<$BlogRSDUrl$>

My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2008-02-17

Open Letter to Congressman Perlmutter 

Honorable Ed Perlmutter
12600 W. Colfax Ave, Suite B-400
Lakewood, CO 80215

Dear Congressman:

As one of your constituents, I find it embarrassing that my Congressman would be a party to the willful blinding of America's intelligence agencies.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; this version enjoyed bipartisan support, earning 68 votes in a Democrat-controlled Senate, and was already promised to be signed into law by the President. Yet, when this bill was sent to the House for action, Speaker Pelosi chose to bury this bill until after Congress' 10 day President's Day recess. Apparently, there was not enough time for the House of Representatives to act on this, even though it did have enough time to spend four hours with Roger Clemens regarding performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

Of course, I don't need to relate all of this to you--you were there, and know the history of this better than I do.

And that is the problem--you were there. And, apparently, did nothing to force action on this vital piece of legislation. Which, I suppose, would be understandable from a run-of-the-mill freshman Congressman. But from one who sits on the Homeland Security Committee it is shameful. And from one who represents--allegedly represents--me and my family I find it nothing less than breathtakingly partisan and irresponsible.

Perhaps you need to revisit your pledge:

As a member of Congress, I work daily to strengthen our intelligence community and its ability to gather, analyze, and share information that law enforcement and first responders need to prevent an attack. Among the most important responsibilities to ensuring our security is intelligence gathering and analysis. As a member of the Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment Subcommittee, . . .

You voted to organize the House with the Democrats; you voted to place Rep. Pelosi in the Speaker's chair; the responsibility for this fundamental lack of seriousness about national security lies with you.

Standard platitudes about "strengthening intelligence" and "important responsibilities" don't actually accomplish much on the floor of the House. I should hope that we can expect something more forceful and productive from you when you return from your long "weekend."

Sincerely,


Arvada, CO
Posted by: Michael / 2/17/2008 01:51:00 AM

Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?