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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."
It is truly sad to see the direction things have been heading in the United States.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There's lots more where that story came from.
First, there is an expectation of privacy inside one's office, and secondly Kentucky is a one party notify state when it comes to recording, so one party to the discussions taking place in the office needed to know that they were being recorded. Public records searches don't apply here.
Thirty four characters live here.
Let's see, this puts him in the same ethical category as E Howard Hunt, Charles Colson, G Gordon Liddy, Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martinez, and Frank Sturgis. What could possibly go wrong with that?
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you
This story belongs to politico or any number of political blogs. Why in the fuck is this story on a site that is ostensibly news for nerds???
There is no nerd angle here whatsoever.
I thought it said "Activist Admits To Buggering US Senate Minority Leader".
Bugging ?
The voices were coming from the other side of a nearby door, which had a window. I pulled out my Flip camera and started to record.
I don’t need to tell you what a weapon the pocket video camera has become."
And he has a right to expose the corruption that exists in our government!
1) Benghazi
2) IRS targeting American citizens (AKA the enemies of the State)
3) Stealing phone records from the AP (because it's important to know who is leaking information, am I right? who gives a shit about freedom of speech/the press)
4) Attorney General Eric Holden
5) Fast and Furious (because those Mexican cartels really needed all those weapons)
6) HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius solicited donations from companies HHS might regulate
7) The General Services Administration in 2010 held an $823,000 training conference in Las Vegas, featuring a clown and a mind readers. Resulted in the resignation of the GSA administrator
8) Republicans charged the Obama administration funded and promoted its poster boy for green energy despite warning signs the company was headed for bankruptcy. The administration also allegedly pressed Solyndra to delay layoff announcements until after the 2010 midterm elections
9) The Justice Department was accused of using a racial double standard in failing to pursue a voter intimidation case against Black Panthers who appeared to be menacing voters at a polling place in 2008 in Philadelphia
10) Obama may have violated the Constitution and both the letter and the spirit of the War Powers Resolution by attacking Libya without Congressional approval
11) Vice President Biden’s office has repeatedly interfered with coverage, including forcing a reporter to wait in a closet, making a reporter delete photos, and editing pool reports
12) President Obama was born in Kenya and doesn't have an authentic United States birth certificate
Recently, the group turned its attention to McConnell’s wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, with a focus on her race. ... In a Feb. 14 Twitter message, Progress says: "This woman has the ear of (Sen. McConnell)—she's his wife. May explain why your job moved to China!"
So "China" is a race now? Are there many 19th century reporters in Louisville?
Ezekiel 23:20
I think there's an argument that a truly open government would allow us to see what's going on in the public offices of the elected officials (I think that would also further decrease our ability to compromise, but that's a digression...).
However, this was in a campaign office. That's not a public function, it's necessarily a private group which is (supposed to be) separate from the staff and work of the public office. Recording campaign discussions is just dirty politics, not looking out for the public good.
What he did was neither ethical, legal, or even a remotely good idea. Even if your opponent is a prick. I cannot imagine in what universe he is inhabiting that he thinks that this was not going to get him in serious trouble (as well it should.) And under what journalistic ethical code is bugging somebody's office allowed?
I'm no fan of Julian Assange (not because I think that wikileaks is illegal or immoral, rather because the way he handles it, and himself, is really poor...) but this isn't even remotely similar. The only inspiration he could have possibly drawn from Julian is a gigantic ego.
Note that this is completely unfounded. And a theory ;p I don't need a million arguments why I could be wrong, I already know them.
But it is possible that this guy is a plant to defame people like Julian Assange. Or other geeks who may try similar tactics in desperation down the road.
I do not condone this guys actions. He has damaged the reputation of everyone who speaks against the current political regime in everyones eyes.
But please sane people of the world do not associate one mans behavior with another mans agenda far away despite what the press says. Julian and this guy are not even apples and oranges.
Every thing that you have submitten here is a fabrication of a simple mind, possibly one that has schizophrenia. Or in lame man's terms, you are utterly insane.
By mentioning Obama's alleged lack of a birth certificate, you have proven that every thing else said by you from the gecko is false and a lie. Nothing said by a stalk raven mad individual such as you can be taken seriously, and that proves that all the other accusations are false.
