A #political critic, a #sheriff and the #FBI

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I have been trying to spotlight this alarming trend in the abuse of political and police power for more than 2 years now.. This article proves my point very well and is occurring in my own backyard of Southwest Missouri.

As I have said all along the ONLY thing government and/or law enforcement is required to do to sue, harass and/or arrest and charge any citizen in this country is to accuse them of being 'something' by merely applying a 'label'.

These labels include domestic terrorist or possible threat to security. After the Arizona shootings you can expect this sort of round up of dissident thought to increase. It seems all anyone has to do these days to become a target of the law is to state an opinion in disagreement with those in power.

In the incident below we have a sheriff entering a county out of his own jurisdiction accompanied by the FBI to harass a well know political journalist simply because he asked the wrong question at the wrong time of a political candidate..

This is outrageous in my opinion but I know it happens across this country on a daily basis at every level of government from city to county to state to federal..

Here is a link to the source if you prefer..
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January 23, 2011
Tim Davis, Guest Columnist: A political critic, a sheriff and the FBI

By Tim Davis The Joplin Globe The Joplin Globe Sun Jan 23, 2011, 08:20 AM CST

JOPLIN, Mo. — It is a gray day when tragedy in one part of the country serves as a pretext for trampling civil liberties in another. American politicians overreact to crises. They delight in doing so.

Crises provide an opportunity to stand out amid the humdrum of paving roads, collecting trash, and the like. Crises offer a chance to settle scores and to push agendas that would never fly in daylight. Whatever the motivation, our government’s response to recent unrest has been to increase steadily the police power of the state.

The trend is unwelcome. But it comes as no surprise, then, that in the wake of the tragic shootings of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Judge John Roll, and 17 others in Arizona, the FBI has launched an investigation of Clay Bowler, a prominent local journalist, for his coverage of last year’s 7th District congressional election.

It happened Jan. 11. FBI special agent Jeff Atwood and Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott came unannounced to Bowler’s home in Ozark and interrogated him about questions he posed to a congressional candidate (Billy Long) at a public forum in September 2010. Video of that forum shows Clay asking a candidate about campaign contributions; the candidate declines to answer and leaves. No police report was filed.

Clay is one of the 7th District’s most respected and most widely read political critics. Candidates for elected office covet his endorsement. Thousands of people read his work. And none of this is a secret. Like most Americans, I assume that people will not be targeted by their government because they ask the wrong questions. But I am left wondering: What did Clay do that caused the FBI to identify him as a threat? Bowler contributed painstaking and original research on the 7th District race. He did so as a responsible critic. Many times I discussed with Clay issues that never entered his published work because, as a writer, he erred on the side of caution, only giving voice to material that could be verified.

Since nothing about Clay’s manner gives offense and since his writing is straightforward political journalism — what triggered the FBI investigation? There are no good answers to this question. If we assume that the FBI and Sheriff Arnott carried out their duties in good faith, what are their criteria for identifying assailants? If an ordinary person who participates in local government is implicated, the FBI must be grasping at straws when it comes to protecting Congress. That is unsettling.

Perhaps, however, Sheriff Arnott and Agent Atwood went to Clay’s home with bad motives, knowing Clay to be a careful critic, who declined rumor and innuendo in favor of facts. Perhaps the discipline of his work made him a threat, especially when he entered upon the subject of corruption in circles of the Republican party. Sheriff Arnott and the FBI were, in that case, tools to silence him — by intimidation if not by force. The narrative is so Putinesque.

Whether Clay was targeted innocently is a question for the reader. Personally, I am curious why the Greene County sheriff came to Clay’s home in Christian County in uniform with badge and gun. A spokesman explained that Sheriff Arnott inadvertently left his jurisdiction. That may be true. But Clay lives six miles from the county line. If the Ozark address was not a giveaway, at what point did Sheriff Arnott realize he was no longer in Greene County? From there, why did he proceed? And why was Christian County Sheriff Joey Kyle kept in the dark?

Further, when will federal investigations of Clay Bowler end? Last December, the Federal Election Commission closed a six-month inquiry into Clay’s coverage of the 7th District race. Clay was exonerated, but only after mounting a costly defense. I trust we will not see a pattern of punitive litigation.

The incident with Mr. Bowler and the FBI is serious. If the FBI and Sheriff Arnott acted in good faith, they are plainly inept. If they acted in bad faith, it was for the purpose of silencing a political critic and the people of Southwest Missouri owe it to themselves to protest in the strongest terms. Our civil liberties are no more secure than we are jealous of them. Use your voice.



Tim Davis was a candidate for U.S. Congress in 2010. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Toronto and a law degree from Oxford. He is a practicing attorney based in Branson.