http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gop-targeting-clinton-on-phone-call-snooping-2007-10-16.html
* GOP targeting Clinton on phone-call snooping*
By Alexander Bolton
October 16, 2007
Republicans plan to seize on an allegation from the 1992 presidential
campaign to tarnish Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on the red-hot
issue of government surveillance.
Government surveillance will be at the forefront of the political debate
this fall as congressional Democrats and President Bush square off over
legislation allowing electronic spying on U.S. soil without a warrant.
Republicans are focusing on an allegation in a recent book by two
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters, which suggests Clinton listened to a
secretly recorded conversation between political opponents.
In their book about Clinton's rise to power, Her Way, Don Van Natta Jr.,
an investigative reporter at The New York Times, and Jeff Gerth, who
spent 30 years as an investigative reporter at the paper, wrote:
"Hillary's defense activities ranged from the inspirational to the
microscopic to the down and dirty. She received memos about the status
of various press inquiries; she vetted senior campaign aides; and she
listened to a secretly recorded audiotape of a phone conversation of
Clinton critics plotting their next attack.
"The tape contained discussions of another woman who might surface with
allegations about an affair with Bill," Gerth and Van Natta wrote in
reference to Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton. "Bill's
supporters monitored frequencies used by cell phones, and the tape was
made during one of those monitoring sessions."
A GOP official said, "Hillary Clinton's campaign hypocrisy continues to
know no bounds. It is rather unbelievable that Clinton would listen in
to conversations being conducted by political opponents, but refuse to
allow our intelligence agencies to listen in to conversations being
conducted by terrorists as they plot and plan to kill us. Team Clinton
can expect to see and hear this over and over again over the course of
the next year."
Gerth told The Hill that he learned of the incident in 2006 when he
interviewed a former campaign aide present at the tape playing. He has
not revealed the aide's identity. Clinton's campaign has not disputed
any facts reported in the final version of his book, which became public
this spring, he said.
"It hasn't been challenged," said Gerth. "There hasn't been one fact in
the book that's been challenged."
Clinton's spokesman panned the book but declined to discuss the
allegation that Clinton had reviewed secretly recorded calls. "We don't
comment on books that are utter and complete failures," said Clinton's
press secretary, Philippe Reines.
Her Way's Amazon.com sales rank is 43,016.
Several legal experts said it was illegal to intercept cell phone
conversations in 1992.
"It's been clear that since 1986 it was illegal to intercept an
individual cell phone call," said Barry Steinhardt, the director of the
technology and liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union.
In 1986, Congress broadened wiretapping law to prohibit the interception
of electronic communications, as well as the use or disclosure of
intercepted electronic communications. Two court cases have since cited
that action in ruling the interception of cell phone communications
illegal: Bartnicki v. Vopper, 2001, and Company v. United States, 2003.
Clinton has made privacy an issue on the campaign trail. In July, she
discussed her privacy bill of rights in a speech to the American
Constitution Society. The proposed rights, ensconced in the Protect Act,
include the right to sue when privacy rules have been violated; the
right to protect phone records; and the right to freeze credit in the
event of identity theft.
During the same speech, she addressed the controversy over government
surveillance.
"Every president should save those powers for limited, critical
situations," said Clinton, according to a copy of the speech posted on
her campaign website. "And when it comes to a regular program of
searching for information that touches the privacy of ordinary
Americans, those programs need to be monitored and reviewed as set out
by Congress in cooperation with the judiciary.
"That is the essence of the compact we have with each other and with our
government, and we cannot ignore it."
In August, Clinton voted against an emergency law that temporarily
expanded the government's power to conduct surveillance on American soil
without a warrant. The bill was criticized for being overly broad and
sidelining the role of a special court set up by the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Senate's other Democratic
presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.), Chris Dodd (Conn.),
and Joseph Biden (Del.), also voted against the bill.
Clinton's chief political strategist, Mark Penn, became embroiled
recently in a controversy over intercepted electronic communications.
Mitchell Markel, a former vice president at Penn's firm, Penn, Schoen &
Berland, filed a lawsuit against Penn accusing him of intercepting
e-mail. Markel claimed that the firm illegally monitored messages sent
from his BlackBerry after he joined another company.
Markel dropped the suit in July after reaching a settlement with Penn,
Schoen & Berland.
