Steny Hoyer’s Offices Lied to Me Today.
This morning, I opened my email and found a bulletin from Democarts.com. It looks like Steny Hoyer is up to his old tricks, and selling out our Fourth Amendment rights to that bastion of ethics, George “mr. 28% Approval Bush.
House “Majority” Leader Steny Hoyer doesn’t understand the meaning of NO.
In December 2005, when the New York Times reported George Bush was spying on millions of Americans without a warrant - after a year’s delay in publication that allowed Bush to steal a second term - the American people demanded that it stop.
But even after voters put Democrats in charge of Congress to end Bush’s abuses, Steny Hoyer spat on all of us and pushed the Orwellian “Protect America Act” through Congress in August 2007 to increase Bush’s wiretapping powers.
That was the last straw for many progressives, and we have fought Hoyer furiously every time he has floated a “compromise” with Bush that provides any form of immunity for the telcos and the Busheviks who spied on us.
On March 14, we won a huge victory when the House voted 213-197 for a bill to strengthen FISA without providing immunity. Thanks to our lobbying efforts - including over 58,000 petitions! - just six Bush Democrats voted for immunity - Dan Boren (OK02), Chris Carney (PA10), Jim Cooper (TN05), Tim Holden (PA17), Nick Lampson (TX22), and Heath Shuler (NC11).
Even Steny Hoyer voted against immunity. But Hoyer kept conspiring with Bush to sneak immunity through Congress when no one was watching. And on Friday, Hoyer quietly announced a new bill to provide retroactive immunity for past warrantless wiretapping and allow new wiretapping for six more years.
After working so hard to defeat the GOP and succeeding, watching Steny conspire to throw everyone under the bus was too much, so I called his office. They told me the article was false, that no deal was pending. Then I referred to two articles I found at firedoglake, one from the ACLU and one from Congressional Quarterly, both of which suggested that Hoyer’s office was wrong (to be charitable). The guy on the other end wouldn’t budge. “They’re wrong,” he repeated.
“I hope this doesn’t come across as offensive,” I said, and he immediately interrupted to tell me I was wrong again. “Hey, hey!” I said. “I didn’t interrupt you, let me finish what I was saying.
“Listen, I’ve been paying close attention to FISA for years now, and one thing I’ve noticed about your boss is that he has a bad habit of saying one thing and doing another. You say these articles are false: can you point me to somewhere that confirms this?”
“No I can’t do that sir,” he replied.
“Oh.” I paused for a second or two. “So you’re telling me the article is false, but you can’t offer me a citation? I’m just to take you at your word?”
“The articles are false,” the flack repeated.
“Well sir, no offense, but until I have it on an unimpeachable authority that Representative Hoyer’s office is telling me the truth, I am afraid to say that I cannot take you at your word. Not after two years of a Congress that promised to end the war in Iraq and rein in the President, and then broke those promises immediately. I can’t do that, knowing Mr. Hoyer the way I do.”
Then I called the Majority Leader’s office, which is different from Steny’s Congressional office. Again, I explained why i was calling. The young woman was extremely rude and hostile, right from the get-go. Again, I was told that everything I’d read was false, and that I should read the Majority Leader’s website. I did: there was nothing relevant there.
Not two hours later, the New York Times proved that Hoyer’s staff was lying to me. There IS a deal. they are working on it NOW. In secret, so you won’t know. Hooray for Democracy and open government!
Congress Nears Deal on Surveillance Bill
By Carl Hulse
Lawmakers are hoping for a breakthrough this week on changes to national security legislation that has divided Congress for months: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
ouse and Senate leaders of both parties said negotiators were near a deal on extending the authority to track terror suspects overseas while protecting the civil liberties of Americans as spy agencies sift through cell phone calls and other electronic communications that did not exist when the surveillance law first came into being.
Senior Congressional officials said they hoped to seal an agreement early this week and quickly vote in the House and Senate on legislation that expired back in February, though the administration retained the authority to continue spying on terror suspects it already had in its sights. That power begins slipping later this summer.
The main sticking point between the House and Senate has been President Bush’s demand that phone companies that cooperated in the wiretapping program after the Sept. 11 attacks be given blanket immunity from legal action by customers who claim their rights were violated by warrantless surveillance. The Senate went along with the plan but the House balked.
After weeks of talks, lawmakers have worked out a deal that would allow federal courts to settle the question of whether the telecommunications companies should be protected because they were assured their participation was legal.
“They’re very close to working out a fix,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said late last week.
Indeed: the fix is in. So I called Hoyer’s office back.
