

Shawn was already there. We made our escape.

He made his escape. Doesn't really sound innocent, does it? Do you think an ordinary passerby, that wasn't trespassing on a holiday to record the Senator's meeting, would linger with a recording device by a door for 20 minutes if it occurred on a normal business day at 2:00 PM? The fact that his recording device was his cell phone is completely irrelevant, and it is the recording that makes this a possible criminal offense.

You don't find anything even mildly unethical about it? You think the problem isn't with the two intruders? It certainly appears to be direct violation of the law, probably more than one, hence the prosecutor and grand jury. As I indicated, I don't think you have this one straight.

Re:It is truly sad...

[Anonymous Coward]

fastest way to find a republican hack -- mention of benghazi.

i totally agree. the administration should take full responsibility for benghazi and more importantly learn a lesson from it. at the very least those "four dead guys" would not have died for absolutely no reason. at least their deaths would be a wakeup call for some who had grown complacent.

but i agree with the sibling poster. what about bush and cheney? (note because bush and cheney did what they did doesn't excuse what obama did did.) and compared to bush, cheney, or obama, lbj kept us in vietnam in which many more lives were lost. so it's not that it's worse now necessarily across the board.

btw, adults speak in nuances. children and those who haven't grown up yet speak in absolutes and can't detect irony.

Re:This is shocking

[AlphaWolf_HK]

Please mod the parent up.

The "fox news argued in court that they have the right to lie" is in itself a lie. It's one of those things where people repeat it enough to believe that it is true. Even googling it you get links to nothing but blogs about it, with not one professional analysis to speak of. Further, they all claim that Fox News itself was behind it, even though neither Fox nor its parent company had anything to do with it. It was all done by a local news station who happens to be a Fox TV affiliate (as in, they get the rights to air Fox television shows, but it doesn't extend much beyond that.)

And of course, all of the above completely ignores that the TV station itself simply wanted a fair story as opposed to a blanket slam piece. Compare that to say MSNBC who is known to deliberately alter news content (most recently, editing the George Zimmerman audio clips) in order to fit their "racism" narrative.