I was Spied on by the Maryland Police

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.counterpunch.org/stark07212008.html

Targeting Anti-Death Penalty and Anti-War Activists

I was Spied on by the Maryland Police
By MIKE STARK

When I received a voice mail last Wednesday from the Maryland ACLU, I assumed it was about the fight against Maryland's death penalty. Executions in Maryland have been shut down since 2006, and the state's General Assembly has authorized a commission to make recommendations on the future of capital punishment. The commission's plans are the topic of constant conversation among abolitionists.

It turns out the ACLU call was about the death penalty, but not exactly in the form I was expecting.

When I called back, ACLU staff attorney David Rocah explained that my name had appeared repeatedly in a 46-page report documenting a clandestine surveillance and undercover investigation conducted by the Maryland State Police for more than a year, from March 2005 to May 2006.

The report was released to the ACLU after it sued the Maryland state police for refusing to disclose information-gathering activities aimed at peace activists. "Detailed intelligence reports logged by at least two agents in the police department's Homeland Security and Intelligence Division reveal close monitoring of the movements as the Iraq war and capital punishment were heatedly debated in 2005 and 2006," the Washington Post reported.

"Organizational meetings, public forums, prison vigils, rallies outside the State House in Annapolis and e-mail group lists were infiltrated by police posing as peace activists and death penalty opponents, the records show. The surveillance continued even though the logs contained no reports of illegal activity and consistently indicated that the activists were not planning violent protests."

The infiltration of the CEDP was carried out during the one-term reign of former Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who ended the moratorium on executions that had been imposed by his predecessor when the flaws in the death penalty system became impossible to overlook.

The surveillance began after the first execution overseen by Ehrlich--of Steven Oken in 2004--and continued during the CEDP's campaigns to save Wesley Baker, who was put to death in December 2005, and Vernon Evans, who won a last-minute stay of execution in February 2006.

[spanone]

1. 'aimed at peace activists' welcome to bu$hworld

[bdamomma]

2. so unfortunate for this to happen to you.

geez, are we a threat to these SOB's?

[no_hypocrisy]

3. The first targets of the Third Reich were intellectuals and political rivals.

[Tesla]

4. pretty soon all us Duer's will be on their list

if we already aren't

[bdamomma]

6. I guess they are afraid of us huh?

too bad.

[Bozita]

5. Recommended

from the article:

As CEDP National Director Marlene Martin put it, "How incredible it is that the Maryland state police wasted money to spy on a group of folks trying to stop the execution of a poor Black prisoner. But then again, I guess the little people, Black and white, coming together to fight against a blatant, unfair and racist barbaric practice like capital punishment, has always scared those in power who want to maintain an unfair and unequal society."



What you can do

If you want to express your outrage at the surveillance of Maryland activists, contact the office of the current Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and demand a full investigation of the Maryland State Police, the public release of all documents obtained through its illegal activities and a specific commitment that the anti-death penalty and antiwar movements will not be targeted again. Call 800-811-8336.

[progressoid]

7. It boggles the mind.

How do peace activists and anti-death penalty activists become equated with terrorists or even plain old law breakers? After a year of surveillance they couldn't come up with a single law that had broken yet they'll repeat these types of "investigations" again and again. Sad.

[blueraven95]

8. what's really scary about this

if I understand it correctly, is that they were trying to claim that peace activists and death penalty opponents were terrorist suspects, and once they do that, then under the Patriot act, these people would lose all rights. That's what scares me most.

[formercia]

12. Those reich-wingers better be careful what they wish for.

Their behavior is looking more like state-sponsored terrorism every day.

All they need is black shirts to fill out the picture.

They could very easily be declared terrorists themselves.

[blueraven95]

14. I agree completely

:hi:

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Nazi Bob Ehrlich ..............

........... our beloved former governor (<--- 'beloved' is an example of sarcasm)

[Prefer]

11. Another Democrat for Erlich?

Erlich won by posing a a Democrat. His campaign sign was blue and it read "Another Democrat for Erlich", which confused people into thinking that he was the Democratic candidate.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. Yup ..... he seemed oh so reasonable a guy.

I hate these repubicans who run from what they are.

He is a Newt Gingrich, Contract On America, Regan Dick Sucking, Supply Side Nazi Motherfucker.

And those are his good qualities.

[Virginia Dare]

38. They played all sorts of dirty tricks...

it tells you something that they still lost, despite it all. Really Booby Haircut should probably be in jail.

[lala_rawraw]

20. Is he German...

[windoe]

10. Upside down justice

the real criiminals are OUTSIDE the jails these days, while innocent peaceful people are inside.

This country needs to get over the shock & awe of it all and support each other.

[NightWatcher]

13. it's called COINTELPRO and it's not new. Here's more from Huffpo

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-zirin/cointelpro-comes-to-my-to_b_113930.html

<snip>
I am "Dave Z." This nickname was given by an undercover agent known to us as "Lucy." She sat in our meetings of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, smiling and engaged, taking copious notes about actions deemed threatening by the Governor of Maryland, Robert Ehrlich. Our seditious crimes, as Lucy reported, involved such acts as planning to set up a table at the local farmer's market and writing up a petition. Adding a dash of farce to this outrage, she was monitoring us in the liberal enclave of Takoma Park, Maryland, a place known more for vegans than violence, more for tie-dying than terrorism.

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and the ACLU, we now know that "Lucy" was only one part of a vast, insidious project. The Maryland State Police's Department of Homeland Security devoted near 300 hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars from 2005 and 2006 to harassing people whose only crime was dissenting on the question of the war in Iraq and Maryland's use of death row.

[Truth2Tell]

16. Send an email to Maryland Governor O'Malley

Here: http://www.governor.maryland.gov/mail/

Demand accountability and full disclosure. Anything less is complicity.

