Sunday, June 12, 2005

neighbors take on travesty known as patriot act

On Tuesday, June 14th, the Common Council will be asked to pass a resolution:

To:  The Mayor and Common Council of Norwalk

Whereas multiple provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional and dangerous to the legal rights of Norwalkers and all Americans in that they allow authorities to:

1.Search A Private Home Without Notifying The Owner (section 213),

2. Collect Information About What Books We Read, What We Study, What We Purchase, Our Medical History, And Our Personal Finances (section 215),

3. Label One A “Terrorist” For Belonging To An Activist Group (sections 411 and 802),

4. Monitor Our E-Mails And Watch What Internet Sites We Visit (216),

5. Confiscate or Impound Our Property Without A Hearing (section 806),

6. Spy On Innocent Americans (204 and 901),

7. Jail Targeted Immigrants Indefinitely (412), and

8. Wiretap Citizens Under A Warrant That Does Not Even Contain Their Name (216).

We Citizens of Norwalk Petition the Mayor and The Common Council Of The City Of Norwalk, to:

1. Inform the White House and our elected federal representatives of our objections to these provisions and seek their repeal and specifically that the Common Council President transmit as soon as possible a copy of this resolution to Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman, and Representative Christopher Shays, accompanied by a letter urging them to support Congressional efforts to assess the impacts of the PATRIOT Act, monitor federal anti-terrorism tactics, repeal provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT and other laws and regulations that infringe on civil rights and liberties, ensure that provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act “sunset” in accordance with the provisions of the Act and prevent passage of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, known as “Patriot II.”

2. Instruct all departments of the city of Norwalk to refuse to comply with any provisions of the law found to be unconstitutional by the City’s Law Department, and

3. To notify all appropriate state and federal enforcement agencies of the City’s position of noncompliance.

Norwalk residents are being asked to sign this petition online—go to http://www.petitiononline.com/norwalkp/petition.html. It’s easy.

This resolution is being sponsored by council members Carvin Hilliard, Bruce Kimmel, Bill Krummel, and Peter Wien. (Though word is that Bill Krummel won’t be there to vote on this resolution.) It is supposed to be a bipartisan deal, since the Patriot Act tramples on everyone’s rights, dem, republicans, independents, non-voters—everyone.

In addition to signing the resolution, NEIGHBORS (Norwalkers Engaged In Giving Hope to the Bill of Rights) Freedom Committee (organized by Paul Cantor) is urging supporters to show up at the council meeting on Tuesday as a show of strong support, and sign up to speak in favor of the resolution.

This afternoon, Stanley and I went to the NEIGHBORS meeting to find out what is going on. We already signed the petition, and wanted to find out what else we could do in addition to showing up at the Council meeting on Tuesday (we’ll be there). Not much, as it turns out, except get people to show up and sign up to speak. So we will.

We were informed that there is “powerful opposition” to the resolution by “people with influence,” mainly because of parts 2 and 3 of the resolution. The council member who is one of the presenters of the resolution, Bruce Kimmel, said, in essence, that if he doesn’t think the resolution would pass unless provisions 2 and 3 are dumped (which he apparently already decided is the case), he would cut them when the Democrats have their closed caucus on Monday. He’s decided that it’s better to pass just section one than nothing at all. Some people agree. Others, like me, think this is the typical kind of namby-pamby nonsense that lost two presidential elections.

And, we learned, there’s not a thing we can do if the Dems decide to drop 2 and 3 unless we show up in force and insist that they be put back in (and even then, who knows?)

He also said, when I asked him about why he would de-fang the resolution (which, without teeth, I think is an exercise in futility—though I hope I’m wrong), that he didn’t care what I thought. Guess he’s too powerful to care about what mere citizens think. And he said this without knowing who I am. He said that he has to play politics with this because he’s up for reelection in November.

What shocked many of the people at this meeting was that the Dems have this closed meeting to decide what gets on the agenda, even though they’ve already got the resolution petition circulating for signature. We won’t know what the resolution actually says until we show up on Tuesday—though Kimmel did assure us that it will really, truly be on the agenda. Though we don’t know in what form.

So, bottom line: sign the petition, show up Tuesday to show your support, and call and write to the members of the council and let them know what you think. In particular, write to the dems to let them know they should present the resolution as it stands.

Council Members At-Large
Representing all residents of Norwalk
Kenneth Baker D 838-5457 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Matthew T. Miklave D 852-7051 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Jeanette Olmstead-Sawyer D 845-7949 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Douglas Sutton D 846-9862 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Michael W. Coffey D 849-9404 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Council Members in District A
Representing residents of Central Norwalk
Peter Wien D 838-2806 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Richard A. Mcquaid R 838-0454 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Council Members in District B
Representing residents of South Norwalk
Carvin J. Hillard D 866-4284 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Leona Williams D 831-0356 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Council Members in District C
Representing residents of East Norwalk (our district)
Fred Bondi (Majority Leader) D 853-0793 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Kevin Poruban D 838-4862 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Council Members in District D
Representing residents of Northern Norwalk , Cranbury and Silvermine
Bruce Kimmel (Council President) D 847-2301 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Douglas E. Hempstead (Minority Leader) R 846-1054 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Council Members in District E
Representing residents of HarborView, Village Creek, Rowayton, Brookside and West Norwalk
Betsy Bain D 838-1109 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
William Krummel D 853-7147 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

UPDATE: Here is a link to resolutions pending in Fairfield County (thanks, Alice!) http://www.ctgreens.org/fairfield/Coalition.htm

Here are some resolutions passed by other CT towns:

More "neighbors take on travesty known as patriot act"

posted by lee on 06/12/05 at 10:54 PM

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