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Pasadena Takes Stand Against PATRIOT Act
In a late Monday night meeting on July 19, 2004, the Pasadena City Council joined more than 332 other cities, counties, and states across the nation that have passed resolutions critical of the USA PATRIOT Act and its violations of basic civil liberties. The council voted 6-2 along party lines to support the resolution, with the council's two Republicans voting in opposition.
Cheering erupted among the crowd of about 100 assembled community members.
For over a year and a half, Pasadena residents and community members, including the local ACLU chapter, have campaigned to condemn the PATRIOT Act and its excesses and have worked to urge local elected officials to take a stand against the Act.
"There's no doubt in my mind that the PATRIOT Act raises some threats to our traditional notion of civil liberties," Mayor Bill Bogaard reported to the Pasadena Star-News. "When we're talking about civil liberties, we're talking about what our police officers do on the street, about what our libraries are asked to disclose. I consider that at the heart of the interests of local government."
Councilmember Steve Madison was the most outspoken against the PATRIOT Act in his comments, saying, "I don't think this act reflects the values of our community."
Community members, including Reverend Inman Moore, a retired pastor of Grace United Methodist Church and Stephen Rohde, past president of the ACLU of Southern California, spoke out against provisions of the act that encroach on civil liberties, including sections related to library records, a lightning rod for local action.
"This is not a partisan issue," said Reverend Moore. "It's an American issue that gets to the very core of our country's values and what we are all guaranteed: basic liberties."
The USA PATRIOT Act, a 342-page piece of legislation that gives the executive branch sweeping new powers, was passed on October 26, 2001 with almost no debate. Since then, a local movement has swept the nation and forced Congress to pay attention. In July, the House narrowly defeated an amendment to fix Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, related to libraries and other public records, and succeeded only after Republican leadership held the vote open and pressured members to change their votes.
AUGUST 2004
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