Senator Schumer has nominated William Hochul for US Attorney from Western NY, a man who religiously followed the Alberto Gonzales and John Ashcroft directives to expand violations of civil law into criminal law, so that those found guilty of minor civil violations could be tried in criminal courts under provisions of the Patriot Act. In particular, the prosectuor in question, William Hochul, tried to jail Steve Kurtz, an artist and professor critical of Monsanto and other producer of genetically modified seeds, for the crime of mail fraud (accepting a shipment of harmless bacteria through the mail, which isn't itself illegal unless the shipment crosses state lines). The case against Kurtz was killed by an exasperated judge after four years who declared the prosecution "insufficient on its face" precisely because the allegations didn't even amount to a crime. In other words the judge, Richard Arcara, called Hochul on trying to expand criminal law. Here's this morning announcement below the fold:
http://www.buffalonews.com/...
In a case that attracted nationwide attention in 2002, Hochul was lead prosecutor of the "Lackawanna Six" — a group of young Muslim-American men from Lackawanna who trained at a camp in Afghanistan run by the al-Qaida terrorist network.
And in a controversial case that was ultimately dismissed by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara last year, Hochul prosecuted Steven J. Kurtz, a University at Buffalo art professor. Kurtz was accused of illegally obtaining bacteria for an anti-government art exhibit. Kurtz's co-defendant, a researcher from Pittsburgh, took a guilty plea.
Demonstrations were held in Buffalo and several other cities by artists and others who felt Kurtz had been prosecuted because of his anti-government views.
Tilda Swinton and Peter Coyote made a movie about the Kurtz case and the chill that Hochul sent over the arts and academic community in his attempt to jail Kurtz for minor technicalities, especially an artist who was very critical of Monsanto.
I have written on the Kurtz case before in a diary, and that diary can provide the necessary background on the prosecution. http://www.dailykos.com/...
More to the point this is Kurtz himself on the case: http://artvoice.com/...
Artvoice: Given that legal proceedings continue, how much can you talk about? Can you talk about the disposition of your case?
Steve Kurtz: I can talk about that. Except I’m in an airport so I have to be a little delicate. [He laughs.] We’re in a sort of neutral zone, where the first round of motions has ended and the second round is about to begin. So there’s really at this particular time nothing interesting to say about it. I’m just in this slow, bureaucratic grind. The judge I have is very elderly and prone to illness these days, and that throws even more of a wrench into the time table.
AV: Do you feel that dragging this out is part of the prosecution’s game plan—that this long embroilment is part of your punishment?
SK: Well, yeah, but I don’t think it’s personal to me. It may be somewhat personal at this point, because you know the Department of Justice has gotten so much flack because of this case. They won’t even talk about it anymore. But it’s not really personal to me; I just happened to be the example. It could be you, right? They could have arrested you and decided to make you the example, but it happened to be me. They’re hoping to intimidate academics and artists and journalists and anyone else they possibly can with this. Saying, "Yeah, don’t think we won’t put you in jail if we can, if you continue with any kind of dissident agenda."
It’s working, too. It’s win-win for them, whether they win or lose this case.
AV: Why do you think it’s working?
SK: A lot of people are scared, particularly in the sciences, where they have so much money on the line. Researchers have to be able to stay in close with the National Science Foundation. Academic scientists, they’re just screwed, their careers would be over if something like this was done to them.
It’s had an effect on distributors of perfectly legal goods. They are now much more cautious and have put restrictions on things because they don’t want the FBI on them. It’s affected cultural institutions, in that they are not as willing to participate in the kind of live projects than they might have before this case—and that one is maybe more particular to us, to Critical Art Ensemble.
I generally find that there is a palpable chill. It hasn’t gone the way that I had hoped, that people would become more adamant and more radical about what they wanted to show and support.
AV: But this event at Hallwalls represents a rallying of the troops, and you’ve had successful fundraisers and exhibits and screenings of the film. Isn’t there a lot of support for your cause?
SK: There is and there isn’t. There is in the sense of helping with fundraising, showing Lynn’s films, showing Critical Art Ensemble’s films, having us out for talks—there’s been tons of that. Everyone is real supportive of that. But if you say, "Let’’s do a real project," everyone says, "Oh, no, no..." That’s when next thing I know there’s a lawyer in the room.
AV: In other words, it’s okay for you to talk about the case, about past projects that led you into this situation...
SK: Yeah. "We can talk about that, and we’ll show images of what you do, just don’t come do it."
AV: Just don’t show up yourself to present new, critical art that might draw additional heat from the feds or from donors.
SK: Yeah. "Go and make a video of it and bring it back and we’ll show that."
One of the places that we used to buy reagent from has pretty much stopped selling to amateurs; you can’t call them up and say, "Send out some food-testing kits." They won’t do that anymore. What’s really kind of strange about is they’re not even an American company, they’re a British company. That’s how far the rings of this have spread out...it has gotten international attention. And we do know the FBI investigated them.
Pretty scary that this Hochul fellow is being nominated by Schumer, and even scarier that he may be selected by Obama. I have written my represenatatives and hope all New Yorkers will do the same.