Over 100 Organizations Sign Letter to House Committee on Resources in Support of POGO

Chairman Don Young
House Resources Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-6201

Dear Chairman Young:

We are writing to express deep concern over your Committee's efforts to obtain the home phone records of the Project On Government Oversight's (POGO) Executive Director as well as the organization's office phone records. Your subpoena of these records violates our country's deeply-held commitment to the right to freedom of association and freedom of speech.

Nonprofit organizations serve a vital role in helping the federal government function more effectively by giving voice to those who would be marginalized, exposing areas that need reform and balancing policy debates that would otherwise be monopolized by powerful special interests. Nonprofits and their leaders should not have to live in fear of retaliation and abuse in the form of invasive subpoenas such as yours.

Your request is particularly objectionable in light of POGO's role as an intermediary working with whistleblowers who fight fraud and abuses of power within the federal government. The identities and phone numbers of these whistleblowers must remain private and confidential in order to ensure that they are not the targets of retaliation.

Sincerely, 

Tim Barner Program Director 20/20 Vision	John Fitzgerald Counsel Accounting for the Environment
Laurence E. Gold Associate General Counsel AFL-CIO	Cindy Shogan Executive Director Alaska Wilderness League
Jim Sykes Executive Director Alaska Public Interest Research Group	Nan Aron President Alliance for Justice
Maureen Eldredge Program Director Alliance for Nuclear Accountability	Clifford T. Honicker Director American Environmental Health Studies Project, Inc.
James Matlack Director Washington Office American Friends Service Committee	Steve Holmer Campaign Coordinator American Lands Alliance
D.W. Bennett Executive Director American Littoral Society	Ted Morton Policy Director American Oceans Campaign
Rebecca Wodder President American Rivers	Betty Schroeder Chair Arizona Safe Energy Coalition
J. Terrence Brunner Executive Director Better Government Association	Barbara Bode CampaignsOnline
Ron Daniels Executive Director Center for Constitutional Rights	David Hunter Executive Director Center for International Environmental Law
Tim Eichenberg Administrative Law Counsel Center for Marine Conservation	Amy Kincaid President ChangeMatters
Craig Williams Director Chemical Weapons Working Group	David Radcliff Director of Brethren Witness Church of the Brethren General Board
Kaitlin Backlund Director Citizen Alert	Mark Lloyd Executive Director Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy
Lynn Thorp National Programs Coordinator Clean Water Fund / Campaign for Safe & Affordable Drinking Water	Meredith McGehee Vice President and Legislative Director Common Cause
Joan Kiley Executive Director Community Recovery Services	Joni Arends Waste Programs Director Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety
Gary Ruskin Director Congressional Accountability Project	James Love Director Consumer Project on Technology
John Isaacs President Council for a Livable World	Robert Dewey Vice President, Government Relations & External Affairs Defenders of Wildlife
T. Logan Russell President Delta Land Trust	Doug Koplow President Earth Track, Inc.
Jon Boley Research Associate Economics Research Associates	Marc Rotenberg Executive Director Electronic Privacy Information Center
Brock Evans Executive Director Endangered Species Coalition	Elizabeth Thompson Legislative Director Environmental Defense
Kevin Bundy Policy Director Environmental Protection Information Center	Ken Cook President Environmental Working Group
Tom Throop, Director Sarah Gorin, Board Chair Equality State Policy Center	John Richard Executive Director Essential Information
Steven Aftergood Project Director Federation of American Scientists	Jennifer Lindsay Development Officer First Nations Development Institute
Joan Flanagan Lally McMahon, Forest Protection Program John C. Horning, Watershed Protection Program Forest Guardians	Andy Stahl Executive Director Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics
Joe Volk Executive Secretary Friends Committee on National Legislation	Brent Blackwelder President Friends of the Earth
