When publicly elected or appointed government officials refuse to act according to law or they intentionally act outside the law, those same officials should hardly be surprised when the citizens who elected or appointed and trusted them choose to violate the law themselves to achieve desired and rightfully expected accountability.
On March 8, 1971, a group of citizens burglarized the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. They stole documents which showed the FBI had been conducting illegal surveillances and offensive counterintelligence operations against US citizens opposing the Vietnam war. Rightly or wrongly, the citizens felt “…compelled to do something as ordinary citizens because no one in Washington was holding Hoover accountable.”
Here in an AlterNet article one of the Media burglars, Bonnie Raines, outlines why she and the others took such an extreme action. The article is entitled Democracy Needs Whistleblowers – That’s Why I Broke Into the FBI in 1971. A more detailed account of the burglary is in Betty Medsger’s book just released yesterday and entitled The Burglary – The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI.
According to Raines, only the Washington Post published the Media papers. All the others chickened out until after the Post ran with it. What would have happened if the Post had been similarly cowed by the fear of Hoover? Is it fair to say that Congress would not have acted without the Post’s publishing admittedly stolen government documents? When state and local governments refuse to rein in officially conducted illegal activity and hold offending officials accountable, should citizens engage in illegal actions the way the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI did in 1971?
Very interesting, Bill. I don’t think citizens should break the law, but this story certainly underscores the power of the media, and how important good and accurate reporting is to the balance of power in any area. Same is true in our city, especially since we are somewhat isolated in our local news sources because we have no local radio anymore and only one local newspaper.
Comment by mary — January 8, 2014 @ 4:50 pm
Mary,
Thank you for making the local connection with a national story. That was the point of the post. Officials entrusted with public positions at all levels of government need to sometimes be reminded that they are not given a Kings-X from the law … at least that’s the theory.
Comment by Bill — January 8, 2014 @ 6:48 pm