DA sells anti-ACLU T-shirts

[madamesilverspurs]

Fight with ACLU suits Buck to a ‘T’
Weld DA peddling shirts for legal defense fund

by Mike Peters

In his never-ending quest for truth, justice and the American way, Weld District Attorney Ken Buck has come up with a new idea: T-shirts attacking the American Civil Liberties Union.

Buck designed and paid for the first 160 of the new T-shirts, which have words on the front:

“The ACLU Sued My

District Attorney

& Sheriff”

And on the back:

“Weld County

Standing Up For

Americans”

The ACLU recently filed a lawsuit suit against Buck and Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, involving the seizure of tax records of suspected illegal immigrants.

In the class-action lawsuit, the ACLU of Colorado argued that Cooke and Buck violated privacy laws by using tax records to snare people they believed were stealing and making up Social Security numbers.

In the Operation Number Games campaign, the ACLU alleges deputies sifted through almost 5,000 names and records at a local tax office to find their suspects.

The ACLU contends the search was illegal.

When told of the T-shirts on Friday, the Colorado ACLU Legal Director Mark Silverstein first said, “I’d like to know where I can get one of those shirts.” Then in a more serious comment, Silverstein added, “We believe the ACLU is standing up for America and the Constitution. That’s what this lawsuit is all about.”

Buck paid for the T-shirts himself, and said when the initial costs are covered by sales of the shirts, the remaining funds will go to the Weld County Defense Fund, which will be used to fight the ACLU case in court.

Last week, all of the Weld District Court judges recused themselves from the case. That means the case could continue in Weld District Court, but with an outside judge presiding. Or, the case could be moved to the presiding judge’s jurisdiction.

Buck said the shirts have been selling quickly. “I think I figured out the fiscal stimulus package,” he said. “Everybody is buying T-shirts.”

http://www.greeleytribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090207/NEWS/902079981/-1/rss01&template=printart

Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved

[aikoaiko]

1. That's funny. I'm sure the ACLU Legal Director will be buying one.

I wish the article elaborated on the technical issues of the ACLU suit. Itsnot obvious why the Sheriff's shouldn't have looked at local tax records. I think they are public info in my county.

[noamnety]

3. How could they be public info?

Everything I handled in the government that included people's SSN was protected under the privacy act.

[aikoaiko]

4. Property taxes owed by specific names are public

Again, its not clear to me what they were doing that was wrong. Local taxes are generally property or sales taxes, no? They don't require SS numbers.

[noamnety]

6. The article specifically mentions SSN's

So at some point they were looking beyond what was in the public domain, and using SSNs for something other than their intended (authorized) purpose. I believe that's where the violation of privacy came into it.

Most times when you have to provide information protected under the Privacy Act, the agency collecting it has to have very clear policies about what it's being collected for, how it's being used, who can have access to it, and how they are protecting it.

[aikoaiko]

7. very possible, but the article is not clear about what was specfically done

...or which types of files were incorrectly accessed or used.

[baldguy]

2. Should a public official be involved on making a profit off a political issue?

If the DA & the sheriff were doing their jobs properly, they wouldn't have to worry about the ACLU.

[conscious evolution]

5. Will he claim the income on his taxes?

Lets look up his tax records next year and find out.