WASHINGTON, DC – Letters containing the signatures of thousands of American citizens have been sent to Senator Joseph Lieberman and Senator Susan Collins, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs asking for a Congressional investigation into the White House’s public attempts to track and suppress political opponents aligned against President Barack Obama’s health care proposals.

A similar letter was also sent to Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns and Congressman Darrell Issa, Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The American Conservative Union sent the letters after thousands of American citizens signed a petition expressing their outrage over reports the White House asked individuals to forward the private emails of other American citizens directly to the White House if they contained so-called “fishy” language opposing the President’s attempts to move toward socialized health care.

“As evidenced by the recent Town Hall meetings and as measured in public opinion polls, Americans do not support President Obama and Speaker Pelosi’s attempts to create a new federal health care bureaucracy that will send our nation down the path toward socialized health care,” said Dennis
E. Whitfield, former Deputy Secretary of Labor and now Executive Vice President of the American Conservative Union.

“In response to the opposition, the White House has asked Americans to report on the activities of other Americans who are opposed to the President’s plans. Using the Executive Office of the President to track the political activities of opponents is a dangerous precedent. Our nation was founded upon the principle of free speech. The American people deserve an explanation of this program,” he added.

On August 5th, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also sent a letter to the White House expressing similar concerns. In his letter he wrote, “I am not aware of any precedent for a President asking American citizens to report their fellow citizens …” In response the White House ignored the specific claims raised in the letter opting only to issue a statement in a press briefing that said, "no one is collecting any names.”

“To merely brush off the privacy and free speech concerns of Americans concerned with their health care is not good enough,” said David A. Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, “Legitimate issues have been raised over whether the White House is deliberately asking American citizens to report on the political activities of their neighbors. All Americans should be reassured that our tax dollars are not being spent by the Offices of the President to limit free speech.”

The official whitehouse.gov website recently posted a note saying, “we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it."

Through sending it, the White House would then obtain the information of the person who sent the original email.

Attorneys at the Senate Judiciary Committee have said this could lead to a White House database of political opponents that will be both secret and permanent. The thousands of American signers of the letter are asking Congress to address these concerns.

ACU is continuing to collect signatures on the petition at ACU’s website www.conservative.org.

A full copy of the letter can be found at:
http://conservative.org/pressroom/documents/ACULetterCallingForInvestigations.pdf

*** MR. KEENE IS AVAILABLE FOR RADIO, PRINT AND TELEVISION INTERVIEWS REGARDING THIS RELEASE. THOSE WISHING INTERVIEWS SHOULD CALL 703-836-8602***

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The American Conservative Union (ACU) is the nation's largest conservative organization. ACU is the recognized authority on rating conservative votes in Congress as published in the annual ACU RATINGS OF CONGRESS and the American Conservative Union Foundation (ACUF) is the host of the nationally attended annual CPAC meeting. www.conservative.org