- Yesterday Sen. Patrick Leahy quietly scheduled a Senate
Judiciary hearing next Tuesday to consider "helping state and local
law enforcement." The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention
Act, S 909, now before the Senate Judiciary Committee, proposes "to
provide federal assistance to states, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes
to prosecute hate crimes"
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- Is Leahy underhandedly scheduling a hate bill hearing,
to enable pro-hate bill Judiciary Democrats to ram their hate bill forward
to passage? I think he is.
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- I called a Senate Judiciary spokeswoman who told me she
is a member of Leahy's staff. She said, "No. This is a hearing about
assisting state and local law enforcement. If it were about the hate bill,
I believe the Senator would have said so."
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- "But," I asked, "Could this hearing expand
to consider the hate bill in its intention to provide federal assistance
to state law enforcement?"
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- "Yes," she said.
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- With veiled language, Sen. Leahy is likely fulfilling
his promise to announce a hate bill hearing. He is confident most observers
will think this hearing is about obscure issues of federal aid to states;
no one will perceive the hearing's true purpose.
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- Leahy is wrong. I hope that every defender of freedom
will closely watch <http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/>www.judiciary.senate.gov
next Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT. Observers on the West Coast should tune in
at 7 a.m.
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- This is a "hearing" to which no witnesses will
probably be called. No troublesome Republican debate or amendments may
be allowed. Rep. Conyers hoped for this several weeks ago in the House
Judiciary. As a result of powerful protest, he did allow Republicans (although
without witnesses) to propose amendments to the mark-up session in the
House-something he tried to avoid.
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- I believe Leahy is trying to pull a similar fast one.
He hopes to rush the hate bill through by a majority vote, catching Republican
Judiciary members unprepared.
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- Don't let that happen. Call Republican members of the
Senate Judiciary NOW and warn them that a probable hate bill hearing will
be held next Tuesday. (Their names are listed on our Action Page at www.truthtellers.org.)
Encourage Republicans to demand that witnesses be summoned and amendments
allowed. Encourage them to put up the same good fight their House counterparts
did two weeks ago. Call 1-877-851-6437 toll free or 1-202-225-3121 toll.
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- If indeed this is a hearing unrelated to the hate bill,
the attention of an international audience will pressure Judiciary Democrats
to keep it that way. But if it expands into a pro-hate bill referendum,
thousands including the FOX News Network (http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat
- =FLASH&referralObject=4864621&referralPlaylistId=949437d0db05ed5f5b9954dc049d
- 70b0c12f2749&maven_referrer=staf>now attacking
the "pedophile-protecting hate bill") will be instant to sound
the alarm.
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- Leahy made a serious strategic error by scheduling a
hate bill hearing yesterday before Wednesday's FOX attack. As anger mounts
nationwide at the hate bill, Senate Democrats should lie low and hope it
subsides. By instead scheduling a hearing in a less than forthright way,
Leahy only incites the fires of suspicion-suspicion that the hate bill,
both in content and methods of passage, is duplicitous; it can't withstand
the usual rigors of passage or scrutiny imposed on other legislation.
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- There was a time in previous Congresses when under-the-table
hate bill strategies worked. Not today. Today, the whole world is watching.
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