Editorial: Congressman and First Amendment

Saturday, Sept. 26, 1998 | 3:02 a.m.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the Committee on Resources, is upset with the Forest Service's interpretation of the controversial Endangered Species Act. So recently he unleashed his anger in a letter to Eleanor Towns, the regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service's Southwestern Region, requesting information on the agency's policies.

Young's letter stepped over the line, though, when it asked Towns to list those employees who belong to environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society. This was no legitimate request. It was an attempt by Young to intimidate all Forest Service employees, launching an assault on their privacy rights and freedom of expression. The freedom to belong to lawful organizations -- without government interference -- extends to all Americans.

Government bureaucrats usually cower when an influential member of Congress thunders. After all, members of Congress can be punitive, slashing agency budgets for the pettiest of reasons. Considering that Young recently said that environmentalists who oppose his policies are "communists," such fears are well justified.

But Towns didn't flinch. She stepped forward Monday and refused to give Young this personal information the congressman has no business seeing. She wrote that federal privacy law "prohibits the agency from maintaining records of such First Amendment information." Besides, she added: "The Forest Service encourages its employees to participate in professional organizations and in their communities."

Towns showed courage. Hopefully the Republican leadership finally will realize Young is an embarrassment. Unless he is stopped, Young will take a sledgehammer to privacy rights and freedom of expression in his obsession to undermine the nation's environmental laws.