FR EXCLUSIVE - Chuck Schumer's office won't accept any more illegally obtained GOP credit reports

(NOTE: this is not a joke post. I really did have this conversation this morning.)

After a brief discussion with a staffer at the office of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), I am pleased to report, exclusively for FreeRepublic, that his office will not accept any more illegally obtained credit reports of GOP officials.

A controversy was created by two Schumer aides who illegally obtained the credit report of Republican Michael Steele, who is expected to run for the Senate from Maryland.

When the Schumer staffer was told that I had credit reports on several Republican officials and asked if Senator Schumer could use them, the staffer answered, "Pardon me?" I then made reference to the Steele case and said that I thought he might want some more Republican credit reports. He was still taken aback, and the staffer responded, "I don't think that's something he's looking for right now."

So Republicans who don't have clean credit reports can feel relieved. Senator Chuck Schumer will not be actively working with his aides to illegally obtain such information. We applaud the Senator for not wanting to be involved in any more illegal activity.

Steele Speaks Out on Credit Report Secrecy Breach
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BALTIMORE (AP)- Lt. Gov. Michael Steele may be flirting with the idea of running for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, but he said that does not mean Democratic campaign workers are free to invade his privacy by accessing his credit report.

"The report is my private financial information. I would like it to stay that way," he said Saturday on WBAL-AM, addressing the issue for the first time publicly.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced Tuesday that two staffers had gotten Steele's private credit report. The incident was reported to the U.S. attorney's office when the two employees told their superiors what they had done, according to a committee spokesman. It is illegal under federal law to knowingly and willingly obtain a credit report under false pretenses.

Public officials are increasingly becoming victims of identity theft for political purposes, he said.

"It's not the way we need to conduct our campaigns. It's not the way we need to conduct ourselves publicly. I think it's wrong and inappropriate," Steele said.

Committees and campaign staffs for both political parties routinely conduct what is called opposition research, probing for personal and political background information that can be used to discredit opponents or defend candidates from attacks on their records.

Steele said he has nothing to hide in his credit report. However, he objected to being asked to make his credit report public and said he did not want the story to get away from the investigation and focus on him.

"Let's not get lost on what we're talking about here," he said. "It's not about Michael Steele's credit report, it's about the theft of Michael Steele's credit report. ... They're not investigating what's in my credit report, they're investigating the theft of my credit report."

------- they are being investigated. Look, one had been taught by scumbag David Brock -------

They're not a credit to Schumer
Researchers on committee headed by senator identified as using GOP pol's Social Security number to get his personal report

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BY GLENN THRUSH
WASHINGTON BUREAU

September 22, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Two opposition researchers working for Sen. Charles Schumer at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee obtained copies of a confidential credit report on Maryland's Republican lieutenant governor, prompting calls for their prosecution.

In July, committee research director Katie Barge and Lauren Weiner, a junior staffer, used Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's Social Security number to get his credit report, according to a Democratic official familiar with the case.

The committee, which works to elect Democrats to the Senate, has been compiling research on Steele, Maryland's highest-ranking African-American official, a GOP contender for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Democrat Paul Sarbanes in 2006.

Barge, a Democratic operative who led the research unit for a liberal media watchdog group run by journalist David Brock before joining the committee in February, reported her actions to the committee's executive director, J.B. Poersch Jr., within hours. Poersch relayed the information to the U.S. attorney's office and suspended the pair with pay until Aug. 31, the official said.

Barge and Weiner resigned earlier this month after an internal investigation. Calls to the FBI, which is probing the case, weren't returned last night.

"The lieutenant governor is the victim of identity theft and would like these people prosecuted to the full extent of the law," Steele's chief of staff Paul Ellington said. "They posed as him to get his credit report. We're not going to say they were going to buy a car with the information they got, but a crime was committed."

Fraudulently obtaining a person's credit report is punishable by a maximum of 2 years in prison, according to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Phil Singer, a spokesman for the campaign committee, said Schumer, who took over the committee in November 2004 and was chairman when the two staffers were hired, had no knowledge of the actions. "Chuck's only involvement was to report this matter to the authorities immediately after first learning about it," Singer said.

