Maryland State Police spied on environmentalists - not just the death penalty opponents and war protesters that officials had previously acknowledged watching and entering into a database of terrorism suspects - a revelation that has intensified calls for new regulations on surveillance of activist groups.
Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, released yesterday an Oct. 6 letter from the state police superintendent informing him that he was a target of surveillance in 2005 and 2006 and was entered into a multistate database as a suspected terrorist. Two of his former colleagues - including former Deputy Director Josh Tulkin - received similar letters, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland says that more people are expected to come forward in coming weeks to show the scope of the spying.
Maryland State Police officials, who declined to comment on Tidwell's case, have sent letters to 53 people to inform them that they had been spied upon.
A report released this month said the state police "over-reached" and disregarded civil rights in their surveillance of anti-death penalty and peace groups, and advised that such spying should be prohibited. David Rocah, an attorney for the ACLU of Maryland, said yesterday that it is becoming clear that the state police have not told the full story.
Meanwhile, Rocah said, "Not a single leader of any death penalty group in the state of Maryland has received a letter indicating they're in the state police database."
State police officials had said they began the surveillance out of concern about demonstrations around executions.
The report, written by former Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs, stated that, beyond the anti-death penalty and peace groups, there was a "somewhat broader effort to develop information about Maryland's activist community." But environmental advocacy groups fell beyond the charge that Sachs was given by Gov. Martin O'Malley.
Tidwell, Roach and others held a news conference and rally yesterday morning in Silver Spring, at which they called on state lawmakers to pass legislation to prohibit spying on peaceful activists.
"As if it weren't disturbing enough that volunteer peace activists were on this list, now it's ... mainstream, nonprofit leaders," Tidwell said. "My group is transparent. I have nothing to hide."
