Kucinich Joins Board of National Coalition to Repeal the Patriot Act
The following is a press release from December 2, 2003, by the Kucinich campaign
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Kucinich Joins Board of National Coalition to Repeal the Patriot Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2003
Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has joined the leadership of the National Coalition to Repeal the Patriot Act. He has released this statement:
"It is with great pride and also with great dedication that I have accepted a position on the Board of the National Coalition to Repeal the 'PATRIOT Act.' It will be an honor to work with the many talented individuals and organizations making up this grassroots effort, whose mission -- to protect our civil liberties from the PATRIOT Act, the Homeland Security Act, and other executive orders -- is in better touch with the American people than is the Congress of the United States," declared Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich today.
The one-time mayor of Cleveland was among only 67 House Members who gave the Bush regime's draconian Patriot Act thumbs-down in 2001. Broad support for his outspoken opposition to the 342-page legislation, which most in Congress claim to have never read, helped spark his bid for the White House this year. Repeal of the USA Patriot Act is a central plank of the community-based Kucinich Campaign. Since passage of the legislation, Kucinich has led the charge to have it overthrown. On Sept. 24, 2003, he introduced legislation into the US House of Representatives to repeal more than 10 sections of the PATRIOT Act. The bill, titled the 'Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act,' would repeal sections that authorize sneak and peak searches, warrantless library, medical, and financial record searches, and the detention and deportation of non-citizens without meaningful judicial review. Beyond the PATRIOT Act, the bill also cements the fundamental right of attorney-client privilege and restores transparency in the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security by revoking FOIA secrecy orders.
"Not in a hundred blue moons do candidates, particularly presidential candidates, ever identify with grassroots citizen's initiatives. That is just never done," explained Coalition founder Kellie Gasink. "But maybe that's because leaders of Dennis Kucinich's high caliber and sincerity rarely rise to national prominence. The National Coalition is absolutely thrilled to welcome Dennis on-board."
The National Coalition is recognized as the People-of-color and Labor-led arm of the broad civil liberties movement that has already seen three states and 218 cities, towns, and counties pass resolutions, ordinances or ballot initiatives protecting the civil liberties of their 27,751,413 residents against the ravages of the USA Patriot Act.
Over 13,000 people have signed the Coalition's on-line petition calling for the complete and immediate repeal of the USA Patriot Act. Dennis Kucinich joins probably the most ethnically and politically diverse national leadership of any pro-civil liberties organization in the US.
Kellie Gasink, the national coordinator of the Coalition continued, "Congressman Kucinich has always been an inspiration to the anti-Patriot Act movement. When there was darkness all around us, it was Dennis who convinced many of us to keep going. He showed that not everybody in our federal legislature had lost their minds. And now, relative to his rivals in the presidential race, make no mistake, Dennis Kucinich won't flinch when it comes to defending our Constitutional liberties. You can't say that about the rest of them, and certainly not about the candidates who, in Congress, actually voted for this grotesque mockery of law."
Spiritedly added Kucinich, "I am committed to working through NCRPA to defeat the efforts of the Bush administration to strip us of the rights we hold under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments."
The National Coalition to Repeal the Patriot Act National Board:
Sakinah Ali, Masjid Jihad Mosque
Ajamu Baraka, Amnesty International Southern Region
Charles Barron, NY City Council Member
Elombe Brath, Patrice Lumumba Coalition
George Caffentzis, Professor, University of Southern Maine
Mitchel Cohen, Greens-Green Party USA
Rev. Herbert Daughtry, MLK Jr. Peace Now Committee
Bhairavi Desai, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
Primella Dixit, Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom
Chester Dunham, A. Philip Randolph Institute of Savannah
Rani Elizar, Atlanta Palestine Solidarity
Kevin Fitzpatrick, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
Dr. Soumya Ganapathy, Fellowship of Reconciliation of Savannah
Kellie Gasink, Esq., Green Party of Chatham County, GA
Joyce Griggs, Attorney
Pat Gunn, Geechee Institute
Akeel Hanano, Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee of GA
Robert Knight, Journalist, WBAI radio
US Representative Dennis Kucinich (OH)
Former US Representative Cynthia McKinney (GA)
Solana Plains, Georgia Clients Council
Josh Ruebner, Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel
Harry Scott, South Alameda County Peace & Justice Committee
Lynne Stewart, Attorney
Michael Warren, Attorney
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