Election foe ‘stunned’ by her opposition to bill U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink’s only announced Republican opponent for her re-election bid is criticizing her for not voting for an anti-terrorism bill in Congress. State Rep. Bob McDermott of Oahu said he
Election foe ‘stunned’ by her opposition to bill
U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink’s only announced Republican opponent for her re-election bid is criticizing her for not voting for an anti-terrorism bill in Congress.
State Rep. Bob McDermott of Oahu said he was “absolutely stunned that she could vote against this bill after the mass murders committed by terrorists on Sept. 11.”
Mink was not available for comment Wednesday. But in a message to the House Oct. 12, a copy of which she sent to The Garden Island, the Second District Democrat said America is right to pursue the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks that took more than 5,000 lives.
Yet, “we must not violate constitutional principles in our search for the conspirators,” Mink wrote. She contended that the bill “will take us back to a time when the FBI and the CIA investigated citizens such as Martin Luther King and his associates because they were deemed a threat to the nation.”
The bill would give law enforcement agencies in the United States new authority to secretly search homes of terrorism suspects, tap their phones and track their use of the Internet.
The bill also makes it a crime to harbor terrorists, prohibits suspected terrorists from entering the U.S., sets penalties for terrorists’ acts and allows foreign intelligence gathered by the CIA to be shared with domestic law enforcement agencies.
The House has approved the legislation. The Senate plans to vote on the measure today. It must be approved by the full Congress and be signed by President Bush before it becomes law.
Mink was one of 79 House members who voted against the bill because they felt its passage would compromise civil liberties.
Because Hawaii’s other U.S. representative, Neil Abercrombie (D-1st District), met with the ambassador of Japan to encourage more Japanese tourism for Hawai’i and later got stuck in traffic, he was unable to vote on the measure, according to Mike Slackman, his spokesman in Washington, D.C.
Mink said she opposed the legislation because it doesn’t provide for judicial review of the new powers. The bill would allow law enforcement and intelligence agencies to share information without a court order, she said.
McDermott said he understands the importance of civil liberties, but he noted federal judges “will exercise discretion about giving police and the FBI such powers.”
Mink said the proposal raises the question of whether anyone wants “to live in a country where you must hide your thoughts and avoid association for fear of becoming tainted as a terrorist sympathizer.”
The bill, she said, would give the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service unchecked ability to temporarily detain aliens.
McDermott said even if Mink can justify her objections to the expansion of the authority of law enforcement agency, “how in the world can she tell families of the victims of the World Trade Center’s destruction that she wants to halt the continuing investigation in its tracks?”
McDermott also said the legislation merely includes newer technologies to combat terrorism.
He said Mink is perhaps “unaware that terrorists were using cell phones, e-mail and fax machines to carry out their plots against America.”
McDermott also said Mink’s vote not to support the bill seems to be part of a growing “insensitivity to the feelings of Americans on the subjects of defense and foreign policy.”
“People in Hawai’i, in particular, have contributed much money and voiced much outrage over these acts of terrorism,” McDermott said.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
