Sherman: Hastert Mischaracterized My Record

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Brad Sherman said Thursday that House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert falsely lumped him among supporters of the so-called Patriot Act.

œThe speaker should be ashamed of his ham-handed effort to score cheap political points, Sherman said.

In a March 13 press release, Hastert listed Sherman among Democrats who the speaker claimed had œvoted with House Republicans in favor of the Patriot Act.

In fact, Sherman last Dec. 14 voted with the majority of House Democrats against reauthorizing the law. Over the opposition of Sherman and others, the conference committee report was adopted in the House by a vote of 251 to 174. It later passed the Senate and was signed by President Bush.

On March 7, Sherman voted for a separate bill that made minor improvements intended to safeguard civil liberties of certain individuals and businesses investigated under the controversial anti-terrorism law. That bill passed 280 to 138.

The vote on the civil liberties provisions was the vote Hastert, in a fit of partisan zeal, mischaracterized.

During debate on those technical changes, in fact, House Judiciary Chairman James F. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) emphasized that separate legislation renewing the Patriot Act already had cleared Congress and stressed that the measure before the House only added protections for civil liberties.