This is what is commonly known as an 'intimidation' tactic, a fishing expedition. No need for explanations or probable cause. All perfectly legal. Nice.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin has made an open records request for the emails of a University of Wisconsin professor of history, geography and environmental studies in an apparent response to a blog post the professor wrote about a group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Professor William J. Cronon, who is the president-elect of the American Historical Association, said in an interview on Friday that the party asked for emails starting Jan. 1.
The request was made by Stephan Thompson of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. In his request, Thompson asked for emails of Cronon's state email account which "reference any of the following terms: Republican, Scott Walker, recall, collective bargaining, AFSCME, WEAC, rally, union, Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Rob Cowles, Scott Fitzgerald, Sheila Harsdorf, Luther Olsen, Glenn Grothman, Mary Lazich, Jeff Fitzgerald, Marty Beil, or Mary Bell."
Most of the names are Republican legislators. Marty Beil is the head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union and Mary Bell is the head of the Wisconsin Education Association Council.
Thompson was not immediately available for comment.
Bloggers Beware (If You Work at a State University in Wisconsin)
Dirty stuff really, but considering some of the advice these guys have come up with recently about false flag operations, dirty tricks, and physical violence as public policy it is not all that surprising. They could also have the State Police search his car each day as he leaves the parking lot to make sure he has not taken any state property, such as pencils or pads of paper. Who knows what they might find along the way?
Even if nothing ever turns up, there is potential upside. A former Wisconsin Republican made a great national career out of using this sort of political tactic, and endless investigations into anyone he deemed worthy of suspicion, who disagreed with him, capturing the atteniton of the public for a quite a few years: Joe McCarthy.
"Have you no sense of decency?" No they don't.
On the other hand, this *could* set up an interesting precedent and become a trend. The possibilities are almost endless.
I am wondering if we can put forward a Freedom of Information Request for the emails of high level SEC employees that contain any of the following words: "teen" "horny" "nude" "epic" "erotic" "babe" "MILF" "VIP" "consultant" "interview" "signing bonus" and "Blankfein."
It might be several terabytes of data, but it could be a good read on a cold winter's night.
And I shiver in anticipation of a broad search on the emails of the CFTC: "silver" "gold" "position limit" "JPM" "Summers" "GATA" and "Blythe"
We could have an eBay type auction or a British style betting pool for the most popular search words for Obama's emails to help raise funds for Social Security. I predict a bull market in 'birth certificate,' 'oil,' and 'Hillary.'
Bread and circuses. And Ben and Timmy are the clowns. But two guesses on who is going to clean up after the elephants.
Good night, and good luck.
"We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights." Justice Felix Frankfurter
