From: [n--b--s] at [clari.net] (NB / WAS)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.new_media,clari.usa.gov.policy.biz,clari.tw.top,clari.usa.gov
Subject: ACLU - 104th Congress Flunks Civil Liberties 10/31/96
Keywords: Bureau-WAS, Government
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Newsbytes News Network
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 1996 2:40:24 PST
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1996 OCT 31 (NB) -- By Bill Pietrucha. From
Internet censorship to increased wiretapping, the 104th Congress
flunked civil liberties, according to a new online Congressional
guide by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The interactive guide, published on the ACLU's Freedom Network at
http://www.aclu.org/vote-guide and the ACLU's Constitution Hall on
America Online, rates the US House and Senate members according to
their votes on "key civil liberties issues" and displays the
"percentage of times a member voted to preserve civil liberties."
"We have been saying all along that this has been one of the most
anti-civil liberties Congresses in decades, and the voter guide
confirms everything we suspected," Laura Murphy, director of the
ACLU's National Washington Office, told Newsbytes.
The voters guide rates members according to 19 key issues, ranging
from a constitutional amendment to prohibit flag desecration to
counter-terrorism legislation, and from medical privacy to school
vouchers.
The average rating for the Senate was 30 percent, Murphy said, with
no senator receiving either a 100 or 0 rating.
In the House of Representatives, however, 13 representatives received
100 percent ratings and 57 members received 0 ratings. The average
rating for the House was 36, she said.
A 100 rating was the highest pro-civil liberties rating, while a 0
was the lowest pro-civil liberties rating.
"This past year we've been able to defeat some of Congress' worst
excesses, in part by providing tools online for people to directly
phone, fax, or e-mail their elected representatives," Murphy said.
"We hope that civil libertarians will use the guide, not only to
monitor votes, but to put Congress on notice that citizens across
the country will not stand idly by while the Bill of Rights is
legislatively dismantled," she said.
Murphy said that, following the signing of the Communications
Decency Act, which "criminalized free expression on the Internet,"
more than 7,000 "netizens" used an action alert on the ACLU's Web
site to fax, e-mail, and call US Attorney General Janet Reno urging
her not to act on the law until the courts reviewed the ACLU's legal
challenge to the Act.
Once the new Congress is in session, Murphy said, the ACLU plans to
use the voter guide to mobilize citizens to take action in advance of
important votes. The voter guide will contain special functions that
will allow users to instantly fax or e-mail their representatives,
she said.
Starting with the 105th Congress, the ACLU voter guide will be
updated following key civil liberties votes, Murphy told Newsbytes,
so that users can immediately check on the members' records.
Murphy said that the online voter guide is just one feature of a
revamped "ACLU in Congress" section schedule to debut on the
ACLU Freedom Network in January when the 105th Congress takes office.
Murphy said that the new site will include more legislative alerts
tied to key votes, as well as a daily report from Washington DC,
when Congress is in session.
The interactive guide will allow visitors the option of reviewing
key civil liberties issues, with vote tallies linked to individual
members, or linking directly to representatives' records.
Users will be able to click directly on a member's name or look
them up using a search function that identifies members by zip code.
Each record for individual Representatives and Senators will include a
list of key issues and a scoreboard indicating whether a member voted
with or against the ACLU position or did not vote at all, Murphy said.
(Press Contact: Emily Whitfield, American Civil Liberties Union,
212-944-9800 ext 426, Internet e-mail [e--y--u] at [aol.com])