K&R too.

[onethatcares]

17. and those damned russian communists are supposedly

the only ones that would spy on their citizens for no reason. I guess the big lie has been forgotten.

[seemunkee]

18. Congratulations

You should wear it as a badge of honor.

[1Hippiechick]

22. You beat me to the same sentiment. CONGRATS! You were being effective if you were being watched.

:applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo:

:applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo:

:yourock: :headbang: :yourock: :headbang: :yourock: :headbang: :yourock: :headbang:


EDITED TO ADD: K&R!!!!!

[1Hippiechick]

23. And if I could SIGN my recommend I would, in case they are still monitoring!

[lala_rawraw]

19. I want the names made public of

every spy who participated. they have no privacy rights. i want those names fully listed. let their neighbors see them for what they are.

[Leopolds Ghost]

29. You mean everyone in the NSA, and all the Democrats who voted for FISA?

You know that's what this is really about, right?

Read more of the articles. They gored the NSA's
ox locally (NSA is headquartered in MD) and MD
police branch of Homeland Security -- all of which
are now unified with NSA under the National Intelligence
directorate -- put them on a terrorist watch list.

And oh yeah, under the new FISA this sort of
face to face spying is obsolete and unnecessary.

That's why they're releasing this information now.

[lala_rawraw]

34. let's start with these cops

[BreweryYardRat]

43. Yes please.

Best idea I've heard all day.

[MasonJar]

21. And did NOT Maryland allegedly elect Ehrlich over a Kennedy girl?

Yeah, sure!!!!!!!

[Indenturedebtor]

24. I wonder how long we've actually been living in a facist state? n/t

[LibertyorDeath]

25. Total Information Awareness

You know they're monitoring you SLAD.

You know way to much....

A good thing in my view!!


but very bad in theirs....

Always good to read your posts...

[seemslikeadream]

27. I hope they are

:hi:

[LibertyorDeath]

28. Great badge and reply

Sad truth is I'm sure many here at DU are being

monitored as "persons of interest"

It's people like you (full of great info) that keep me here.



Cheers and thanx!

[Wapsie B]

26. Cops like this give all police a bad name.

I have to wonder if there's ever been any of these goose-steppers come clean and repent after seeing what they've done?

[Leopolds Ghost]

30. You guys know this is Homeland Security / NSA right?

[upi402]

31. that reminds me; RENEW MY ACLU membership! n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

41. Those donation lists are monitored too

which is why I donate.

But I send the NRA and a few right wing orgs.5.00 a year just to confuse the hell out of the Gov't spy masters. Keeps the incoming mail interesting, lets me blow off steam in sending Colbert type letters back at em.

Seriously, big news in the 60's and 70's was gov't spying on citizens for same reasons. Pro-abortion, pro-women's rights, anti-war, etc.
A lot of us old "hippie dippie" types are on some dusty list in a Gov. vault somewhere.
It was sorta a badge of honor back then.

It is more scary now, I agree.

[seemslikeadream]

32. Lawmakers plan hearings on state police spying (MD)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3404281

[Leopolds Ghost]

33. Under the Dems' new FISA law this face to face spying is obsolete and no longer necessary.

That is why Dem Governor Martin O'Malley was very careful to qualify his statements about this -- refusing to speculate on whether the activists were engaging in terrorism or protected speech.

And he released the surveillance logs AFTER Mikulski got a chance to vote for the FISA bill she and Rockefeller have been spearheading.

NSA is HQ'ed in MD. These activist groups were protesting the NSA.

[peacetalksforall]

35. True crime. Watching the neo-cons and their followers is like watching

true crime played out in real time. You have the criminals who plot and steal and you have foot soldiers snitches who are getting their rewards from bigotry and partisanship. The plotters and thieves we're watching don't care who they steal from and whether their role is to create, plot, oblige, or aid and participate in the crime - political on behalf of Republicans or not.

Someone posted a link to someone who said that at the base of every crime is theft.

Fits here - theft of trust, theft of privacy, theft of words.

The Dem leaders who voted for all the spying changes are also theives. Stole our Bill of Rights. Make that ACTIVELY AND CRUCIALLY PARTICIPATED IN A THEFT AGAINST THE CITIZENS.

[tonekat]

36. Peace - outlawed in Maryland

How 1950s of the so-called "authorities".

[LiberalEsto]

37. The cops spied on a tiny peace rally in Rockville

There was a small peace rally at the corner of College Parkway and Rt. 355 a few years ago. I can't remember who organized it, but it was less than a dozen older folks like me holding signs opposing the Iraq invasion. I didn't know any of them, and I learned about thew rally from a web site.

A couple of cops from the Montgomery County Homeland Security agency showed up and watched us like vultures through the entire peaceful demo. I believe they checked our license plates. One of the cops wore a white sweatshirt emblazoned with a MoCo Homeland Security logo.

I can't imagine why anyone would consider a bunch of old hippie geezers with peace signs such a huge threat that it would warrant this kind of scrutiny. Now that we've learned about the spying during the Erhlich regime, it explains why we were watched so closely.

I never see the cops spying on the anti-abortion crusaders when they rally outside clinics -- even though some members of the national anti-abortion crowd have bombed clinics and murdered doctors, not to mention harassing anyone who enters a clinic.

[Virginia Dare]

39. You must be one of those seditious hippies...

:hi:

[1Hippiechick]

42. My kind of people....LOL....n/t

[Vilis Veritas]

40. COINTELPRO...Got it? Still active, more so now...

than ever before in U.S. history. They say it was dis-banded, I say BULLSHIT.

The entire machine is set to keep 'We The People' from EVER reaching a consensus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

saddlesore