"The DSCC immediately ensured that Mr. Steele's credit report was not used or disseminated to anyone," added Singer, who called the matter an "isolated incident."

Singer offered an apology to Steele and said the committee has put in safeguards to ensure that incident isn't repeated.

But Ellington said the credit report incident was part of a larger Democratic effort to uncover derogatory information on Steele.

"In July, these two staffers basically requested every document the lieutenant governor ever signed and every document pertaining to travel while he was in office," Ellington added.

At the time the two staffers viewed the credit report, Steele's office demanded the committee pay $15,000 for copying and clerical costs associated with the request, Ellington said.

Attempts to contact Barge and Weiner were not successful.

FROM THE HILL

GOP senators seeking Schumer's guarantee
By Peter Savodnik

Republican senators seeking reelection in 2006 are sending Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), a letter asking him to guarantee that Democratic campaign aides will not access their credit reports.

It is unclear who first drafted the letter, but Republican sources on Capitol Hill said all 13 GOP senators who face reelection battles this cycle were asked to lend their support.

“While the DSCC press secretary and counsel have publicly denied that the DSCC accessed the personal credit reports of any other Republican senators or candidates, the security of our families’ finances is too important to rely on the assurances of professional political staff and consultants whose primary focus is defeating us next November,” a copy of the letter circulated yesterday morning at a meeting of Republican press secretaries states.

“Therefore, we are seeking your personal assurance, as a colleague, that employees or agents of the DSCC did not access our personal credit history or the personal credit history of any of our family members.”

The original version of the letter also included this sentence: “In fact, we must confess our personal disappointment that we are forced to reach out to you on this matter and that you did not contact us and offer such assurances on your own volition.” That sentence was stricken from a later draft.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said the senator would sign the letter. Santorum, who has lost ground to his Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Bob Casey, in recent months, is one of the Democrats’ top targets next year.

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who is unlikely to face a serious challenge, also plans to sign the letter, a spokeswoman said.

Other senators up for reelection who Republican sources say support the letter include Lincoln Chafee (R.I.) and Olympia Snowe (Me.). Chafee faces a tough campaign; Snowe does not look to be in danger.

Several GOP senators, including Snowe and Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.), declined to discuss the letter.

At least one Republican senator, Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), has opted not to sign the letter. He will “wait and see whether or not his records have been accessed, and if they have, then we’ll deal with it,” said Burns spokesman Grant Toomey.

In a letter of response to the senators, Schumer wrote: “This was a single incident and no other senator or candidate’s credit report was accessed. This has been stated repeatedly by the DSCC.”

NRSC spokesman Brian Nick reiterated Republican requests that Schumer guarantee there will be no future violations of anyone’s privacy.

The letter stems from allegations that a DSCC official illegally obtained Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele’s credit report. Steele (R) is running for the seat being vacated by Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.). The FBI is investigating.

One Republican official said the investigation is particularly serious because it involves an African-American, Steele.

Republican campaign officials in the past week have sought to capitalize on the DSCC investigation, saying this should neutralize ethics attacks on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).

Talking points circulated by Republicans lambaste Schumer for, they say, ducking responsibility, and contend a senior DSCC official, not a junior staffer, as Democrats insist, was to blame.

In a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week, Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), who is also chairwoman of the NRSC, made identity theft and the security of financial records the centerpiece of her remarks.

Lindsay Taylor Mabry, a spokeswoman for Dole, said that the senator made the comments as a member of the Banking Committee and that there was no connection between the hearing and political activities at the DSCC or NRSC.

Mabry added that the timing of the remarks, in the immediate wake of the credit-report allegations, was coincidental. “The hearing was delayed by Shelby because of Hurricane Katrina,” she said, referring to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

The DSCC investigation, and the Republican response to it, comes at the same time that many Senate races are beginning to take shape: In West Virginia, Sen. Robert Byrd (D) is widely expected to announce today that he will seek reelection. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) is likely to announce within weeks whether she will challenge him. In Florida, Rep. Katherine Harris (R) looks to be her party’s presumptive nominee to challenge Sen. Bill Nelson (D).

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