City resolution cites
civil rights concerns
A majority of City Council members gave preliminary approval yesterday to a resolution that raises concerns about the anti-terrorism powers in the U.S.A. Patriot Act.
The council's Executive Committee, comprised of all nine Council members, passed the resolution by a vote of 6-1 with Councilman Mike Gabbard opposed. Members Charles Djou and Rod Tam were not present.
If the full Council approves the measure on July 2, Honolulu will join the state Legislature and other cities across the nation that have passed similar resolutions raising concern that the Patriot Act, which became law after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, poses a threat to civil liberties.
"After 9/11 you had thousands of immigrants being detained, and none of them have really been tied to the events of 9/11," Mark Anthony Pascua, a member of the Blue Triangle Network and Refuse and Resist, told the Council. "The U.S.A. Patriot Act is pretty bad."
The resolution also requests Hawaii's congressional delegation to work to repeal the act and says that no city resources may be used for activities deemed unconstitutional by the state attorney general or the city corporation counsel.
Those activities include monitoring political and religious gatherings, eavesdropping on attorney-client conversations and conducting wiretaps and telephone taps without prior approvals or notice.
Councilman Nestor Garcia said that the city could be asked for records it keeps on property tax information, driver's licenses and other documents to gather evidence against citizens.
"There are ways that city resources might be used to further the aims of the U.S.A. Patriot Act," Garcia said.
Gabbard said that the Council needs more time to deliberate the ramifications of the measure and that he also fears the city could lose federal funding if it goes against the act.
"While I support any measure that protects our freedoms as Americans, I have a number of major concerns with the bill as it's written," Gabbard said.
Councilwoman Barbara Marshall, however, pointed to news accounts of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson's son David being detained at the Orange County airport because his name is David Nelson, a name apparently on the terrorism alert list. He was allowed to board his plane after police officers recognized the former child star.
"I don't know what would've happened to him had he not been that David Nelson, but anybody out there who's watching or in this room who thinks this problem with the U.S. Patriot Act is limited to immigrants needs to think again," Marshall said.