Astoria, Oregon, City Council is 150th Local Government to Resist the Patriot Act

Contact:
Nancy Talanian, Director
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Northampton, Massachusetts
413-582-0110
info@bordc.org

Northampton, Massachusetts—On Monday evening, the City Council of Astoria, Oregon, became the 150th local government body in the U.S. and the eighth in Oregon to declare their city a ‘civil liberties safe zone.’ In addition to local resolutions, the state legislatures of Hawaii, Alaska, and Vermont have passed resolutions protecting the freedoms of state residents. These local and statewide resolutions protect the liberties of more than 17 million people.

Astoria’s City Council approved the resolution on the eve of Attorney General John Ashcroft’s four-week tour to defend the Patriot Act. Local opposition to and waning congressional support for the Act and appear to have motivated the tour, which will visit Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, and Des Moines this Wednesday and Thursday.

In July 2003 report of the Justice Department’s own Inspector General released a report documenting abuses of civil liberties and civil rights by Justice Department personnel under the Patriot Act. Consequently, before Congress recessed in July, legislators in the Senate and House introduced ten bills and amendments rolling back the Patriot Act, including the Otter-Kucinich-Paul amendment to the Commerce, Justice and State Appropriations Bill, eliminating funding for “sneak and peak” searches, which passed the House 309-118. A Senate amendment to cut off funding for the Defense Department’s Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) program passed unanimously.

Astoria’s resolution directs the Oregon delegation to U.S. Congress to work to repeal all laws that threaten civil liberties, requests the City Manager to instruct city employees to continue favoring practices and policies protecting rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, and declares December 15, the federally designated "Bill of Rights Day", as a day of formal city celebration of the liberties and protections afforded by the Bill of Rights.

The grassroots movement to protect the freedoms of Americans is a broad based, diverse one that includes organizations from all over the political spectrum. While the movement started in progressive communities, it has spread to include mainstream communities including Baltimore, Maryland, Hartford, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Greensboro, North Carolina, and Duluth, Minnesota. Nancy Talanian, Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, says the “growth of the movement is a healthy sign that Americans overwhelmingly believe that we can be safe from terrorism without giving up essential rights to due process and privacy. We also don’t need to use racial and ethnic profiling as a tool for law enforcement sacrificing the liberties and freedoms that are the bastions of our democracy.”

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NOTE: For the current list of communities that have passed resolutions or are working on them by state, go to www.bordc.org/. For a chronological list, go to /list.php?sortChrono=1.