WASHINGTON-Republicans have suggested the illegally taped cellular phone conversation of House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and top GOP leaders late last month may be part of a broader Democratic conspiracy, a possibility the FBI could examine as part of its investigation.
The probe, requested by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) and launched last week by FBI Director Louis Freeh, has added to the gathering storm surrounding the Dec. 21 taping of a conference call among top House GOP operatives and the disclosure of its contents by a Florida couple, several prominent Democrats possibly, and the largest daily newspaper.
Freeh, apparently attempting to avoid being drawn into a wicked battle between Republicans and Democrats, stated that “the opening of the investigation should not be interpreted as conclusive that there were in fact violations of the lau.”
The imbroglio has huge political, legal and policy implications, which already have begun to play out. Besides causing a political firestorm and diverting attention away from the House ethics committee’s investigation of Gingrich and from the Supreme Court’s sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton last week, the controversy has thrust wireless technology into the national spotlight.
House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) has called for hearings on wireless security early this year.
“Privacy of such conversations must be protected and if that means a member of Congress has to be brought down, so be it,” said Tauzin.
The eavesdropped call was picked up from the cellular car phone of John Boehner (R-Ohio), Republican conference chairman, who was in Florida with his family on vacation. Boehner was the only one of the conference call participants in Florida at the time.
There’s been some question as to whether the scanner may have been tampered with, since scanners sold since April 1994 cannot access commercial wireless frequencies.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-Va.), meanwhile, asked FCC Chairman Reed Hundt to investigate the incident and initiate an inquiry into whether radio scanners are being illegally authorized and “what actions the FCC may undertake to improve its enforcement and the effectiveness of its rules regarding scanning devices.”
As such, the Gingrich cellular episode and another high profile story about a South Dakota woman whose cellular phone aided her rescue in a snow storm have brought a mixed bag of national publicity.
On the positive side, the South Dakota story was a priceless testimonial for mobile phones as safety devices. However, even though Karen Nelson’s bag phone proved a lifesaver, the incident raises questions about the state of enhanced 911 wireless technology, whose promise of automatic caller identification and near-precise position location has escaped most of the nation’s 40 million wireless phone customers.
E-911 wireless service is available, but financial, legal and competitive issues remain stumbling blocks to nationwide implementation.
On the down side, the Gingrich affair points to lack of wireless privacy protection. Eavesdropping is against the law, but it is easy to do and hard to enforce. Before the Gingrich controversy, cellular eavesdropping cases involving the staff of Sen. Chuck Robb (D-Va.), the British royal family and other prominent individuals.
“I think this is part of an evolutionary process of an industry growing up and becoming pervasive,” said Thomas Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
Wheeler emphasized unauthorized eavesdropping is wrong, and said the highly publicized Gingrich case should put everyone on notice that it is illegal. He noted, too, that the wireless eavesdropping problem should fade in coming years with the transition from analog to digital technology, a changeover that the cellular industry’s top lobbyist said will be slow in coming if state and local governments continue to block siting of antenna towers for next-generation personal communications services systems.
Partisan posturing and political fallout from the taped GOP conference call came from all directions last week after The New York Times published excerpts from the tape on Jan. 10. The tape was also made available to The Atlanta Constitution, which did not print a transcript of the tape’s contents.
Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington, top Democrat on the House ethics panel who received the Gingrich tape from the Florida couple-John and Alice Martin-took himself off the committee last week amid harsh criticism from Republicans and calls for his resignation.
McDermott, who remains silent on whether he leaked the tape transcript to newspapers, left with a parting shot at Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), chairwoman of ethics panel investigating Gingrich for not making the contents of the tape available to committee members before it votes on putative action against the House speaker.
The panel, though, will have read the Gingrich ethics report by special counsel James Cole-due out last Thursday-before sending its recommendation to the House. The House ethics committee concluded the financing of a college course taught by Gingrich violated the law and that he misled the ethics panel, findings Gingrich has acknowledged.
Some Republicans have joined Democrats in calling for Gingrich to step down, but the former back-bench bomb thrower who engineered the GOP takeover of Congress in 1994 has strong support from lawmakers.
McDermott and other Democrats argue the audio tape shows Gingrich and top House GOP leaders plotting a public defense of Gingrich after the House speaker promised the committee not to do so. Republicans disagree, insisting the tape is proof of efforts by Gingrich and GOP operatives to adhere to the agreement with the committee.
McDermott, it now appears, was not the only Democrat involved with the cellular tape. The Martins, active Democrats in Florida, said that after hearing the GOP conversation on their radio scanner they contacted their representative, Karen Thurman (D-Fla.), who turned to House Minority Whip David Bonior (D-Mich.)-an ardent foe of Gingrich-for direction.
Bonior, who denies seeing or hearing the tape, said his staff instructed Thurman to turn the tape over to proper authorities and officials, including Chairwoman Johnson and McDermott.
Republicans, like GOP campaign committee chairman Bill Paxon of New York, want a full accounting of the taped cellular phone call.
“It is my expectation that you and the rest of the Democrat Leadership will come clean with the American people and tell us what you know about this still developing criminal investigation,” he said. Paxon was among those involved in the GOP conference call in late December.
Intentional interception and disclosure of commercial wireless calls can carry prison terms as long as two years and fines as high as $250,000. In addition, the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which extended the wiretap law to wireless and computer data transmissions, includes civil remedies.
The suggestion of a conspiracy is bolstered by the Martin’s claim that House Democrats offered them immunity from prosecution for turning the tape over to them, though no one will say who made the promise. In addition, there is speculation over whether the Martins alone had the technical expertise to pull off the cellular phone recording.