[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 74 (Monday, May 19, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H4224-H4225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TEXAS REDISTRICTING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sandlin) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SANDLIN. Mr. Speaker, there is disturbing news coming out of 
Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas, today that should be of great and 
grave concern to all Americans. Because, Mr. Speaker, the Department of 
Homeland Security, a U.S. government agency, has basically now had to 
admit that it used a homeland security plane and government resources 
for political purposes and now they are covering it up. As most of the 
country now knows, Texas Democrats in the State House recently absented 
themselves from the floor to break a quorum, a legitimate parliamentary 
maneuver. This angered the Republican powers that be in Washington, 
D.C. A homeland security plane was dispatched to try to follow and 
harass Pete Laney, the former Democratic Speaker of the Texas House, 
and other members. Upon being caught and not before, the Department of 
Homeland Security said that they actually were under the impression 
that the plane was lost or crashed.
  Mr. Speaker, that is just not credible. That is just not so. Period.
  Now it has been learned that a tape and a transcript of the contact 
between Homeland Security and law enforcement has been discovered. And 
what has been the response of homeland security? They refused to turn 
over the tape. They refused to turn over the transcript.
  Mr. Speaker, I have two questions. What did they know and when did 
they know it? The U.S. Congress calls upon Homeland Security to release 
the tapes, stop the cover-up, and do it now. Otherwise, they need to 
get a dictionary and they need to look up the word ``subpoena.'' 
Otherwise, they need to get the statutes and look up in the statutes 
the term ``freedom of information.''
  The use of the Federal Government for political purposes should 
frighten all Americans. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram said this Sunday, 
``To meet the threat of global terrorism, the United States is 
assembling enormous Federal resources focusing on activities in 
American cities, neighborhoods and countrysides that could endanger 
those citizens. If we are to have this security apparatus, it must be 
contained to its designated purposes. There must be every safeguard so 
that it does not cross the thin line between protecting innocent 
citizens and spying on their private lives. That these security 
resources were used no matter in what minor way in a Texas political 
dispute should be alarming to us all.''
  And, Mr. Speaker, alarmingly there is more. Not only has the Federal 
Government been spying on citizens for private purposes and then 
covering it up but also the authority of the state has been used to 
intimidate and terrorize the families of Texas legislators.

                              {time}  2000

  Here are some examples: Representative Craig Eiland, his wife 
recently had premature twins, the twins in the neonatal unit of the 
hospital. Investigators were sent to the neonatal unit to

[[Page H4225]]

investigate and question nurses, sent to his wife's home to terrorize 
her.
  Representative Chuck Hopson, his wife left Austin to drive 4 miles to 
Jacksonville. The law enforcement officer got on her bumper and went 
with her the entire way.
  Police entered the home of Joe Pickett, a State representative. His 
17-year-old daughter was there alone, and as he explained it, ``They 
scared the holy hell out of her.''
  Patrick Rose had his car searched after it had been placed on the TV 
and everybody in the whole country knew that the Texas legislators were 
in Oklahoma. A senior staff member, Representative Naishtat, was told 
it was a felony to withhold information about his whereabouts, a total 
lie.
  In the Corpus Christi newspaper it said this: ``The wife of State 
Representative Jaime Capelo, Democrat, Corpus Christi, looked out her 
kitchen window Tuesday and noticed a blue four-door vehicle driving 
past. The driver looked at her home as he passed. The vehicle pulled up 
next to a white Chevy. `I asked him why he was watching my house.' The 
man identified himself as a State trooper and told her that officials 
in Austin had called his office and told the troopers to follow her.''
  These abuses and others prompted State Representative Jim Dunnam from 
Waco to send a letter to Speaker Craddick and say in part: ``P.S. as 
you know, we are at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Please stop 
having our loved ones followed and staked out by law enforcement.'' Mr. 
Speaker, surely, surely Mr. Craddick's family raised him better than 
that.
  Mr. Speaker, using the power and authority of the Federal Government 
to trample the U.S. Constitution and the freedoms we hold dear is 
outrageous. Covering it up makes it worse. Coordinating with State 
enforcement to terrorize innocent families is not only illegal; it is 
inexcusable. It is time for the Federal Government to come clean and 
come clean now. Release the tapes, release the transcripts, stop the 
cover-up. The Constitution is superior to the arrogance of power. 
Thanks to my State reps, Barry Telford, Mark Homer, Chuck Hopson, they 
know that. They have learned that lesson. I wish the Republican power 
brokers in Washington, D.C. do the same thing.

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