Should Schumer be indicted?

[fintstone]

Wonder why so much attention in the press to Liddy...but none for Schumer?

The Man in the Mirror
Some questions Senator Chuck Schumer should ask himself about the DSCC's invasions of privacy.
by Edward Morrissey
09/28/2005

SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER had just finished his last sputtering of outrage at the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court when news broke that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which he chairs, had a small problem. Newsday and the New York Post both reported that the DSCC was in illegal possession of the credit report for Maryland's Republican Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. Two of Schumer's staffers, Katie Barge and Lauren Weiner, used Steele's Social Security number to fraudulently get his credit history.

The DSCC expects Steele to run for the Senate seat which Democrat Paul Sarbanes will vacate with his retirement next year. Nothing frightens Democrats more than a conservative African-American and Steele demonstrated in his appearance at the 2004 GOP convention that he has charisma, warmth, and a sharp sense of policy.

Making this even more scandalous, it turns out that the DSCC had known about Barge and Weiner's pilfering for over two months, having placed both on a paid suspension since early July, according to the Post. And yet no one gave any indication that the DSCC notified Michael Steele about the invasion of his privacy until this week. Given that federal statutes make the acquisition, distribution, acceptance, and even reading of this data without specific written authorization a federal crime, the theft should have resulted in no small amount of media attention.

The Washington Post did run an editorial scolding Schumer and the Democrats--but then promptly watered it down with a sniff about how everybody does it and a call for both sides to clean up their act. The Washington Times provided some coverage that confirmed that Steele wanted the staffers prosecuted. The New York Times has not yet covered the story at all. The rest of the national media, caught up in coverage of dueling hurricane catastrophes, has written and broadcast almost nothing else.

SO WHAT WOULD IT TAKE to get the media interested? As we saw with the Roberts nomination, nothing gets journalists primed for coverage like a juicy, no-holds barred . . . Congressional hearing. After all, for the Roberts nomination, it held the media's attention for weeks even before the first gavel fell on the Judiciary Committee.

Where would we find experts on data privacy in Congress to hold this hearing? For starters, we would need senators and congressmen like--well, like Chuck Schumer. Schumer, after all, co-authored and sponsored the Schumer-Nelson ID Theft Prevention Bill, introduced in April of this year to discourage the kind of actions that Barge and Weiner took on Schumer's behalf. At the time, Schumer himself said the following, a prescient warning about how someone's personal information could be abused:

[O]ur comprehensive measure focuses on making sure that your personal information isn't surfing the Internet without your permission and that companies handling your Social Security number and other sensitive information should come under the watchful eye of the Federal Trade Commission immediately.

Who knew that within weeks of uttering this statement, his staff at the DSCC would have provided such a compelling example of the problem? Once again, Senator Chuck Schumer was ahead of the curve.

On March 15, after the credit authorization company Choicepoint revealed that it had inadvertently sold hundreds of thousands of identity profiles to scamsters, the Senate Banking Committee called Choicepoint VP Don McGuffey to testify about how the debacle occurred. Schumer peppered the hapless McGuffey with tough questions about the internal practices of Choicepoint--questions that could apply equally to Schumer's direction of the DSCC.

If the March 15 Schumer had the opportunity to interrogate the September 28 Schumer about what Hugh Hewitt has dubbed Chuckaquiddick, he might re-use these same questions and criticisms he lobbed at McGuffy:

Q: Do you have a policy when someone's identity has been stolen--this is a question--about notifying law enforcement immediately?

Perhaps Schumer could then enlighten us about how much time it took between when Steele's SSN and credit report got stolen, and when the DSCC reported it to the federal authorities.

Q: How is it that the CEO of the company didn't know that [Steele's information] had been stolen until a couple of months later?

Or did Schumer know about it all along, and conspire to keep it quiet? We should look forward to Schumer demanding an answer of himself, just as he demanded answers from McGuffey.

Q: Let me ask you another one. Have there been other incidents where [the DSCC and its chair] has been aware that people's identities have been stolen but that hasn't been made public?

Should any other up-and-coming Republican contenders check to see if someone has accessed their records? Perhaps Mark Kennedy, who has already announced for Mark Dayton's open seat in Minnesota, might want to review his records to see if any unauthorized queries have been made into his records.

Q: Let me ask you about your executives. You know, this sort of stinks from the head.

