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user icon CIVIC Concern | Jun 26, 2007 | there are 5 comments 5

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FL AG Bill McCollum & The Rule of Law

There is either a rule of law in Florida or there isn't . The US Constitution, specifically the Fourth Amendment,  is either alive and well in Florida or it isn't. Florida is either a Banana Republic or it isn't.  By my letter pasted in below, I've given Attorney General Bill McCollum the opportunity to show where he stands on these issues. He's either for them or he's against them.

CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED #7006 0100 0004 4316 7461

The Office of the Attorney General
The Capitol, PL-01,
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1050
Fax: 850-410-1630

Dear Attorney General McCollum,

Pursuant to Title 18 U.S.C. Sec. 4, I'm notifying you in your official capacity as Florida's Attorney General of official misconduct and illegal interception of wire, oral, and electronic communications by the FDLE and the Holmes County Sheriff's Department. In addition, I am charging State Attorney Steve Meadows and Chief Assistant State Attorney William A. Lewis with covering up the FDLE's and Holmes County Sheriff's Department official misconduct by refusing to investigate my charges and the evidence that I provided.

On former Gov. Jeb Bush's suggestion, I forwarded evidence of this illegal electronic surveil-lance to my State Attorney. SA Meadows never acknowledged or replied to the evidence that I provided or any of my communications. Assistant State Attorney Lewis eventually replied to a Public Records Request, which Mr. Meadows ignored. However, in a letter, dated 12-6-06, Mr. Lewis wrote: "All inquiries by this office have failed to substantiate any of your claims. Absent any credible evidence this office is closing our file." Chief Assistant State Attorney Lewis is lying in order to cover up official misconduct by Florida Law Enforcement Officers. Electronic surveil-lance experts indicated that audio phenomenon recorded in the VHS videotape that I provided as one piece of evidence was indicative of electronic surveillance. Other evidence provided corrobo-rates my charges on the face of it.

In response to a 12-16-06 Public Records Request for the closed file containing records of his "inquiries," Mr. Lewis only provided: a copy of my Public Records Request and some earlier correspondence. He did not supply any records or references to the evidence that I provided. JoAnn Carrin, Director of Open Government, EOG, indicated that these issues are appropriate for the OAG Open Government Mediation Program. In response to my request for Open Mediation regarding the SAO's inadequate response, Assistant Attorney General Joslyn Wilson wrote Mr. Lewis on 8-28-07 requesting that he notify her by 9-5-07 if the SAO wished to participate in this voluntary program. On 9-12-07, Assistant Attorney General Wilson closed my mediation case file because Assistant State Attorney Lewis had not replied to her. Mr. Lewis did not reply because he is lying and covering-up official misconduct by FL law enforcement.

If I had known beforehand that you were to be the keynote speaker at the Bonifay Republican Reagan Day Dinner on 9-6-07, I would have attended in order to discuss this official misconduct and provide you with the same evidence that the SAO refuses to address. Since I missed this recent opportunity, I would like to either present this evidence to you personally or else forward it. Please reply by 10-5-07. Thank you.

Regards,

Joe Keegan
Bonifay, FL 32425

user icon Joe Keegan | Sep 26, 2007 | rated none by 0 others

Attorney General McCollum

Assistant Attorney General Wilson apparently replied to my above letter to AG McCollum not only on his behalf but that of the OAG itself. I pasted in the text of my reply to Assistant Attorney General Wilson's Sept. 25, 2007 (see http://www.governmentspying.blogspot.com)letter below.

Sept. 28, 2007

Joslyn Wilson
Assistant Attorney General
PL 01 The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1050
Fax: 850-922-3969

Dear Assistant Attorney General Wilson,

Thank you for your letter, dated September 25, 2007. Unfortunately, there appears to be some misunderstanding, which I wish to correct. I wasn't requesting that the Office of Attorney General Bill McCollum investigate my charges, but rather I was notifying him of these charges and requesting that he submit evidence that I provide to a judge or someone in authority who would do something. This is the evidence that I referred to in my Aug. 29, 2007 email and Aug. 30, 2007 certified letter to Attorney General McCollum and it speaks for itself. Furthermore, Chief Assistant State Attorney Lewis' refusal to participate in the OAG's Open Government Mediation Program raises some disturbing and troubling questions about the integrity of the SAO. The issue isn't prosecutorial discretion, but rather government integrity, transparency, and accountability.

