This post has been updated below

Portland Mayor Tom Potter issued an open letter to the people of Portland today concerning a bizarre overreach by the FBI. The Bush Administration is watching…..

An Open Letter to the Portland Community:

On Thursday, May 11, 2006, a Special Agent of the Portland Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation stopped a City employee and showed her a badge and ID. He asked if she knew any City Council members. He asked if she would be willing to pass information to him relating to people who work for the City of Portland . He said that while he had duties in other areas, the agency was always interested in information relating to white collar crime and other things.

One important and legitimate role of the FBI is to investigate public corruption within government entities. For example, recently the FBI arrested a member of Congress for public corruption. But federal officials have told me they know of no public corruption in our city. Federal officials say they are conducting no investigation of the City of Portland.

The only conclusion I can draw is that the agent in question was trying to place an informant inside the offices of Portland ’s elected officials and employees, in order to inform on City Council and others.

The actions of the FBI – even if they are the actions of one agent acting on his own - come at an uneasy time for many Americans. In the past few weeks, we have learned that our phone records are not private, and conversations are monitored without warrants. Journalists exposing these actions have been threatened with prosecution.

Even if this incident is nothing more than the work of one overzealous agent, it represents an unacceptable mindset within the agency. When there is no information to indicate ANY public corruption on the part of City Council members or employees, the FBI has no legitimate role in surreptitiously monitoring elected officials and city employees. As a city, we will continue to cooperate with the FBI on investigating criminal activities and terrorism, to ensure our community is as safe as possible.

But in the absence of any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, I believe the FBI’s recent actions smack of "Big Brother." Spying on local government without justification or cause is not acceptable to me. I hope it is not acceptable to you, either.

Thank you,

Tom Potter

Our fundamental liberties are at risk in America.

Update:  I spoke with Daniel Nielsen in the Portland FBI office a few minutes ago and registered my distaste with the FBI's action in attempting to recruit an informer in City Hall.  He confirmed what the Mayor said in his statement: there is no criminal investigation of anyone in City Hall.  Mr. Nielsen told me the action was preemptive in nature.   

He also told me that the #1 priority of the FBI was public corruption.  And here I thought their #1 priority was protecting us from terrorism.

It is highly distressing that  City Hall staffers have to deal with an intrusion such as this.  I'm proud of the mayor for coming forward and letting the people know what our federal government is doing.