Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Sunday, December 02, 2007
Feingold: You can fight Patriot Act
FRENCH ISLAND, Wis. — U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold asked for La Crosse’s help Saturday in fighting against the USA Patriot Act.
At a listening session with about 50 constituents at Campbell Town Hall, Feingold was asked about who among the Democrats he supports for president.
Feingold, the only senator to vote against the original Patriot Act, said he doesn’t know who he’s going to vote for, and hasn’t figured out who most shares his opposition to the law, which he believes takes away Americans’ civil rights.
“You can help me with this because they like to come to La Crosse,” Feingold said. “Put the heat on them about this. Make them make a commitment when they’re in this town. Not just all this happy talk about we’re going to change America and this and that.”
“None of them were there at the time of the Patriot Act. They all bought into this notion” because of the 9/11 attacks, Feingold said.
In response to a suggestion that senators and representatives must resign before running for president, Feingold bemoaned some senators’ “divided attention” during election seasons.
“These are some of my best friends in the Senate. People like John McCain and Barack Obama and others. It’s like, where are they?” Feingold said. “I’m not ready to jump on what you said, but it has some force to it.”
“Some people wanted me to run,” he said. “I basically didn’t want to. One of the main reasons I didn’t want to is I couldn’t imagine doing both things right.”
In response to a veteran’s question about his vote against the resolution condemning criticism of Gen. David Petraeus, Feingold called such resolutions “monkey business.”
“I don’t think it’s the job of the United States Senate to pass resolutions telling people how they should think,” Feingold said.
Several people questioned Feingold about illegal immigration.
“Yesterday one of the illegals was convicted of murdering one of our college students here in La Crosse,” said Adolph Lindahl. “We’re going to have to support that illegal alien for the next 69 years in the penitentiary. Maybe we should go back to capital punishment.”
Feingold said he never voted for amnesty for illegal immigrants.
“I voted to keep a bill moving that said if somebody came here illegally, that they would have to pay a fine, they’d have a period where they could work here temporarily, at the end of that period they’d have to go back to the country they came from and touch back, come back pay another fine and wait in line behind everybody else. That ain’t amnesty. That’s a punishment. It may not be enough punishment for you,” Feingold said.
“If anybody’s come here illegally and they do something illegal now, other than come here illegally, I say get them out of here immediately,” he said.
Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.
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