As stated earlier, if I had known that Attorney General McCollum was to be the featured keynote speaker at the Republican Reagan Day Dinner here in Bonifay on Sept. 6th, then I would have attended. In addition, the local weekly newspaper reported that FL State Rep. Don Brown was in attendance. The Honorable's office is well aware of what's going on. If he had so wished, Rep Don Brown might have confirmed my charges if asked by Attorney General McCollum. The opportunity was certainly there to do so.

Finally, correct me if I'm mistaken, but are you saying that a public official within the OAG who knows about criminal misconduct by Florida law enforcement officers doesn't have to do anything about it? Thank you for your swift and timely replies to my concerns.

Sincerely,

user icon Joe Keegan | Oct 03, 2007 | rated none by 0 others

Freedom of Information Privacy Act Requests

In August, I filed two FOIPA requests with the FBI. I filed one with FBI HQ and one with the Jacksonville, FL, Field Office. The USPS verified delivery of both. FBI HQ acknowledged theirs and assigned Request No.: 1091663-000 to it. Today I received FBI HQ's response: "No records responsive to your FOIPA request were located by a search of the automated and manual indices. If you desire a search of the Field Office files, you must contact the appropriate Field Office." David M. Hardy, Section Chief, Record/Information Dissemination Section Records Management Division signed the response. Mr. Hardy's letter was dated Sept. 21, 2007, postmarked Sept. 28, 2007, and received today, Oct. 3, 2007.

Unfortunately, Jacksonville FBI still hasn't even acknowledged my FOIPA request never mind responded to it. For that matter, the Jacksonville FBI Field Office hasn't responded to my inquiries regarding my FOIPA request, either.

I guess my earlier complaint regarding illegal electronic surveillance by FL law enforcement that I filed with the Jacksonville FBI Field Office is so secret that I'm not even supposed to know about it.

Joe

user icon Joe Keegan | Oct 03, 2007 | rated none by 0 others

Freedom of Information Appeal

The USPS verified delivery of my Freedom of Information Appeal (Label Number: EB 390615961 US) at 11:01 am this morning to the Director, Office of Information and Privacy, US DOJ. I had filed two FOIAs, one with the Jacksonville FBI office and the other with FBI HQ, requesting all agency records related to me, including my complaint charging the FDLE and Holmes County Sheriff's Department with illegal electronic surveillane and harassment. FBI HQ replied to my FOIA within the statutory period indicating that they had no records. However, the Jacksonville FBI office still hadn't even acknowledged my FOIA, so I phoned the Special Agent in Charge to inquire about its status. His secretary referred me to the person who handled FOIAs. This individual said that he would look for it and forward it to the FBI HQ in DC, which in turn would then either call or email him authority to provide the records. On Oct. 5, 2007 the Jacksonville FBI FOIA manager left a message that he found my FOIA, forwarded it via Express Mail on Oct. 4, 2007 to FBI HQ, and that HQ would reply to me directly. When I still hadn't received a reply by Oct. 24, 2007 from FBI HQ, I filed an FOI Appeal treating the agency's failure to meet the FOIA's deadlines as a denial of my request. Any agency has 20 working days from receipt to make an initial determination of whether to comply with the FOIA and an additional ten working days is permitted in "unusual circumstances." It has been two months since the USPS verified delivery of my FOIA by the Jacksonville FBI office.

When I initially mailed both FOIAs, one to Jacksonville and the other to FBI HQ, USPS Track & Confirm indicated that both letters had been scanned twice: once upon receipt in the morning and then a second time in the afternoon. I've never seen this before, so I inquired as to how this could happen. The USPS didn't have any explanation. I suspect, although I can't prove it, that these letters were tampered with and that possibly accounted for the Jacksonville FBI office's delay in responding to my FOIA request within the statutory period.

According to US Rep Jeff Miller the FBI may not even let me know about my complaint because of "privacy" concerns. Huh, privacy concerns? Hey, I hope that I don't get into any trouble because of "privacy" violations. Maybe, I should turn myself in for violating my own privacy?

Joe

user icon Joe Keegan | Oct 26, 2007 | rated none by 0 others

Freedom of Information Appeal

this is why i go to marianna or dothan to mail my letters ,i know it is a long drive but i have mailed mail useing paypal to make the lable for the package and it got returned to me 4 weeks later saying i had the wrong postage attached ,i dont trust anyone anymore!

user icon daisy7630 | Feb 23, 2008 | rated none by 0 others

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