Secret Service "Thought Police"

[KBCraig]

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/localnews/2008/10/08/campaign-call-sparks-secret-service-visi-82.php

Campaign call sparks Secret Service visit
Lufkin woman denies alleged 'death threat' against Sen. Obama
By: Jim Williamson - Texarkana Gazette -   Published: 10/08/2008

A telephone request from the Obama Volunteers of Texarkana asking a Lufkin, Texas, woman to vote for Sen. Barack Obama has prompted an investigation of a perceived "death threat" against the presidential candidate.

But Jessica Hughes, who was questioned by the Secret Service about her alleged remarks, said the events were "like a high school rumor." Hughes likened her interview by the Secret Service to being questioned by the "thought police."

Hughes was interviewed Oct. 2 by two Secret Service agents at her home. The agents asked if she made the statement "I will never support Obama and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor."

She said the ordeal started when she received a cell phone call from a volunteer with the Obama Volunteers of Texarkana asking her to support Obama for president.

Hughes said the cell phone call was received at 6:38 p.m. Oct. 1.

"She (the caller) didn't identify herself and said she was an Obama volunteer of Texarkana and asked for my support," said Hughes. "Honestly, I was very irritated the call was on my cell phone. I'm not an Obama supporter."

Hughes said she was on her way home from the emergency room "with my son and I was unhappy when the call came in."

"It was a 903 area code and I thought it might be my sister. I told the caller, 'I don't support him," she said. "'Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets. I think you should find something better to do with your time.'"

She said she then hung up.

Nat Troy, with the Texarkana Obama office, declined comment Tuesday and referred questions to Josh Taylor, who is the Texas director for Obama Campaign Communications.

Taylor also declined comment and referred questions to the U.S. Secret Service. A message was left by the Gazette with the Secret Service in Houston. By late Tuesday no one had returned a phone call to confirm if agents questioned Hughes.

A telephone message was also left with Molly Beth Malcolm, who is a co-chairwoman for East Texas for Obama. By late Tuesday the phone call was not returned.

Hughes said two Secret Service agents arrived at her house asking if she said, "I will never support Obama and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor."

"I never said anything about him dying. I honestly expected them to leave," she said. "But I guess they didn't like what I said about Obama. It was like a high school rumor.

"Then they said I was rude. I didn't know the Secret Service didn't allow me to be rude," she said.

The male agent started using a pad to write notes while asking Hughes about her thoughts on Obama.

"That disturbed me. He asked me what I thought. I told him, 'I told you what I said. What I think isn't pertinent. I'm not going to stand on my porch in America with the Secret Service asking me what I think,'" said Hughes.

She asked the agents if they had listened to a tape recording of her conversation with the campaign worker.

"They said there was no tape and I really got upset. There is no tape and some girl got mad at what I said about Obama and then I have on my doorsteps Secret Service wanting me to answer questions about what I thought," said Hughes. "The male agent said he was trying to do me a favor and that he hadn't gone to family or neighbors to ask embarrassing questions."

Hughes wants to file a cross complaint against the volunteer.

"The girl didn't have the power to send the Secret Service. Someone made a big decision and felt comfortable to call the Secret Service based on a high school rumor," said Hughes. "I want to go to court and face my accuser. Now it's a faceless person sending the thought police to my doorsteps," she said.

Hughes said she doesn't believe the agents were fake officers.

"I don't think they were posing. They had government license plates. I asked for badge numbers and finally the man gave me a business card," Hughes said.

She said she is worried the incident will become part of a permanent file on her and intends to contact her congressmen and senators for help.

"I take pride in this country and what the founding fathers did. It's a most brilliant plan," Hughes said. "The government exists to defend and protect people while they pursue freedoms. When the government oversteps those bounds, we're treading on thin ice."

[J’raxis 270145]

Someone else who needs to learn not to talk to the police—or any other enforcement branch of the State.

[Sam A. Robrin]

. . . and intends to contact her congressmen and senators for help.

Someone needs to hurry and warn her!

[Raineyrocks]

Whoa, this is so bad!   

[K. Darien Freeheart]

It's getting harder and harder for me to stand by and see this happen.

[KBCraig]

Someone else who needs to learn not to talk to the police—or any other enforcement branch of the State.

Yet another example of someone who believes that they've done nothing wrong, so there's nothing wrong in talking with them.

Those people tend to talk themselves right into jail, so I'm impressed that she didn't.

[Sam A. Robrin]

Yet another example of someone who believes that they've done nothing wrong, so there's nothing wrong in talking with them.
Those people tend to talk themselves right into jail, so I'm impressed that she didn't.

But how will they ever learn if they never face the full consequences of their actions?