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http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gop-targeting-clinton-on-phone-call-snooping-2007-10-16.html">
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gop-targeting-clinton-on-phone-call-snooping-2007-10-16.html</a><br>
<br>
<big><big><font color="#cc0000"><b> GOP targeting Clinton on phone-call
snooping</b></font></big></big>
<table class="contentpaneopen">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top" width="70%"> <span
class="contentauthor"> By Alexander Bolton </span> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="createdate" valign="top"> October 16, 2007
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" valign="top">Republicans plan to seize on an
allegation from the 1992 presidential
campaign to tarnish Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on the red-hot
issue of government surveillance.<br>
<br>
Government
surveillance will be at the forefront of the political debate this fall
as congressional Democrats and President Bush square off over
legislation allowing electronic spying on U.S. soil without a warrant. <br>
<br>
<div style="float: left; padding-right: 4px;"> </div>
Republicans are focusing on an allegation in a recent book by two
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters, which suggests Clinton listened to a
secretly recorded conversation between political opponents. <br>
<br>
In
their book about Clinton’s rise to power, Her Way, Don Van Natta Jr.,
an investigative reporter at The New York Times, and Jeff Gerth, who
spent 30 years as an investigative reporter at the paper, wrote:
“Hillary’s defense activities ranged from the inspirational to the
microscopic to the down and dirty. She received memos about the status
of various press inquiries; she vetted senior campaign aides; and she
listened to a secretly recorded audiotape of a phone conversation of
Clinton critics plotting their next attack.<br>
<br>
“The tape contained
discussions of another woman who might surface with allegations about
an affair with Bill,” Gerth and Van Natta wrote in reference to
Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. “Bill’s supporters
monitored frequencies used by cell phones, and the tape was made during
one of those monitoring sessions.”<br>
<br>
A GOP official said, “Hillary
Clinton’s campaign hypocrisy continues to know no bounds. It is rather
unbelievable that Clinton would listen in to conversations being
conducted by political opponents, but refuse to allow our intelligence
agencies to listen in to conversations being conducted by terrorists as
they plot and plan to kill us. Team Clinton can expect to see and hear
this over and over again over the course of the next year.”<br>
<br>
Gerth
told The Hill that he learned of the incident in 2006 when he
interviewed a former campaign aide present at the tape playing. He has
not revealed the aide’s identity. Clinton’s campaign has not disputed
any facts reported in the final version of his book, which became
public this spring, he said. <br>
<br>
“It hasn’t been challenged,” said Gerth. “There hasn’t been one fact in
the book that’s been challenged.”<br>
<br>
Clinton’s
spokesman panned the book but declined to discuss the allegation that
Clinton had reviewed secretly recorded calls. “We don’t comment on
books that are utter and complete failures,” said Clinton’s press
secretary, Philippe Reines. <br>
<br>
Her Way’s Amazon.com sales rank is 43,016. <br>
<br>
Several legal experts said it was illegal to intercept cell phone
conversations in 1992.<br>
<br>
“It’s
been clear that since 1986 it was illegal to intercept an individual
cell phone call,” said Barry Steinhardt, the director of the technology
and liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union. <br>
<br>
In
1986, Congress broadened wiretapping law to prohibit the interception
of electronic communications, as well as the use or disclosure of
intercepted electronic communications. Two court cases have since cited
that action in ruling the interception of cell phone communications
illegal: Bartnicki v. Vopper, 2001, and Company v. United States, 2003.
<br>
<br>
Clinton has made privacy an issue on the campaign trail. In
July, she discussed her privacy bill of rights in a speech to the
American Constitution Society. The proposed rights, ensconced in the
Protect Act, include the right to sue when privacy rules have been
violated; the right to protect phone records; and the right to freeze
credit in the event of identity theft. <br>
<br>
During the same speech, she addressed the controversy over government
surveillance.<br>
<br>
“Every
president should save those powers for limited, critical situations,”
said Clinton, according to a copy of the speech posted on her campaign
website. “And when it comes to a regular program of searching for
information that touches the privacy of ordinary Americans, those
programs need to be monitored and reviewed as set out by Congress in
cooperation with the judiciary.<br>
<br>
“That is the essence of the compact we have with each other and with
our government, and we cannot ignore it.”<br>
<br>
In
August, Clinton voted against an emergency law that temporarily
expanded the government’s power to conduct surveillance on American
soil without a warrant. The bill was criticized for being overly broad
and sidelining the role of a special court set up by the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Senate’s other Democratic
presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.), Chris Dodd (Conn.),
and Joseph Biden (Del.), also voted against the bill. <br>
<br>
Clinton’s
chief political strategist, Mark Penn, became embroiled recently in a
controversy over intercepted electronic communications. Mitchell
Markel, a former vice president at Penn’s firm, Penn, Schoen &
Berland, filed a lawsuit against Penn accusing him of intercepting
e-mail. Markel claimed that the firm illegally monitored messages sent
from his BlackBerry after he joined another company. <br>
Markel dropped the suit in July after reaching a settlement with Penn,
Schoen & Berland. </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
<br>
</body>
</html>
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:20 CST