An open letter from Portland Mayor Tom Potter wrote:PORTLAND -- On Thursday, May 11, 2006, a Special Agent of the Portland Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation stopped a City employee and showed her a badge and ID. He asked if she knew any City Council members. He asked if she would be willing to pass information to him relating to people who work for the City of Portland . He said that while he had duties in other areas, the agency was always interested in information relating to white collar crime and other things.
One important and legitimate role of the FBI is to investigate public corruption within government entities. For example, recently the FBI arrested a member of Congress for public corruption. But federal officials have told me they know of no public corruption in our city. Federal officials say they are conducting no investigation of the City of Portland.
The only conclusion I can draw is that the agent in question was trying to place an informant inside the offices of Portland ’s elected officials and employees, in order to inform on City Council and others.
The actions of the FBI – even if they are the actions of one agent acting on his own - come at an uneasy time for many Americans. In the past few weeks, we have learned that our phone records are not private, and conversations are monitored without warrants. Journalists exposing these actions have been threatened with prosecution.
Even if this incident is nothing more than the work of one overzealous agent, it represents an unacceptable mindset within the agency. When there is no information to indicate ANY public corruption on the part of City Council members or employees, the FBI has no legitimate role in surreptitiously monitoring elected officials and city employees.
As a city, we will continue to cooperate with the FBI on investigating criminal activities and terrorism, to ensure our community is as safe as possible.
But in the absence of any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, I believe the FBI’s recent actions smack of "Big Brother." Spying on local government without justification or cause is not acceptable to me. I hope it is not acceptable to you, either.
But really...it's for your own protection.
No, really.
Mayor Potter and the FBI have gone a few rounds now. Before Potter took office, after 9/11, the feds demanded that the Portland Police help them round up and detain many Islamic Americans for questioning. The vity's response was "Sorry. We have strict laws against racial profiling, which is what you're asking us to do. We can and will not order our police to violate local laws...you're on your own."
After Potter took office, they got into it over the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which a small number of Portland Police officers were assigned to. Catch was, that Potter demanded that he and the police chief be granted security clearance, so they could monitor the activities of their charges (Potter was previously Portland Police Chief). The FBI/Homeland Scammers Department told them no. Potter responded with something like "My sworn duty is to the people of Portland, and it is contradictory to this duty that I can authorize funds for anything without knowing what it's being spent on."
And he's right. And he resolved the situation by telling the FBI to go fuck themselves, and withdrew the city from the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
RACK Mayor Potter for standing up to the draconian, pro-Big Brother feds. About time someone with some authority stood up to the evil revolutionaries who are plotting against us from within.
Our biggest enemy isn't in the Middle East...wakey wakey, tards.