“This morning I called up about FISA,” I began, “and was told specifically that the bulletins issued by the ACLU and Democrats.com, as well as coverage from Congressional Quarterly were wrong. So how come the New York Times, in this morning’s edition, is saying exactly the same thing as the ACLU and CQ? Why was I given misinformation about FISA?”
“Well,” the guy began, and began stammering and hemming and hawing his way through a bunch of non sequitors and red herrings, parsing his way through “deal”, “negotiations”, and “is”. It was painful to hear, and I cut him off.
“Listen,” I said. “I know your job is tough enough, and that you’re giving me the same information that was given to you. But what you are telling me is a load of bull. I’ve been paying VERY close attention to the FISA fight since it began. I am informed.
“Do you know about the ads running against Chris Carney in Pennsylvania? I’m one of the people who pitched in to get that ad going, and I suspect we’re going to be running one about Congressman Hoyer as well. Also, do you know the name Al Wynn? Does that name ring a bell?”
“Yes, it does…”
“And do you recall how Wynn was primaried twice, and how at the last minute Steny and Nancy Pelosi tried to raise $150,000 for their man and he STILL lost? Progressives are tired of being slapped around by people like Hoyer. How much you wanna bet we’re gonna start going after him too?
“You tell your boss to back off the FISA nonsense. We won. Nobody cares what disgruntled Republicans want: they’re the minority anyway, who cares about them? I mean, other than your boss who seems to act more like a Republican than a Democrat anyway. Because if he doesn’t, the voters are going to send him back under whatever rock he crawled out from under.
“Oh, and have a nice day now, OK?”
Then I called back the Majority Leader’s office. The same woman answered the phone.
I re-introduced myself and explained why I called. “So, now I have emails from democrats.com and other progressives, an article by Congressional Quarterly, and on top of that the New York Times saying that a deal is in the works, and Steny Hoyer’s offices saying the opposite. I don’t believe what I am hearing from you guys, and I want to know, why did you feel you had the right to pass on misinformation to me?”
“Sir, I can pass along your comments…”
“No, I don’t have a comment. I recognize your voice: you’re the woman who told me all of this was false this morning. Now I have some pretty solid proof that you were telling me lies. What right do you have to lie to an American citizen and a taxpayer about legislation facing the People’s representatives? That’s not open democracy. That’s not transparent government.”
“Sir, I can pass along–”
“And you were so rude to me this morning. I wasn’t rude to you, and yet you mistreated me and told me abject lies about what your boss is doing.
“Sir–”
“And this call isn’t free for me. I don’t have unlimited minutes, I have to take time away from work to put pressure on people like your boss to do the right thing, and what do I get? Lies. Now, everytime I call up the Majority Leader’s office, I have to assume I’m going to be lied to. Is that how Steny Hoyer expects you to do business?
“Sir–”
“My mother taught me that the best way to deal with people is in an honest and straightforward manner. What kind of upbringing did you get? Or is being a liar a prerequisite for a job in politics?”
“Sir, I can pass along your comment.”
“Yes, please,” I said. And I went down the list: I will help pay for ads against Hoyer; telling my family and friends; primaries and Al Wynn.
These are some of the worst people in the world, and they need to be purged from Congress.
6 Responses to “Steny Hoyer’s Offices Lied to Me Today.”
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June 16th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
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Thanks, Brendan. Nice example of citizenship in action.
June 16th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
June 16th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Great call, these people really are disgusting to pose as Democrats and then sell us out to Bush and Cheney.
I’ve been calling and getting lied to by the same people. Hoyers as well as Reyes offices told me in the last several weeks that the rumors were false. Liars.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Way to go Brendan!
June 16th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Good for you, Brendan. Hoyer’s a total sell-out hack. Who are these staff members so willing to lie for him? I may give him a call myself tomorrow. By the way, I was sent here by none other than Glenn Greenwald, who just gave you major props.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Thanks for writing about your experience Brendan. I plan to print it out and send it to my Congressman, Chris Van Hollen to explain why I’m fed up with Dems and why I don’t give money to the Democratic party anymore.
I’m really getting sick of the way Congress treats their constituents. Not long ago I called my Senator, Barbara Mikulski to ask why she supported amnesty for the telecoms. The staffer ran through his canned response which made no sense, as you know. Finally I said, “I suppose you get a lot of calls from constituents supporting amnesty for the telecoms.” He said, “Uh, no we hardly ever get any calls asking her to support amnesty, all of the callers oppose it.”
I was stunned. In fact I sort of went ballistic. Despite the fact that all of her constituents who call oppose amnesty, she supports it.