DOJ Patriot Act Web site raises Eyebrows

by David Tamasi

WASHINGTON - A Justice Department Web site designed to mobilize support for the Patriot Act touts favorable quotes from leading Democrats, including Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, presidential contenders who are now critics of the law.

The Web site, www.lifeandliberty.gov, features comments made by Democrats and Republicans during and immediately after Congress debated and passed the Patriot Act in October 2001. It was barely more than one month after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and Washington was desperate to find ways to root out terrorism.

Two years later, the terrain has changed. Some Democrats and Republicans who initially supported the act, which gave more powers to law enforcement agencies, now say it curtails too many civil liberties and needs to be amended. And now some Democratic presidential candidates, who are campaigning against the Patriot Act, find that their earlier statements are being used as part of a Bush administration campaign to defend the law.

The Kerry campaign, in particular, is unhappy about it.

"It is just another example of the misleading that this administration does in putting politics over policy," said campaign spokeswoman Kelly Benander. Benander did not deny the accuracy of Kerry's quotation.

Kerry has emerged as a vocal critic of the Patriot Act during the presidential primary campaign. But the Justice Department Web site quotes him as saying on the Senate floor on Oct. 25, 2001, "With the passage of this legislation, terrorist organizations will not be able . . . to do the kinds of things they did on Sept. 11."

Edwards, who voted for the Patriot Act, has also sharply criticized it and has called for the repeal of some of its provisions. Efforts to reach the Edwards campaign for comment were unsuccessful.

Blain Rethmeier, a Justice Department spokesman, said the prominent placement of Democrats on the Web site's "Congress Speaks" page was "coincidental. There is no intent behind it."

In an August press release promoting the new Web site, Barbara Comstock, then the director of public affairs for the Justice Department, said the site would attempt to "dispel some of the major myths perpetuated as part of the disinformation campaign" against the Patriot Act.

She added that ""while news reports sometimes describe the law as 'controversial,' I have included below just some of the statements previously made by members of Congress about the Patriot Act." Among them are statements by Kerry and Edwards.

The Patriot Act provides federal law enforcement officials with new tools to track and obstruct terrorists. But in the roughly two years since its unanimous enactment,, the act has been the subject of withering criticism from opponents for violating individual liberties. The most vocal critics have been Democrats running for President.

As the outcry over the act intensified, Attorney General John Ashcroft traveled across the country this summer giving speeches that defended the law as effective and fair.

The Web site's home page displays a summary of the bill with links to other pages on such subjects as "Dispelling the Myths," "Support of the People," "Responding to Congress" and the "Congress Speaks" page that includes the floor statements and press releases that are two years old.

Jameel Jaffers, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Web site was "meant to sell legislation and is clearly a political site."

The law is set to expire in 2005, and President Bush spoke at CIA Headquarters in September in support of expanding the Justice Department's authority. It is unclear whether Congress would be asked to reauthorize the act or enact a new law in its place.