By Dave Mazza

In an open letter to the city, Mayor Tom Potter disclosed on May 24 that 13 days earlier a special agent of the FBI approached a city employee for the purpose of recruiting her as an informant. The agent asked the woman whether she knew any City Council members and whether she would be willing to pass on information to the agent. The agent’s duties were elsewhere, but he told the woman “the agency is always interested in information relating to white collar crime and other things.”

At the press conference where the open letter was read, Mayor Potter — with the Council members behind him — pointed out that there were no grounds for such actions by the agency. He went on to say that even if the actions were the work of an overzealous agent, “come at an uneasy time for many Americans. In the past few weeks, we have learned that our phone records are not private, and converations are monitored without arrants. Journalists exposing thee actions have been threatened with prosecution.”

The mayor went on to say that the action, whether authorized or not, indicated “an unacceptable mindset within the agency.” He emphasized that where there is no evidence of any public corruption within city government, the FBI has “no legitimate role in surreptitiously monitoring elected officials and city employees. He closed saying this action smacked of “Big Brother.”
In a written response, the FBI noted that they disagreed with the mayor on the significance of this incidence, but “welcome the opportunity to keep the lines of communications open.”

The release went on to explain that as a part of the community, the FBI relies on members of that community to help the agency, and providing such information to the agency is entirely proper. The release went on to explain that for the agency to investigate crime it must know that crime exists. “...simply providing citizens with an avenue to provide that information is good police work.”

This is not the first clash between the Potter administration and the FBI. Mayor Potter’s insistence that he have access to cases the Portland police members of the Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force were working on resulted in the city withdrawing from that body. While some downtown groups like the Citizens Crime Commission and the Portland Business Alliance tried to take advantage of Potter’s move — Portland was the first major city to withdraw from a Joint Terrorism Task Force — the negative political impact turned out to be minimal.

Where this current incident will take the shaky relationship between City Hall and the agency remains to be seen. Judging, however, from the strong feelings of the Mayor and some of the council members, kissing and making up won’t be happening anytime soon. In the meantime, today’s press conference is another step away from the security frenzy that has gripped the nation since 9.11.