Should We Keep all 3 Branches of Federal Government, or is 1 enough? And Why Are You Still on My Lawn?

I am back to blogging about the news! I read a story today that rose to the level of “Get off my lawn!” so I thought I would share it. In case you forgot what that phrase refers to:

Clint Eastwood in a scene from 2008’s ‘Gran Torino’ which he produced, directed, and starred in. In this picture he tells some neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. Eastwood’s character is 80, cranky, and refuses to move out of his home despite things changing around him. Very relatable! The ending is bittersweet.

Today’s news item is about NJ Representative LaMonica McIver, a House member who made an unannounced Congressional oversight visit to a Federal facility within her district in Newark last May one year ago. She suspected that the facility was in violation of Federal law, and she wanted to find out for herself. The facility, Delaney Hall, is a prison housing immigrants detained by ICE. After she identified herself, the administrators of the place did not want her to enter, and she got into a short scuffle outside the door over her right as a member of Congress to conduct an oversight visit of a Federal facility.

This is Ms. McIver’s official portrait. She sits on the House Homeland Security Committee and the Small Business Committee as well as 12 House caucases. I notice that she is not scowling.

I am simplifying this slightly, as the Mayor of Newark and two other members of Congress were also involved, but the outcome was clear. No one was hurt, although apparently there was some pushing and physical contact. She and the other members of Congress, as well as the mayor, were eventually allowed to visit the facility. The mayor was handcuffed, but then let go.

After charging and then dropping the charges against the mayor, the Federal Department of Justice subsequently charged her with three felony counts relating to assault of a Federal officer. If found guilty, she faces up to 17 years in prison. Yikes!! She is the only one of the four involved who is being prosecuted for the event. A Federal district court has ruled against her, she appealed, and further court proceedings are pending with an upcoming court date next month.

In addition to fighting these charges as groundless and selective, she has continued to advocate for the rights of those detained by ICE. This advocacy includes many public statements that Delaney Hall should be closed. Her position about this prison contradicts that of the Trump administration and his directives to DHS and ICE.

To sum up: a member of Congress, doing her job, inspected a Federal immigration prison in her district. She observed that it was physically abusing the detainees as well as depriving them of their legal rights under the law. She went public with her observations, and was retroactively accused of 3 criminal felonies involving a 17-year jail term for a quick, mild scuffle where no one was hurt. The scuffle happened because ICE would not let a member of Congress carry out her official duties.

How is this not the Trump administration targeting a member of Congress with threats of jail because the Congressperson was doing their job in calling out illegal activity?

This should be on page one, above the fold.

I was not sure that “above the fold” was a familiar term to all of you, so this is an illustration of how the most important story is at the top of a newspaper front page, typically with a large bold headline. This is the NY Times front page from June 29, 1914 describing the event that started World War I. Should I have picked the 1969 moon landing?

Our own government has arrested and prosecuted an elected member of Congress who disagrees with the party in office. If this happened in Russia, China, or North Korea, we would all say “yeah, that is what happens in a corrupt dictatorship – the absolute ruler of the party in power stays that way by arresting his political opponents on false charges.”

I suppose the good news is that we have not yet gotten as far down this path as Russia’s Putin, who famously poisoned one of his political opponents, Alexei Navalny. After recovering from the poison, Navalny was accused of extremism, sentenced, and then sent to western Siberia where he died under murky circumstances.

Meanwhile, Representative McIver has written a bill that would protect members of Congress from prosecution when they conduct legitimate Congressional oversight activity. This should already be a thing, as the Constitution requires them to do it, but her law would make it explicit. She does not expect it to pass, as other House Republicans have told her that they will vote it down. Let that sink in for a minute.

This story jumped at me because it is not far from where I live, and my representative, Chris Smith, is apparently taking the side of the Trump administration against a fellow Representative from his own state. I don’t hear a peep out of him in defense of Ms. McIver.

This is the first item that pops up “above the fold” on Mr. Smith’s US Government House web site. I can appreciate artwork done by highschoolers as much as the next grandpa, but shouldn’t Smith’s time be better spent standing up for adherence to his oath of office and the Constitution? His other “news” items generally relate to the horrors of windmills and to the mistreatment of innocent people — but only in other countries.

When a rogue executive “captures” the Congress so that it does not act to check illegal or unconstitutional activity, the executive will inevitably push his power in ways that impact us all. He might start unnecessary and costly wars, levy high taxes, enact policies that enrich cronies but make life more expensive for the rest of us, compromise the Federal emergency response system, compromise our national health system, pack the courts so that there is unequal justice, unleash Federal police on the innocent, run up the national debt, and more. To many, yelling about “the Constitution” sounds abstract and irrelevant to our daily lives. It isn’t.

I called my Representative, Chris Smith, to let him know that arresting and prosecuting members of Congress for doing their jobs is not acceptable. A very nice young man answered the phone and agreed to pass my message along.

We are not Russia. If you value the ability of Congress to represent you, then you should contact your Representative and Senators. Especially if they are Republican. Congress pays attention to the people, but only when they speak up.