FISA Fight: When Blue Dogs lie

It's bad enough when a Democrat abandons the party to do something like support Bush and the Protect AT&T Act, but it's really bad when he lies to his constituents about his vote and the legislation.

To wit, an e-mail from Rep. Jim Cooper to Kossack jnhobbs. Here's the full text of the e-mail:

Dear [jnhobbs]:

Thank you for contacting me about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Balancing our safety and the safety of our children against our liberties while enforcing accountability of the Bush administration is a difficult endeavor.  But that is what Congress must do in this case.

I voted against the House version of the FISA bill last Friday because I do not think we can risk our national security any longer.  The House version accepted nearly all of the provisions contained in its Senate counterpart.  It does not achieve more than the Senate version, but is instead the product of a partisan political contest. This contest does not make us safer and it does not protect our liberties.  We should put this false dispute behind us and accept the Senate's language.

The House version may not use the words "retroactive immunity" for telecom companies, but it does let these companies off the hook. Likewise, it will also not bring the Bush administration's wiretapping activities of the last six years out into the open. Anything the administration provides may only be reviewed in closed, secret court proceedings.

I recognize your concerns and hope you will support me in my decision.  I believe I did what is best for our nation.  I will continue to work to hold the administration accountable as we try to change the discourse in Congress.

Sincerely,
Jim Cooper
Member of Congress

Could he sound more like Joe Lieberman in whining about partisanship? But at least Joe didn't just lie about what the bill does.

In no way does the House's FISA update "let these companies off the hook." Nor does it close the book on the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which along with the ACLU has brought suit against AT&T certainly doesn't think that the legislation lets the telcos off the hook:

..."We applaud the House leadership for taking a courageous stand against the president and refusing to grant amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms. The House bill would represent a true compromise on the amnesty issue: customers whose privacy was violated would get their day in court, while the companies would be allowed to defend themselves despite the Administration's broad demands for secrecy," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "Immunity proponents have been claiming on the Hill for months that these companies had a good faith belief that the NSA program was legal. Under this bill, the companies could do what they should have been able to do all along: tell that story to a judge."

EFF represents the plaintiffs in Hepting v. AT&T, a class-action lawsuit brought by AT&T customers accusing the telecommunications company of violating their rights by illegally assisting the National Security Agency in widespread domestic surveillance. The Hepting case is the leading case aimed at holding telecoms responsible for knowingly violating federal privacy laws with warrantless wiretapping and the illegal transfer of vast amounts of personal data to the government....

The legislation puts the decision on whether the cases go forward where it belongs: in the hands of a judge instead of the administration or the Congress. But Cooper is not just lying about that, he's lying about the legislation letting the administration off the hook. One of the provision of the legislation would create a Commission on Warrantless Wiretapping:

To find the underlying cause of the President’s warrantless surveillance program, the House bill creates a bipartisan Congressional Commission on Warrantless Electronic Surveillance Activities.  This Commission will take evidence and conduct hearings in order to examine all programs and activities pertaining to the TSP.  Like the 9/11 Commission, the Commission will make pertinent findings and recommendations in both classified and unclassified reports.

Jim Cooper is defending his bad vote by lying to his constituents. Don't let him get away with it.