http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=186786#1
Did Ashcroft Break the Law?
A new Government Accountability Office report found that Attorney General
John Ashcroft spent more than $200,000 of taxpayer money on trips to 32
cities in August and September of 2003 to specifically whip up public
support for the Patriot Act. In the process, Ashcroft may have broken the
law. A 2002 federal law explicitly prohibits federal funds from being used
by any executive branch agency - including the Justice Department - to lobby
the public for support or defeat of legislation pending before the Congress.
Ashcroft's trips came immediately after the House of Representatives passed
a bipartisan amendment, sponsored by Rep. Butch Otter (R-ID), which would
have limited the Patriot Act - something Ashcroft opposed and was using
public money to campaign against. Ashcroft even traveled to Otter's home
district to publicly lobby Otter's constituents against reforming the
Patriot Act. Again, this behavior by a Cabinet secretary is prohibited by
federal law. After two months of Ashcroft's taxpayer-financed trips,
Congress reconvened from its summer recess and stripped out the provision
from the final bill behind closed doors in a conference committee.
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"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush 12/18/2000.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop
thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do
we."
--George Bush. Aug. 5th., 2004
"Because America is powerful, we must be sensitive about
expressing our power and influence."
---George Bush, 3/4/01
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