Last Fall I wrote a diary on the congressional race in NY-19 in which I volunteered for the Democratic challenger, Julian Schriebman. Although I had misgivings about Schriebman’s history as a CIA lawyer, the main issue for me was winning a Democratic majority in the House. As I expected, however, the Republican incumbent Chris Gibson won and is a generally reliable part of the Boehner stranglehold on Congress. Although Gibson is widely seen around here as a decent guy and respected for his service in Iraq, I knew he was neither a simple country boy nor the yahoo his Tea Party supporters took him to be. He retired as a colonel and had been a fellow at the very conservative Hoover Institute at Stanford. And he had written a scholarly treatise with the rather disturbing title of Securing the State.
But Gibson has struck an independent path on some key national security issues. He opposed the blanket renewal of the Patriot Act sought by the administration. And he voted for the Amash amendment to rein in the NSA’s mass collection of private communications.
I became politically aware in an era when rationality could be found on both sides of the aisle and when the kind of tribal loyalties now in play were not so strong. I was very supportive, for example, of LBJ’s Great society and civil rights achievements but like many other Democrats, I considered him dead wrong when he plunged this nation into the morass of Viet Nam. Republicans like Senator Mark Hatfield opposed the war, not for partisan reasons, while many Democrats like Henry Jackson and Hubert Humphrey went along with LBJ’s disastrous decisions. And of course, LBJ always had strong Republican backing for that war, the true horror of which has recently been described by Nick Turse in Kill Anything That Moves.
Now, as opposition to the surveillance systems set up under Bush and Obama comes under attack, it is good to see people from both parties on both sides. Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Robert Menedez and a host of other highly placed Democrats have no problem making common cause with Boehner, Kantor and Ryan when it comes to backing the Obama surveillance policies while an alliance of less powerful conservatives and liberals has taken shape on the side I believe is right.
As far as I am concerned, anything that breaks up the partisan lockstep in American politics is a positive. I would like to go back to a day when I could honestly vote for a good Republican now and then. And although I am not giving my congressman a current congressman a blank check, I find little to disagree with in the letter he sent to me.
See what you think:
Thank you very much for contacting me regarding the implementation of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT Act or Patriot Act). It is good to hear from you and I share your dedication to personal privacy and individual freedom.
It is imperative that as we protect our national security, we do not give up the rights that define us as Americans. For that reason, I have long been critical of the Patriot Act, and have repeatedly voted against reauthorizing parts of the Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The recent reports of the National Security Administration (NSA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) acquiring, compiling, and storing telephone and computer data on millions of Americans through a seemingly broad court order are deeply disturbing.
In order to get all of the facts about these reports and programs, I have joined with a bipartisan group of 22 members of Congress asking those in charge, NSA Director General Keith Alexander and FBI Director Robert Mueller, for answers. I will continue to be dedicated to protecting our freedoms and privacy rights. Additionally, I have joined with 46 bipartisan colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 2399, which would prevent the mass collection of records of innocent Americans under section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and would provide for greater accountability and transparency in the implementation of the USA Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. This bill has been referred to the House Committees on Judiciary and Intelligence.
Congress' only vote on this issue after the public disclosure of the NSA and FBI operations took place during debate on the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill. This amendment, sponsored by Rep. Amash, sought to end the authority for blanket collection of records under the Patriot Act. It would also bar the NSA and other agencies from using Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect records that pertain to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215, including telephone call records. I supported this amendment, but unfortunately it failed by a vote of 205-217. For this and other reasons, I opposed the final Defense Appropriations bill.
Thank you once again for contacting me with your thoughts. I look forward to continuing to advocate for all of our constitutional rights, including the Fourth Amendment. Please don't hesitate to inform me of any future concerns through my website http://gibson.house.gov or over the phone at (202) 225-5614.
Sincerely,
(signed)
Chris Gibson
Member of Congress
Before you think Col. Gibson is the second coming of Jacob Javits, however, do keep in mind his many reactionary votes , some of which which I listed in my earlier diary:
2/18/11 Voted to defund Planned Parenthood
3/1/11 Voted to protect tax breaks for Big Oil
4/15/11 Voted to turn Medicare into a coupon program and weaken Social Security
6/16/11 Voted to cut funding for rural broadband by $21 million
6/22/11 Voted to undermine and weaken the Clean Air Act