PART III:
BRAINFREEZE
Chapter 2: Help Me, Please!
In April of 2005, I seemed to have upset enough people that
I feared for my life. It is an eerie feeling to have a stalker, especially
when you have been through a traumatic experience of almost becoming road
kill. As I relayed to the FBI field office that we were being followed, they
should have had operating procedures documented that advised people of what to
do and what not to do when people call them. Unfortunately, I told a multitude
of people that I called the FBI, and it was an FBI agent’s advice to contact
the FBI to begin with.
As I told the county detective and the FBI, do not go after
them as it was important to understand who was behind this and why. They must
have taken my advice as if I did not want justice because I would later find
myself wrapped up in a domestic spy fiasco. Clearly one would want those
responsible to be held accountable, along with their motivation, once the case
was solved.
I remember talking with a woman named Kay in April. She
said, “Everyone is going to know who you are…because you are so smart.” I explained
that I did not know that I would ever be elected into office, and she replied,
“You do not have to be an elected official for everyone to know who you are.” She
commented on my campaign and said, “Congratulations, you did it. This time
we’ll take back the Senate, and next time we’ll take back the Assembly.” She
also said I should keep a diary. It would have been more helpful if she would
have told me that I better play my cards right or I will be owned by the
government.
Not only did I not think I would ever need to call the FBI,
but I was also in a state of panic and never thought that anyone close to me in
any way would be involved with what was happening. I guess it brings back the
old adage of keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Now you, the
soon to be informed reader, and I can examine all options that I passed on or
thought of later. What you will realize is that I made a lot of enemies in a
very short amount of time.
Potential Lead #1: Our Village’s Election
There was a spring election on April 5th of
2005. In our village, a member of the Fish family was on the board and had
endorsed our Assembly Representative when I ran for office. Not only was she
up for reelection, but her husband was running against our existing Village
President. My partner and I handed out literature for our Village President,
and I sent out an endorsement for him utilizing local residents from my
campaign distribution list. Among those delivering literature was a bisexual
woman who attended a “lobby day” with us and a woman named Reagan who accused
my partner and I of stealing his literature versus delivering it.
Our Village President had attended a Bush dinner fundraiser,
so I knew he was a Republican. However, he chose not to endorse an Assembly
candidate when I ran for office. Thus, he was not extreme far right. Our
Village President’s family agreed that with all of the money in the joint
husband and wife Fish campaign, it was a GOP extremist duo. If there is one
thing I hate, it is extremists. That is why my partner and I helped him. He
was expecting to lose and had essentially conceded before we stepped in to
help. His behind the scene campaign slogan was “No Fish,” and it ended up
being a surprise result with our Village President having a solid victory. In
addition, Pat lost her village board seat. The next day after the election, I
started receiving some really hateful looks from some folks in our village.
Potential Lead #2: Nearby Town Election
A nearby town, in the same spring election, overthrew their
town board in order to stop a massive gravel mining operation from expanding
into our district. It would have hurt property values and the rural feel in
the far West end of the county. Overthrowing the board was one of my
suggestions to stop the pit, and our Assembly Representative’s father was not
re-elected to the Town Board as a result. The gravel pit owners were probably
pretty upset as well. Assuming I had won in November, I promised to author
legislation that would prohibit mining operations so close to large, expensive
neighborhoods.
There was no mystery where I stood on the pit, and it may
have been known it was my idea to overthrow the board to stop rezoning. I had
a run-in at an October 2004 Town Hall meeting with our Assembly
Representative’s father who loudly berated me for being gay. I publicly made
my views known about the pit during this meeting. In addition, I participated
in discussions on the anti gravel pit website. After the spring election, the anti
gravel pit folks felt they did not need help on the state level anymore. With
the help of our Assembly Representative, the pit did eventually get their
needed rezoning two and a half years later whereby land was annexed by the
bordering town. I warned them of the legislation, but the pit owners won the
rezoning battle.
Potential threat #3: Religious Fundamentalists
There were four religious organizations that could be
considered leads. First, it may have been tied to the Catholic Church in some
way. I mentioned the support of my Catholic aunt and uncle for my campaign in
my endorsement of our Village President. I received hate email from Shepherd
Ministries when I ran for office from a priest stating he would “fight me to
the end.” Then there was the incident with the Catholic priest that our
Assembly Representative mentioned. Apparently the church’s congregation needed
“retribution,” and this was her rationale for not supporting civil unions.
Second, I sent several emails to about 15-20 Democrats right
after the spring election that had my wireless number on it. I use to rarely
hand this number out. This email spoke of how to handle gay marriage and
equality with religious arguments. Four days later, I received a very rude
call pertaining to marriage on my wireless phone from the Dove Foundation out
of Michigan, and they said they had my wireless phone in a random dialer. Connecticut would pass civil union legislation within days of this call, but I did not
realize I was so well known that I would get hate calls from other states.
This was a day before the FBI was willing to listen to my concerns.
Third, beyond our Baptist neighbors Dave and Mary directly
across the street, our other Baptist neighbors Sue and Al hated us with a
passion. By April of 2005, all three families moved away with three new
neighbors eventually moving in that were Homeland Security agents. It was
possible the old neighbors may have had something to do with, either directly
or indirectly, why we were being followed. Taking into account my neighbor
Dave’s phone call regarding the golden rule coupled with his complete denial of
knowing about the email I sent to 15-20 Democrats, it gave some credence to
involvement. Dave did not even know how to utilize a computer, however.
The fourth possible religious lead would be the Lutheran
church. In my campaign, I noted I was confirmed Lutheran. By some strange
coincidence, possibly stemming from the religious holiday I was born on, a sect
of the Lutheran church announced they supported civil unions on the same day.
To think I had anything to do with this would make me narcissistic, but it is a
possibility. The sect of our local Lutheran churches still did not support
civil unions, so it would be possible it had something to do with a slight rift
in the church.
Potential Lead #4 – Homeland Security
I thought it was a pretty crazy option when I called the
FBI, but it could have been a Homeland Security team performing illegal
domestic surveillance on someone who reshaped the Democratic Party platform and
was viewed as a civil rights leader. As I would figure out later, we had three
new Homeland Security households move in across the street as existing
neighbors moved. A new home was also built. The first couple purchased their
home in February of 2005. At the time I called the FBI, the law required US
citizens to be notified if they were under investigation. Domestic
surveillance was illegal. We were not notified of an investigation. We were
given government protection for a while after this incident, so could it have
been possible that it was Homeland Security and they would not admit to their
illegal behavior?
If it was not Homeland Security at this period in time, we
attracted them like flies on sticky paper in the years to come. As our Bill of
Rights and Constitution were continually degraded, Homeland Security would terrorize
its own citizens. My partner and I just happened to be unfortunate enough to
be picked for such surveillance, and this occurred when it was not legal. How
I found out we had protection was extremely odd, so I will cover this first.
