John Edwards 2008: What’s not to like

The selection of Sen. John Edwards as John Kerry’s running mate has raised concerns inside the FBI and among civil-liberties groups that the North Carolina senator will use the campaign to promote his controversial proposal to create a new domestic spy agency.

For the past 18 months, Edwards has been perhaps the Senate’s foremost champion of a much-debated proposal to strip the bureau of its intelligence-gathering functions and turn them over to a new domestic spy agency patterned after Britain’s M.I.5.

Edwards’s promotion of the idea has created friction between him and FBI Director Robert Mueller who, along with other bureau officials, has warned that such a move would spark renewed turmoil within the U.S. intelligence community that would hinder the war on terrorism. It also has stirred the fears of civil-liberties groups, who believe such an agency would inevitably end up spying on political dissidents and religious groups.

snip

At one point, Mueller appealed to Edwards to hold off introducing legislation on the subject until the FBI director could brief him about what he was doing to correct the problem. Edwards went ahead and introduced his bill anyway in February 2003—and then took Mueller up on his offer, a sequence that did not go down well among some of Mueller’s deputies.

snip

Civil-liberties groups have other concerns about the Edwards plan. For decades, FBI agents who seek to develop evidence about potential domestic threats have operated under tight Justice Department guidelines; those guidelines require there be grounds to believe targets are engaged in criminal acts. A new domestic spy agency would not be so encumbered, the critics say. In an effort to insulate himself from such criticism, Edwards had proposed steps to curb potential excesses by a domestic spying agency, such as requiring approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for infiltrating domestic political or religious groups. But some civil-liberties advocates say such steps would be insufficient—the FISA court has historically acted as a rubber stamp, critics say—and that a domestic-intelligence agency such as Edwards has advocated would inevitably be tempted to spy on legitimate dissenters.

“Senator Edwards’s proposal ignored the serious civil-liberties problems it would have caused,” said Kate Martin of the Center for National Security Studies. She said she hopes the Democratic candidates will await the full report of the 9/11 commission before pushing the idea any further and “not make this a political issue.”

Ironically, others say Edwards’s selection could be the political kiss of death for the M.I.5 plan—at least within the Bush administration. Until recently, there had been strong indications that some White House officials, especially national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice, were leaning toward adopting the idea once the 9/11 commission comes out with their report.

Newsweek 7/7/04
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5388509/site/newsweek/

Campaign Expels Dissenters From Public Space

Exeter, New Hampshire — During a public meeting hosted by his campaign yesterday, staffers for Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) had police eject Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM) leafleters from the Exeter Town Hall building. This is the latest development in a series of incidents in which Edwards’ campaign workers have attempted to block GSMM members from peacefully protesting his position on medical marijuana in public spaces.

In past statements, Edwards has seemed supportive of dissenters’ rights to free expression. During his February 3, 2003, appearance on the MSNBC show Hardball, Edwards was questioned about several anti-war activists who were allegedly arrested outside Edwards’ office while protesting his stance on the Iraq war. Edwards seemed to defend the demonstrators’ rights to express their views, saying, “My response is you have every right to voice your view, I’m glad you’re here tonight. You have every right to protest it anyplace that you’d like to protest.” Edwards continued, “That’s one of the great things … about democracy.”

But on Tuesday, for the first time during the campaign, Edwards’ staff had police expel GSMM leafleters from a public space. Members of the group were in the midst of distributing flyers that described Edwards’ medical marijuana position to the crowd gathered inside Exeter Town Hall when several members of Edwards’ staff stopped GSMM Campaign Coordinator Aaron Houston, surrounding him. One Edwards campaign worker attempted to grab the flyers out of Houston’s hands, saying, “I need to take that from you.” The campaign staffer also threatened to call the police department. An Exeter police officer arrived minutes later and directed Houston and another GSMM member to move outside the town hall. (more…)

Repeated efforts by U.S. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) and his campaign staff to block peaceful protesters from expressing their views during campaign events in public spaces cast doubt upon his commitment to civil liberties, members of Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM) said today.

Edwards has sharply criticized the Bush administration’s civil liberties record. In a June 11 speech to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, he accused Attorney General John Ashcroft of pursuing policies that “take away our civil rights, take away our liberties, and take away our freedom.”

But on Sunday, for the third time in less than a week, Edwards’ campaign staff tried to block GSMM members from peacefully expressing their views in a public space. At a town hall meeting in Keene Central Square Park in Keene, New Hampshire, five GSMM members tried to enter the public park with signs protesting Edwards’ position favoring the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) raids on medical marijuana patients in states that protect patients from arrest. Several campaign staff members stopped them.

When a campaign worker said, “We’ll not allow you in with the signs … this is our park,” GSMM Campaign Coordinator Aaron Houston replied, “We have the right to be here,” and entered with GSMM volunteers and signs. Edwards’ campaign staffers then held their own signs in front of the protesters to prevent voters and journalists from seeing the GSMM placards. (more…)