We just had a nice call with Congressman Charlie Rangel from New York. There were several bloggers asking questions but I got my inflation adjusted $0.02 in regarding Brad Manning and HBGary's silly yet unfunny spy ring. His response on Manning was this:
"No matter what anyone has done their civil rights MUST be protected."
And I think we're about to make some inroads with getting attention on HBGary Federal & co-conspirators.
The Manning answer was short and sweet - a simple statement of principle. He expanded upon the single line I quote above, but only a little. Throughout the discussion there were words about simple human dignity and how out of balance and polarized this country has become. He gets it, no doubt about it.
The response to the HBGary question was a bit different. I described the situation, but caught some static and had to restate it. He asked me to try to distill down the concept into a manageable piece and I think this is pretty close to what I said:
The Chamber of Commerce is taking money from foreign powers and hiring domestic spies. One of their biggest targets appears to be SEIU. What can Congress do to correct this ridiculous behavior?
The Congressman seemed to know that something had happened, but he wasn't aware of the particulars. What he was well aware of is the work that SEIU puts in manning phone banks and walking precincts. This was his response.
Although he recently stepped down I know Andy Stern (SEIU president 1996 - 2010) and I'll call him about this. You send my office the details in confidence and I'll look into it.
So, we've already got Hank Johnson from GA-04 all over the Chamberleaks problem and now Congressman Rangel has been made aware that there is a serious issue that requires attention. I hope it will make sense for him to both support Johnson's efforts and to expand the effort using his long standing relationships like the one with Andy Stern.