| NORTHAMPTON, MA
- September 25 - As Attorney General John Ashcroft continues speaking to law enforcement in selected cities, the Justice Department is keeping his current and future destinations from the public. Critics of the Patriot Act interpret the secrecy as a tactic to prevent the press from gauging dissent. Neither the audiences at the events nor print media have been permitted to ask the Attorney General questions. The secret leg of Ashcroft's tour has visited 15 cities since it began on September 18th.
"Secrecy is one of the Patriot Act's major flaws," according to Nancy Talanian, Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. "There are secret warrants provided by a secret FISA court that only the Administration can approach. Information about how the Administration is using the Patriot Act is classified. It's ridiculous that the Attorney General believes he can prevent public debate by keeping his publicly funded tour a secret from the American people: He is merely excluding himself from a debate that grows louder the longer he tours." According to the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, 22 cities with a combined population of 4 million have passed resolutions during Ashcroft's tour. In all, 176 municipal and state governments have passed resolutions asking for revision of the Patriot Act.
Vanessa Bliss, a Bill of Rights Defense Committee organizer, has made several calls to the Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs this week to inquire about Ashcroft’s stealthy tour. An intern named Matt Piper refused to provide details of today's tour schedule or any notice of future speeches. For the first 16 appearances of Ashcroft’s tour, the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs divulged some details of Ashcroft’s scheduled appearances at least 24 hours prior. Since September 18, the Office of Public Affairs has not posted any information regarding Ashcroft’s appearances until after they have occurred. When asked about a policy regarding public access to information about Ashcroft’s tour, the intern would not divulge a policy other than that private citizens are not allowed access to this information. He said that the information about Ashcroft's speeches would be posted on the department's web site when “they” decide to put it on the web, but he claimed not to know who "they" is.
NOTE: For information on John Ashcroft’s stealth tour, see www.bordc.org/Ontheroad.htm. For the current list of communities that have passed resolutions or are working on them by state, go to www.bordc.org/OtherLocalEfforts.htm. For a chronological list, go to www.bordc.org/Chronology.pdf.
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