GOP Wiretap Democratic Senators - Novak Spins Leak

[leveymg]

Adapted from
ANNALS OF GOP SPYING: The Senate e-mail Hack & Leak
by leveymg
Thu Mar 09, 2006 at 09:21:30 AM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/9/112130/2397

Until they are finally arrested and jailed, career criminals tend to repeat the same crimes over and over again.

"Wary" reminds us of an example of Republican political spying that was kept so quiet by the mass media that you may have never heard about it. In November 2003, GOP staff to Senator Hatch, then the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, intercepted and leaked the e-mails of Democratic members. See, response to Is Bush Spying on His Political Opponents? http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/8/181735/3455

In addition to the fact that this tawdry incident of Republican spying was all but ignored by most papers, there is a very familiar side to the story -- Robert Novak spun the leak as an attack piece in his column.

There is a persistent M.O. and cast of perpetrators behind most GOP dirty-tricks. Plamegate wasn't the first hack and leak attack, and since passage of Patriot-2 gives the White House even more power to conduct warrantless surveillance, it likely won't be the last.

MORE Below . . .

leveymg's diary :: ::

In considering extension of the Patriot Act, the GOP argued that there is little or no evidence of illegal political spying on U.S. Citizens, except warrantless NSA surveillance on "a few thousand" Muslims suspected of communicating with al-Qaeda abroad. The Bush Administration and the GOP Congressional leadership said, trust us, our hands are clean. There was practically no challenge to that heard, and the law was renewed along party lines with even more leeway for unwarranted domestic spying by the White House. But, Republicans DID conduct political eavesdropping, and the target was Senate Democrats.

In November 2003, a Republican staffer in Chairman Hatch's office illegally intercepted the communications of Democratic Senators -- thousands of them, including strategy memos -- and selectively leaked them. Robert Novak, still a force to be reckoned with in pre-Fitzgerald Washington, spun the story on its head. To read Bob's column, the Democrats had set up a "Plummer's unit", and this Democratic plot had forced the release of confidential GOP e-mails. Does anyone else see a pattern here?

Here's how the matter was reported by AP in one of the few accounts that appeared at the time:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate Republican staffer put on leave for accessing Democratic files
- JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

http://sfgate.com/...

(11-25) 16:48 PST (AP) --

WASHINGTON(AP) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said Tuesday he had put one of his staffers on administrative leave for improperly obtaining data from the secure computer networks of two Democratic senators. Hatch, R-Utah, said preliminary interviews suggested that a former Republican member of the committee staff may have also been involved in penetrating the Democratic computers.

"I was shocked to learn that this may have occurred," Hatch said in a statement. "I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files may have occurred on my watch." Hatch launched an investigation after Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., protested what they said was the theft of memos from their servers. The memos, concerning political strategy on blocking confirmation of several of President Bush's judicial nominations, were obtained and reported on by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times.

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle informed Hatch on Monday that the committee's four computer servers had been disconnected and that daily backup tapes had been given to the U.S. Capitol Police for safekeeping. He said an outside expert would conduct a forensic assessment to determine if there had been unauthorized access to files. Hatch said that, at his direction, two federal prosecutors assigned to the committee had conducted interviews with about 50 people.

He said the interviews revealed that at least one current staff member had improperly accessed at least some of the documents that appeared in the media reports and which have been posted on the Internet. The person has denied leaking the information to the press, he said. The staff member, who was not identified, was put on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of Pickle's investigation, Hatch said.

###

AND, then, this is how Novak spun the story a few days later:

Senate Democratic Plumbers
Chairman Orrin Hatch angered fellow Republicans last week by opening Senate Judiciary Committee Republican e-mails to investigators probing leaks of Democratic e-mails.
Nov 29, 2003
by Robert Novak

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/robertnovak/2003/11/29/160364.html

WASHINGTON -- Chairman Orrin Hatch angered fellow Republicans last week by opening Senate Judiciary Committee Republican e-mails to investigators probing leaks of Democratic e-mails.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist ordered full cooperation in the investigation of how Republicans obtained the committee's Democratic e-mails, which detailed the strategy for blocking President Bush's judicial nominations. Hatch responded with his order to open GOP e-mails to investigators. The Republican chairman also put one staffer on administrative leave.

The investigation was triggered by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the assistant Democratic floor leader who received some of the more important leaked e-mails. Rank-and-file Republican senators grumble that Frist and Hatch have permitted Durbin to obscure the substance of the e-mails, which showed left-wing special interest groups behind the filibusters preventing judicial confirmations.

###

Strangely, this story about GOP wiretapping simply disappeared and was quickly forgotten. But, there seems to be a larger pattern here that the Republicans improperly reveal classified or sensitive information, and when caught, allege the Democrats are involved in a witchhunt or "Plummer's" operation, as Novak had the temerity to call Durbin's attempt to get to the bottom of the 2003 Senate e-mail hack.

In the end, for reasons that weren't made clear, Hatch gave up that powerful post and Arlen Specter took over the Chair. The GOP staffer was fired the following summer. But, no sooner did he leave Hatch's office, he was hired to head a new Republican-funded organization, The Ethics In Nominations Project. http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/001578.html

This is a variation on the same strategy used in the Plame outing. It has become sickeningly familiar.

[Me.]

1. So What Are The Dems Doing To Protect Themselves?

Anything? There have got to be people on the left who have the knowledge to make systems secure from this happening in the future, and while we're on the subject, counter-act Diebold hacking. Or am I just being naive?

[ReadTomPaine]

2. They are lubing up now before being bent over. n/t

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. Operation "Shaven Yak" is still yellow

until Kenneth changes the frequency.

[Me.]

4. Under The Bridge

at 3 corners