Documents show WH told feds to go easy on #OccupyPortland protesters

Why am I not surprised?

The Obama administration told law enforcement authorities to go easy on Occupy Wall Street protesters, even though they were violating local laws, according to documents obtained by watchdog group Judicial Watch.

Emails from the General Services Administration show that the federal agency, acting on orders from the White House, told federal law enforcement authorities in Portland, Ore., not to enforce curfews on protesters camped out on federal property. JudicialWatch.org  obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request lodged last year.

In one exchange from Nov. 6, 2011, officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the GSA discuss a group of 11 protesters camped out at the federally-owned Terry Schrunk Plaza.

“They have chained themselves to a large drum filled with concrete,” reads an email from Department of Homeland Security/National Protection and Programs Directorate Chief of Staff Caitlin Durkovich to GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Robert Peck. “GSA controls the permits and has asked FPS [Federal Protective Services] not to enforce the curfew at park and the prohibition on overnight encampments…Our FPS Commander in Portland says they are standing down and following GSA’s request to only intervene if there is a threat to public safety,” she added in the email.

Peck — who later resigned amid revelations his agency held lavish junkets at taxpayers’ expense — replied: “Caitlin: yes, that is our position; it’s been vetted with our administrator and Michael Robertson, our chief of staff, and we have communicated with the WH [White House], which has afforded us the discretion to fashion our approach to Occupy issues…The arrests last week were carried out despite our request that the protesters be allowed to remain and to camp overnight…”

[…]

“We now have a new GSA scandal — one that involves the Obama White House,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These documents clearly show that federal agencies colluded with the Obama White House to allow the Occupy Wall Street protesters to violate the law with impunity. These documents tell us that the GSA and DHS can’t be relied upon to protect federal workers or property.”

The WH approach to Occupy as indicated by these emails is quite revealing when you think about the visceral dislike the Obama administration and their fellow Democrats in Congress have for the Tea Party – you know … actual peaceful protesters. Think about it: A top priority for this WH for the last three-plus years has been to demonize and vilify Tea Partiers as “extremists” and “violent racists” who oppose Obama solely on the basis of his race, who want him out of office “by any means necessary.” There is no basis for this whatsoever and in fact it is not true, but you’d think it was based on wildly distorted and in many cases deeply exaggerated and/or falsified mainstream media “reports” about Tea Party rallies, and ObamaCare town halls across the country. In contrast, you have Occupy encampments in various cities in the US where violence and crime was commonplace: theft (more here), “hacktivism“, destruction of private and public property, urination and defecation on public and private property, assaults, rapes … and even deaths. Yet in spite of all this, the White House reached out to keep “peaceful” (not) Occupiers from being disbanded and/or arrested at Occupy Portland, one of the most active and provocative camps in the America.

Just how many other deliberately agitative, combative, and violent Occupy protests around the country did the WH step in to try and protect? I’d sure as heck love to find out.