You should be wearing a straitjacket, sir, and not be on the internet posting garbage. You are just mad because Obama won the election. Give it up, you sadsack. Rebel rousers like you deserve to be ridiculed and mocked for their utter stupidity. Quit drinking the cool aid, good sir. There is still hope for you.
Vote for Obama in 2016. They say a President can't be elected 3 times. I challenge you all to to change the rules so He can be President for 3 times in a row. Maybe even 4 times in a row.
I apologize; you are correct. I should have read all the linked articles. It's a grey area that the law will have to sort out. (I suspect it hinges on if he would have been considered trespassing at the time, and if the participants in the recorded meeting had a reasonable expectation of privacy.)
I don't want ANYONE to think it's EVER ethically or legally justifiable to bug my personal residence, or the personal residence of anyone else.
How do people like this activist justify it for themselves, but disallow it for everyone else? You don't want to be spied on, but you can do some spying yourself?
While in his semester office, you mean? Assuming that were true, it elephant matter nectar this was a campaign meeting, at a private office, not his senate office. Personally, I think leaders should be able to have frank, honest discussions with advisors. I know that JFK's private consultations with his attorney general (and brother) helped avoid World War 3. For the consultations to be forthright, that means those discussions aren't public.
Slashdot has become the frustrated-nerd outlet for Fox News.
That post got mangled.
While in his senate office, you mean? Assuming that were true, it wouldn't matter because this was a campaign meeting, at a private office, not his senate office. Personally, I think leaders should be able to have frank, honest discussions with advisors. I know that JFK's private consultations with his attorney general (and brother) helped avoid World War 3. For the consultations to be forthright, that means they aren't public, and therefore carefully worded for political purposes.
You wete do right on 1-11, then out comes the GIANT tinfoil hat for #12.
Progress Kentucky is a GOP plant to discredit Democrats and strengthen McConnell.
I know a guy who married a scam artist. She threatened him for murder and confessed to a murder across state lines on the phone with him. When he brought this information in to the police, they arrested him! They told him it is illegal to record a phone conversation and refused to listen to it. When he was out of the house once, she had some guys rob him and left the state.
After WWII, Americans scoffed at the notion that something like Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Soviet Union could happen here in America. Scoff no more, America. It could happen here. Morrison and millions like him are the reasons why.
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.
now what?
not everyone is "playing for a team," some of us are Americans first!
Bugging is planting a recording device clandestinely. This was standing in a hallway with a cellphone in his hand. It was eavesdropping. It was still reprehensible behavior, but it is a different thing than bugging, planting a recording device ahead of time. We have different words for thing because they are different things. When someone uses a term with emotional impact in an inexact manner we ought to be asking why they are mischaracterizing the situation. So to correct your statement:
It is truly sad to see the direction things have been heading in Kentucky.
I find that a difficult position to defend and I'd be interested in hearing your justification.
I mean, the Senator was talking about targeting someone's depression as an election tactic. I'd like to hear more about what the Senator thinks is ok to use in his run to continue promoting himself. It certainly speaks volumes about his character.
Democrats have always been racist. Not news at all.
With Obama in office, it will just be swept under the rug.
One of Slashdot's weaknesses is the lack of an "edit" button. Most sites have them these days... It'd be even better if they had one with a link to the original comment, to prevent all sorts of trollish foolishness.
Recording is only illegal if there was a reasonable expectation of privacy. Two neighbors arguing on their front lawn have none. You can record them and play it back on the evening news if you so choose. Two neighbors arguing in their living room? A grey area if they are being loud and you do so from the street. Only illegal if you, for instance, have to put a mic on the glass.
In all fairness, there are plenty of wingnuts that view the existence of liberals as treasonous. And there certainly isn't any shortage of ethically bankrupt "journalism" on either side.
Again, I suggest you check your local laws.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Surely his name is Barney. Kind of wondered what he was doing these days; I presume he's still working under cover. :>
1. Fox went to court in Florida to defend the "right" to lie as news. They are the only news network to do so in the history of reporting.
