Redstate

Posted at 10:17am on Jun. 27, 2008 Hypocrisy, FISA, Guns, and Government: Jim Cooper Abuses His Congressional Throne

By Erick

The government, some would have us believe, is beyond the kind of criminal conduct that necessitated the second amendment. The Bush Administration, some Democrats would have us believe, is reprehensible in its handling of FISA matters and fascist in its nature.

If only the Democrats had more control, all would be well. Except it would not.

Today comes word that the FBI is investigating Congressman Jim Cooper (D-TN) for an abuse of his power. Congressman Cooper sought information from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association ("NRECA"), my former employer, that the NRECA refused to give him.

Cooper, undeterred, obtained a user name and password to the NRECA's intranet site from someone, and proceeded to probe internal documents and get what he wanted for his hearing without a warrant or permission. Having navigated through this same site, I assure you someone else was complicit in Cooper's actions. It's a difficult site to navigate to get to the information Cooper was after.

I worked at the NRECA. I know the organization. It is one of the most upstanding organizations in the Washington. It's programs around the world are impressive and commendable. I realize people have varying views on electric cooperatives, but without them, much of the nation would have been without power for a lot longer than they were.

Some cooperatives do dumb things, like any business. In this particular case, however, whether you care for electric co-ops or not, it is beside the point.

The point is the congressman, having been denied permission by a private entity to search its records, and without a court order or vote of the Congress granting him permission, went into the entity's private computer system and got what he wanted. Then he set about having a congressional hearing to probe the conduct of electric cooperatives nationwide using the documents he obtained through surreptitious means.

If an individual member of Congress can and does do that to one private group, a member of Congress can also do that to you.

There must be no tolerance for this behavior.

Posted in Congress | Corrupt Democrat Watch | Jim Cooper | NRECA | Tennessee | TN-4 — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »