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Democrats Act to Protect Individual Liberties
Guttenberg, Ellis Resolution Cites Concerns about Abuses in USA Patriot Act

Noting that the State of Alaska has a proud history of respecting the fundamental right to privacy and individual liberties as reflected in the Alaska and United States Constitutions, resolutions were introduced in the House and Senate this week stating that any efforts to end terrorism must not be waged at the expense of essential civil rights and liberties of the people of the State of Alaska and the United States.

Sponsored by Representative David Guttenberg (D-Fairbanks) and Senate Democratic Leader Johnny Ellis (D-Anchorage), the resolution responds to concerns raised by the USA Patriot Act, the hastily enacted domestic security bill passed by Congress in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Among the provisions of the USA Patriot Act that worry many Americans,
the Act:

  • Minimizes judicial supervision of federal telephone and Internet surveillance by law enforcement authorities;
  • Expands the ability of the government to conduct secret searches;
  • Gives the Attorney General and the Secretary of State the power to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations using vague criteria for defining a terrorist organization;
  • Allows for indefinite detention of non-citizens who are not terrorists who have only minor visa violations;
  • Grants the FBI broad access to sensitive personal and business records about individuals without having to show evidence of a crime;
  • Leads to large-scale investigations of American citizens by the CIA for intelligence purposes.

As founding father Benjamin Franklin noted, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

At least 77 communities across the nation have expressed concerns that the USA Patriot Act violates civil rights and liberties guaranteed under the Constitution. The list includes Fairbanks, Gustavus, Seattle, and San Francisco.

The resolution states that absent any probable cause of criminal activity, it is the policy of the State of Alaska to forbid:

  1. The initiation of, participation in, assistance or cooperation with any inquiry, investigation, surveillance or detention;
  2. The recording and sharing of any intelligence information concerning any person or organization, even if authorized by federal law enforcement acting under new powers granted by the USA Patriot Act. This includes things as library lending and research records; book and video store sales or rental records; medical, financial, and student records, and other personal data;
  3. The retention of intelligence information if there is no probable cause indicating criminal activity;
  4. The collection of information about the political, religious or social views, associations or activities of any individual, group, association, organization, corporation, business or partnership;
  5. Profiling based on race, ethnicity, citizenship, religion, or political views; and,
  6. Enforcement of immigration matters, which are entirely the responsibility of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The resolution calls upon Alaska’s Congressional delegation to work to correct provisions of the USA Patriot Act and other measures that unduly infringe on civil liberties and to oppose the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (known as Patriot II) to the extent that it, too, infringes on Americans’ civil liberties.

Senate Joint Resolution 15 - Senator Ellis
House Joint Resolution 22 - Representative Guttenberg

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Representative Les Gara Speaks Out on Citizen Access to Government

(Printed in the Anchorage Daily News, April 4, 2003)

In 1996 thousands of Alaskans signed an initiative petition to prevent lobbyists from holding candidate fundraisers. The petition also prohibited lobbyists from giving money to candidates outside a lobbyist’s district. Pressured by voters, the Legislature adopted these prohibitions. Two parallel bills filed this session by Republican legislators Ralph Seekins (SB 89) and Lesil McGuire (HB 106) weaken these restrictions. These bills, combined with Governor Murkowski’s plan to eliminate our campaign watchdog agency, take us in the wrong direction.

The Seekins and McGuire bills address a very small class of people - those who are paid to lobby “to influence legislation” or regulations. The bills don’t affect the vast majority of Alaskans, who do not get paid to contact, write to or testify before legislators.

HB 106 and SB 89 change our lobbying laws in two ways. First, they exempt most lobbyists from fundraising and donation rules the voters demanded. Second, they eliminate registration requirements for most paid lobbyists, changing the current “sunshine” rule that lets the public know who is paid to lobby the Legislature.

HB 106 and SB 89 loosen the rules for the largest group of people who lobby our Legislature. The bills weaken the rules that apply to corporate CEO’s, executives, business owners, managers and employees when they are sent by their businesses to lobby the Legislature. A small handful of people who specifically advertise themselves as “professional lobbyists” remain subject to existing registration and fundraising rules. But the presidents and executives at Alaska’s largest oil and other corporations, and others paid by their businesses to lobby - for things including minimum wage reductions, tax breaks and subsidies this session - don’t advertise themselves as professional lobbyists.

Representative McGuire’s bill exempts this latter group from Alaska’s lobbying laws if they lobby for up to 25% of their income in a month. Thus a corporate president who works 50 hours per week (200 hours per month) could lobby legislators for 50 hours a month. He could then fundraise for every legislator he lobbied. Alaskans would never know about this because the registration rules would also be waived. Senator Seekins’ bill would exempt these lobbyists unless they lobby more than 80 hours/month. Under either bill, that’s a lot of unreported lobbying.

Government is at its best when it operates in the open, and when it builds trust with the public. Letting lobbyists donate more money to more legislators doesn’t build public trust. Nor does letting them operate in the dark. That’s why I oppose these proposed changes to our lobbying laws.

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