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