Posted on 04/02/2006 9:21:45 AM PDT by CGblue
McDermott: Public had right to know
By MATTHEW DALY
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott says his eight-year dispute with House Majority Leader John Boehner over an intercepted phone call is not personal, but involves a crucial right of voters to know what their leaders are doing.
"Unfortunately, it's portrayed in the paper as Boehner v. McDermott. It really is the government versus the people," McDermott, D-Seattle, said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.
In a 2-1 opinion Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower-court ruling that McDermott had unlawfully obtained a copy of an illegally intercepted phone conversation between Boehner, then-Speaker Newt Gingrich and other House GOP leaders in December 1996.
McDermott has acknowledged leaking a tape of the call to The New York Times and other news organizations.
The appeals court upheld a lower-court ruling ordering McDermott to pay Boehner, R-Ohio, about $700,000. The figure includes $60,000 in damages and more than $600,000 in legal costs.
"The third person in line to be president was plotting a deception on the [House] Ethics Committee and the American people in private," McDermott said, referring to Gingrich, who was heard on a 1996 call telling House Republicans how to react to ethics charges against him.
"The people have a right to know that," McDermott said. "John Boehner says people have no right to know, because it was done in secret."
McDermott said he has not decided whether to appeal. The nine-term congressman sounded defiant as he cast the taping case as an important defense of the public's right to know.
"This is fundamental," he said. "It's not a simple fight between two members of Congress. The story is whether people have a right to know what is going on in government. Are we going to stand and fight for the rights of the people?"
Boehner told reporters last week he was reluctant to file his 1998 lawsuit — a rare case pitting one member of Congress against another.
advertising "The reason I proceeded then, and the reason I continue to be engaged in this, is because while we all expect our political opponents to go after us, violating the law in pursuit of your political opponents is, in fact, against the law and should not be tolerated," Boehner said. "There is a line beyond which you cannot go."
Boehner was vacationing in Florida in December 1996 when he had the conversation on his cellphone from a restaurant parking lot.
Boehner, then chairman of the House Republican Conference and now House majority leader, discussed strategy with other GOP leaders after a finding by a House ethics panel that Gingrich had violated House rules in his use of tax-exempt organizations.
A published transcript of the tape showed Gingrich directing how lawmakers should react to the ethics charges — on the same day he had promised not to orchestrate a response.
A Florida couple used a scanner to record the conversation and gave a tape to McDermott, who leaked the contents to The Times and other publications. The couple, John and Alice Martin, later pleaded guilty to unlawfully intercepting the call and were fined $500 each.
Please use original titles.
Thanks
Roger that, Sorry!
Too right.
Then McDermott should be leading the charge to release the Barrett report, shouldn't he? And all of Able-Danger info. Has he had Manuel Miranda over for dinner lately?
I still think higher-ups chose McDimwit to "leak" this tape, being safe and secure in his constituency of moonbats.
It's interesting that McDermott thinks it's an impeachable offense for the President to intercept al Qaeda phone calls from overseas, but he thinks that it's quite alright for him to intercept a phone call between US citizens in the United States for purely political reasons.
What an absolute Hypocrite!! Two people talking about a legal case are wiretapped, yet Al Queda deserves their First Amendment Rights to discuss blowing up Americans!!!
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
That was one miracle intercept these 'Martins' performed. I have never bought their flimsy explanation of how they out of the blue pulled it off.
Yeah, it doesn't make sense.
That's right Rep. McDermott, go ahead and express your opinion about our right to know. Just send your check before a court finds you in contempt.
Surely you don't think these innocent, died in the wool democrIDIOTS would intentionally attempt to intercept GOP phone calls??????? Why........that wouldn't be fair!
McDermott is a criminal and should be in jail. The "public" does not have the "right" or really needs to "know" EVERYTHING. This reasoning is as ridiculous as the DemocRATS' and racist Hispanics' current, popular argument that Hispanics have the right to break immigration laws "because people break laws at all levels in America anyway." DemocRATS and Liberals are sick people and should not be allowed to walk the streets freely in this country. They are a danger to society.
I personnally thought at the time, and I still think that Gingrich's office was bugged and the conversation was taped from that end. It makes a hell of a lot more sense than the "Martins taping it in their car". AND it was remarkably clear.
LOL - did he really say that?
I only get snippets of news. Most of those press conferences happen when I'm asleep.
My guess is that these people had advance knowledge of this trip and specifically what phone to monitor and where. I do not believe the miraculous happening they claimed it to be.
No, he only kept saying the first part "excuse me Helen", over and over when she kept interrupting. I took the liberty of putting down what he was probably thinking. I have been thinking I should remove his name because it is misleading.
I wonder if McDermott also believes that "the public has the right to know" if the terrorists living in this country are planning to kill us and therefore, the NSA should be monitoring their overseas calls. I'll bet he doesn't. It's that pesky "privacy" and "liberty" thing that gets in the way when it comes to the NSA intercepting overseas telephone calls made by Islamic killers. Ask any DemocRAT. Islamic terrorists have "rights." Those evil Republicans don't.
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