What about the DSCC executives, such as Schumer? After all, they hired Katie Barge as their head of research with quite a substantial résumé in this field of expertise. She led the opposition research team for John Edwards, and before that did similar work for David Brock at Media Matters, according to the leftist website Common Dreams. What exactly did the executives at the DSCC direct Barge to do in regards to Steele and other likely Senatorial opponents? What did she do for John Edwards during the last campaign? Did the DSCC hire her for her ability to dig out dirt using illegal credit reports?

Q: I'll tell you what else I think. I don't know what the law is here, but from an ethical point of view, you're dealing with important valuables about people. Your attitude has been casual, to say the least, and that's putting it kindly.

Keeping two staffers on paid leave of absence after breaking federal laws on privacy--especially when data privacy happens to be a specialty of Senator Schumer--does indicate a casual approach to practicing what Schumer preaches. Schumer should demand to know who made the decision to keep paying two people who committed felonies in the name of the organization he chairs

[Joeaksa]

Nah, Clinton is out of office and the Democrats get a free pass on almost anything now that Bush is in office. The question is, what "is" going on here and if there is any question then they are not guilty, right?

Besides, its Bush's fault anyway!

JoeA

[bryanthompson]

But Joe, it's the Seriousness of the Charge (tm) that needs to be investigated.

[Mulhollanddose]

We need to lynch Schmuckler before the evidence comes out, like the media/DNC did to FEMA Director Brown.

[juanbenae]

let's see, how about a neocon roll call?

flint, check.

bry, check.

mul, check.

j/a, check.

dubya feels warm all over!

[tabs]

Schumer is a media Whore, who likes to see himself on TV....

Like I said before the Dems are outa power and WILL DO ANYTHING to get theor snouts back in the trough of the US Treasury...

When will U people start to believe me?

[gavinlit]

"Like I said before the Dems are outa power and WILL DO ANYTHING to get theor snouts back in the trough of the US Treasury"
Sounds like a typical opposition party to me, regardless of left or right leanings. It is a mighty tempting trough after all.

[VINMAN]

Hang him!

[creaturecat]

Originally posted by VINMAN
Hang him!

He could swing with Mr DeLay and Mr Libby!

[RoninLB]

Chucky Smucky is a hard core political hack in the most liberal state in the union.

that said, Chucky is a big time pro. I'm sure his ass is covered one way or another. The NY Post is a no bs reporter. Doesn't matter what party it is. If it's NYC action then the NY Post is a relentless animal on getting the whole story. They once wrote that Hillary is doing a good job of management so I'll go with that.

They have a free web site.

[tabs]

Originally posted by gavinlit

Sounds like a typical opposition party to me, regardless of left or right leanings. It is a mighty tempting trough after all.

They would even go so far as to burn the Barn down to get back into power...Thats the difference...

In 2000....a losing Presidential canidate Sued not over the results of the election but about the PROCESS/ the rules of engagement ...when the rules had been mutually agreed upon for 200 years...Both Political Parties KNEW THERE WERE FLAWS IN THE SYSTEM of voting and have accepted it for 200 years. But now one Party didin't like the results so they challenged the Process itself.....Now who is going to trust the results of ANY election...

Many pundits applauded it as Democracy in action...but make no mistake about it..it's a nail in the coffin of the Repblic...

[911pcars]

"In 2000....a losing Presidential canidate Sued not over the results of the election but about the PROCESS/ the rules of engagement..."

That was the election decided by the US Supreme Court. In a stunning reverse of their states-rights stances, they decided to trump Florida's decision and make the call instead.

If you're so inclined, review the 2000 election and read one opinion.

In regard to the democratic vs republican criminals in office, simple. Get rid of them, Schumer and DeLay included (if guilty). Use the laws on the books to prosecute them.

Voters need to see what's best for the country instead of being loyal to their party of choice or what's best for their wallet. However, that requires less greed and more principles on our part. Your parents might have taught you the difference between right and wrong. Why apply a different set of standards for politicians, that is unless you have the same sense of ethics.

Too simple?
Sherwood

[Joeaksa]

Sherwood,

Lets make it even easier. First, Two terms in office then you are out, period. Second, you live and retire with the same retirement system that the public does. This would reform the perks that the legislators have now where they get fat and rich on our money after serving in office.

The system of right and wrong that our parents should have taught us should be applied to them but they should be even more strict in their enforcement while they are in office.

Just my 2c worth...

JoeA

[RoninLB]

Political redistricting removes the power from the people. A challenger is screwed from the get go.

The beltway has disintegrated into partisan bs. Newt's Rep takeover of Congress has lost its luster as the Rep's swayed away from defining issues. . I see no changes ahead as the Rep become more entrenched in traditional Dem political bs. The names change and the crap stays the same.