February 03, 2003

Self-Referential Coverage

As referenced here in the past, I am also an organizer for the Portland Bill of Rights Defense Committee -- one of dozens of community groups across the country urging their local governments to pass resolutions in support of civil rights and liberties in the face of broad new Federal authority such as that implemented by the USA PATRIOT Act.

Last week, the PDX BoRDC issued its first press release, together with an open letter to the Portland City Council -- both of which were delivered last Thursday as part of an informational packet both to the members of the Council and to representatives of the local media.

Please click through to the main PDX BoRDC site, since we have a number of ways in which we need Portland residents to assist us at this stage of the game.

Posted at 04:21 PM | PermalinkComments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
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Comments (4)

  1. Emma on 04 Feb 2003

    This will give the city council--who didn't see why opposing a war in Iraq was city business--a chance to mend their ways. I've downloaded a petition and will begin collecting names.

    Great work.

    (By the way, did you run the declaration by a lawyer? I assume you did, as the National Lawyer's Guild (Portland) endorsed it. It's one of those things where you'd like to avoid giving the city council a legal reason not to adopt it.)

  2. The One True b!X on 04 Feb 2003

    In fact, it was Alan Graf, of Portland's NLG, who originally vetted the resolution. We've since made some minor adjustments, but nothing that throws the text out of whack.

    The trick now is finding an actual sponsor on the Council to put it onto the agenda.

  3. The One True b!X on 04 Feb 2003

    In addition, presuming the story is done on time, bits of an interview with me should be appearing during the evening news on KBOO this evening, sometime between 5:00 and 6:00 PM.

    There should also be a story in this week's Portland Mercury.

  4. Emma on 04 Feb 2003

    Excellent. I suppose Vera and Sten are your folks--though can Vera bring something to the council? Hmmm. She especially should have a visceral reaction against this legislation.

    And also: nice media management.