Ironically, you're lying.
You're referring to the case New World Communications vs. Akre. WTVT is a local station in Tampa Bay owned by New World Communications (which is owned by News Corporation and thus is a Fox owned and operated station.) You note that WTVT isn't Fox News Channel, because you called it "Fox" in a discussion about "Fox News." Nice slight of hand. Jane Akre was a WTVT reporter who wanted to air a piece critical of Monsanto without giving Monsanto a chance to respond, and the WTVT brass turned her down. WTVT claims that the original piece that Akre submitted was biased and misleading, and so produced a new piece including a response from Monsanto. She and her then-husband, Steve Wilson, eventually had their employment contracts terminated without cause.
Akre and Wilson then sued New World under a Florida whistleblower law. They alleged that airing a piece with Monsanto's response would constitute a violation of the an FCC policy authorized under the Communications Act of 1933, and that they were fired for threatening to expose this violation of law. On the facts of whether including Monsanto's response constituted lying, a jury would rule dismiss all of their claims. A jury, in fact, ruled that New World wasn't lying.
The jury awarded Akre money because she thought she was acting as a whistleblower, and New World appealed THAT part of the ruling. In their appeal, New World said that the Florida whistleblower statue required the whistleblower to be reporting a violation of law, not a violation of FCC policy. This is a wildly different argument than "defending the right to lie."
The appeals court ruled that because the thing that Akre was going to report to the FCC on wasn't a "law" as required by the Florida whistleblower law, she was not protected by the whistleblower law. Because she wasn't protected by the whistleblower law, the appeals court overturned Akre's jury award without considering the merits of the case. (They did, however, note that the original jury overturned all of Akre and Wilson's claims about WTVT lying.)
The other interesting part of this is that nowhere in the court documents does either side advance anything about a "right to lie." New World never argued that they had one, and Akre never argued that WTVT claimed that they did in any formal document. Four years after the appeal ruling, Akre filed a complaint with the FCC that WTVT shouldn't have their license renewed. She didn't even claim anything about a right to lie then.
This site has a good overview of what happened in the Akre case:
http://www.campaignfreedom.org/2009/11/03/fox-lies-videotape-debunking-an-internet-myth/
So does Akre's Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Akre
This story is an urban legend that was spread to attack Fox News, but it was completely false. Thank you for not spreading it further.
elephant matter nectar
You've found the fabled Lost Verse of "Glass Onion". Congratulations.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Maybe Morrison should maintain he was merely making sure McConnell wasn't ignoring angry calls from constituents, and then plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of entering McConnell's office under false pretenses? This worked well for republican activist and sometime fox contributor James O'Keefe:
"O'Keefe and colleagues were arrested in New Orleans in January 2010 during an attempt to make recordings at the office of United States Senator Mary Landrieu, a Democrat. His three fellow activists, who were dressed as telephone repairmen when apprehended, included Robert Flanagan, the son of William Flanagan, acting U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Louisiana. The four men were charged with malicious intent to damage the phone system. O'Keefe said he entered Landrieu's office to investigate complaints that she was ignoring phone calls from constituents during the debate over President Barack Obama's health care bill. The charges in the case were reduced from a felony to a single misdemeanor count of entering a federal building under false pretenses. O'Keefe and the others pleaded guilty on May 26. O'Keefe was sentenced to three years' probation, 100 hours of community service and a $1,500 fine. The other three men received lesser sentences." Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_O%27Keefe
O'Keefe also secretly recorded planned parenthood, acorn, npr...
And not so long ago, there was "Rupergate": Rupert Murdoch's "News of the World" hacked phones and bribed police--but if you live in the US you might not have noticed this. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal
The moral is clear: The political tides in the US sure have turned since Watergate. Now, if you're gonna do this kinda thing and get away with it, then you better be hacking liberals, not helping them.
Take a look here.
I don't see the Senate Minority Leader calling for the prosecution of people going around with hidden cameras into liberal organizations trying to film improper activity. Last I checked, many states have laws against recording someone without their knowledge.
Smear film we steal secrets is released just before the Manning Trial.
While trial is underway a 'media event' of someone doing something illegal and it is associated with Assange.