Sen. Cornyn Demands That Obama Stop Compiling an Enemies List

August 7, 2009 (LPAC)--Senator Cornyn (R-Texas) sent a letter to President Obama on Aug. 5, to express concern about the White House's new program asking Americans to forward emails and other communications opposing the President's health care policies to the White House. In the letter, Cornyn cites an official White House release entitled "Facts are Stubborn Things," in which White House Director of News Media, Macon Phillips, asserted that there was "a lot of disinformation out there,' and encouraged citizens to report "fishy" speech opposing the President's health care policies. Phillips specifically targeted private, unpublished, even casual speech, writing that "rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation.' Phillips then wrote: "if you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

In response, Cornyn wrote: "I am not aware of any precedent for a President asking American citizens to report their fellow citizens to the White house for pure political speech that is deemed 'fishy' or otherwise inimical to the White House's political interests. By requesting that citizens send 'fishy' emails to the White House, it is inevitable that the names, email addresses, IP addresses, and private speech of U.S. citizens will be reported to the White House. You should not be surprised that these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program. As Congress debates health care reform and other critical policy matters, citizen engagement must not be chilled by fear of government monitoring the exercise of free speech rights. So I urge you to cease this program immediately. At the very least, I request that you detail to Congress and the public the protocols that your White House is following to purge the names, email addresses, IP addresses, and identities of citizens who are reported to have engaged in 'fishy' speech. And I respectfully request an answer to answer the following:

"How do you intend to use the names, email addresses, IP addresses, and identities of citizens who are reported to have engaged in 'fishy' speech?

"How do you intend to notify citizens who have been reported for 'fishy' speech?

What action do you intend to take against citizens who have been reported for engaging in 'fishy' speech?"