Outrageous: FBI Uses Non-Violent Conservative Group as Bait to Catch Stalker

Senator Patty Murray (D, Wa) doesn’t want to hear from her constituents if they are upset at her vote for Obama’s take over of our nation’s healthcare. One voter in particular has earned Murray’s ire. He has almost daily called Murray’s offices and in no uncertain terms informed the Senator that he hates her healthcare votes. Really hates it.

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Murray was so upset that her constituents had the gall to call and complain that she cravenly called in the F.B.I. to trap upset constituent Charles A. Wilson. The F.B.I. came upon an outrageous idea in order to confirm that the phone number registered in Murray’s caller I.D. was, indeed, being used by Mr. Wilson to “threaten” the Senator. An F.B.I. agent called Wilson and pretended to be a representative of Patients United Now, an arm of the conservative, free-market organization Americans for Prosperity. The F.B.I. reports that Wilson listened to the fake call and confirmed his identity to the F.B.I. agent. He then readily admitted that he called the Senator’s office and confirmed that he was enraged by Murray’s vote on Obama’s socialist healthcare scheme. The F.B.I. complaint said that Wilson confirmed that he was the one that left the voicemail messages at Murray’s office. The government agency makes further complaints against Wilson:

(a) Wilson repeatedly expressed his strong dislike for the recent health-care reform legislation (i.e. “I hate it. I hate it!”) (b) Wilson confirmed that he regularly placed calls to Senator Murray’s and Senator Maria Cantwell’s offices. (i.e., “I call Murray every day. I call Cantwell. They don’t like hearing from me. … I call them every day.”) (c) Wilson referred to Senators Murray and Cantwell as the “Pike Street #,” as does the caller in the voicemail messages; (d) Wilson also referred to Senator Murray as “sneaker shoes Murray,” a phrase that also was stated on some of the voicemail messages; and (e) Wilson made the following remarks, which are similar to the rhetoric in many of the voicemail messages. “They need to be strung up, and I mean put the gallows. I will take no prisoners. … And I don’t care what they think. They want to come throw me in jail, they can go ahead and do that. That’s fine.”

What Wilson said is obviously filled with anger and a bit over the top, but dangerous? I don’t see it. Americans for Prosperity told the New York Times that they were never contacted by the F.B.I. and told that the government agency was going to impersonate them to trap Wilson.

“As A.F.P. Foundation has said repeatedly, we condemn any threats of violence or acts of violence. The F.B.I. did not contact A.F.P. Foundation about this matter. Over the last year, we have been one of the leading grassroots organizations opposing a Washington takeover of our health care. Perhaps that is why they chose to use our name, though they did not notify us.”

I have to say that this whole incident shows the heavy-hand of Obama’s stormtrooping government here. A Senator whines that someone is upset with her vote so the F.B.I. is called in to set up a sting for a guy that obviously didn’t need to be trapped because he readily admitted that he made the calls. It seems pretty clear that all the F.B.I. had to do was give Wilson a call without the subterfuge and Wilson would have told them straight out that he was the one making the calls to Senator Murray. Worse the F.B.I. falsely uses a non-violent conservative group as honey to catch what they consider to be a violent stalker of a sitting Senator. Imagine the hue and cry from the left if they’d have done this sort of thing with Planned Parenthood or some other lefty group? Apparently the F.B.I. assumes that every conservative group appeals to the violence-prone. Worse, Senators are now calling the F.B.I. on unhappy constituents for daring to call them to express their outrage. This whole incident is becoming typical of the era of Obama.