Conrad Martin Executive Director Fund for Constitutional Government	Patricia T. Birnie Chair GE Stockholders' Alliance for A Sustainable, Nuclear-Free Future
Bryan Hager Director Georgia Sierra Club Challenge to Sprawl Campaign	Louis Clark Executive Director Government Accountability Project
Bill Hedden Utah Conservation Director Grand Canyon Trust	Roger Featherstone Director GrassRoots Environmental Effectiveness Network, GREEN
Bill Sheehan Network Coordinator GrassRoots Recycling Network	Tom Myers Director Great Basin Mine Watch
Gary Wolf Co-Chair Green Party of Tennessee	Gary Cook Director of Climate Campaign Greenpeace USA
James C. Turner Executive Director HALT, Inc. - An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform	John T. O'Connell Executive Director Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, Inc.
Scott Armstrong Director Information Trust	Joseph Mendelson III Legal Director International Center for Technology Assessment
Dr. Rosalie Bertell President International Institute of Concern for Public Health	Joel Carp Senior Vice President Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago
Rene Voss Legislative Director John Muir Project	Mark Rand Executive Director JustAct
Peter Hille Chairman Kentucky Environmental Foundation	Stephen D'Esposito President Mineral Policy Center
Adam McLane Business Manager Montana Environmental Information Center	Robert Weissman Editor Multinational Monitor
Robert O. Bothwell President Emeritus/Senior Fellow National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy	Phil Clapp President National Environmental Trust
Kim Gandy Executive Vice President National Organization for Women	Stephen Kohn Chairman of Board National Whistleblower Center
Gregory Wetstone Director of Advocacy Programs Natural Resources Defense Council	Audrie Krause Executive Director NetAction
Elizabeth Crowe Director Non-Stockpile Chemical Weapons Citizens Coalition	Tim McKay Executive Director Northcoast Environmental Center
Iza Kruszewska International Programmes Co-ordinator The Northern Alliance for Sustainability, ANPED	Michael Mariotte Executive Director Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Gary Bass Executive Director OMB Watch	Jacqueline O. Kittrell President Oak Ridge Communities Allied ORCA
Sandra Reid Director Oak Ridge Health Liaison	Ken Rait Conservation Director Oregon Natural Resources Council
Will Pipkin Director Out Up North	Doug Norlen Policy Director Pacific Environment and Resources Center
Vina Colley President Portsmouth/Piketon Resident for Environmental Safety and Security, PRESS	Richard Healey Executive Director Preamble Center
David Banisar Deputy Director Privacy International	Don Wilson Director Progressive Resources
Sam Smith Editor Progressive Review	Robert Seldon Executive Director Project on Liberty And the Workplace
Joan Claybrook President Public Citizen	Jeff Ruch Executive Director Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Lucy Dalglish Executive Director Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press	Scott Denman Executive Director Safe Energy Communication Council
George D. Roberts Legislative Director Service Employees International Union	Antony Scott Energy Analyst Sierra Club, John Muir Chapter, Wisconsin
Mike Matz Executive Director Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance	Ralph Estes Director Stakeholder Alliance
Felice Yeskel, Ed.D Director Stonewall Center	Don Chen Research Manager Surface Transportation Policy Project
Ralph DeGennaro Executive Director Taxpayers for Common Sense	Carol Westlake Executive Director Tennessee Disability Coalition
Judith Filler Executive Director Texas Alliance for Human Needs	Anna Aurilio Staff Scientist USPIRG
Ann Hoffman Legislative Director Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, UNITE	Reverend Jay Lintner Director Washington Office United Church of Christ
Chuck Collins Executive Director United for a Fair Economy	Dave Rapaport Executive Director Vermont Public Interest Research Group
Bill Meadows President Wilderness Society	D'Arcy Kemnitz Director Wildlife Advocacy Project
Susan Shaer Executive Director Women's Action for New Directions, WAND	Mary Byrd Davis Director Yggdrasil Institute

cc: Members of House Committee on Resources Enclosure