PART IV:  INVESTIGATING THE FEDS

 

Chapter 1:  The Affair

 

Due to an infidelity on my part with someone named Richard, along with curiosity and intrusions into our lives that are almost beyond belief, I would learn disturbing facts about Homeland Security.  I met Richard in early 2005 before I called the FBI, and we had four romantic encounters throughout the year.  My partner had met him and was not bothered as there were no long term expectations by either party.

 

I remember having lunch with Richard once at a semi-local restaurant, and I told him that I had always told myself that I would be with my partner forever.  He replied, “I guess we’ll have to see about that.”  He would later say that his intentions were not to split my partner and I up, so he must have been gathering information to help Homeland Security smear my name.

 

During lunch, he made some other odd comments that were red flags of his double life.  For example, he said his father told him to purchase a new car and Richard was excited about the permission, but his father was not paying for it.  In addition, he was supposed to be done with college soon with the same degree and majors as myself, yet he was taking introductory business courses.  At the time, I did not know that Richard worked for Homeland Security, but I was aware of his “cover” job at large retail store that masked his real career.  The pieces would add up over time.

 

While at our local gay bar, I would see Richard a handful of times.  What I immediately noticed was who he associated with.  He would always stand near a man who identified himself as Kurt.  Kurt was about 70 years old, and he was a chat room regular.  He had also gone by the name Eric, but real name aside, he will be referred to as Kurt in this book.  A rather large group of folks in public chat would not hide the fact they took orders from Kurt, and seeing Richard with him made it apparent that Richard likely reported to him as well.

 

In late 2005, after looking for office space for about five months, I finally found a place in a nearby city.  No matter what company I would contact to lease space, the price doubled or tripled beyond the advertised rate.  I planned to utilize this space myself as well as rent it out for a specified portion of any day.  When I informed Richard I was putting a coat rack in the space, Richard had knowledge I had not started advertising and attracting business yet as he questioned, “Who’s coats?” 

 

Richard having knowledge of this kind would happen more than once.  Another similar occasion included a scuffle at our County Treasurer’s house that had the aim of damaging my reputation and pitting my partner and I against each other.  While my partner was told I tried to punch one of three men in her kitchen, which led to my glasses being broken, Richard knew this was not the case and noted that in order for it to be considered a fight a punch would have to be thrown.  He had to have spoken with someone about the incident.

 

There was talk at the local gay bar about Richard and myself becoming a permanent couple.  Apparently “everyone” felt that he and I should be together with the exception of our friends Jim and Kerry.  Regarding who was stalking my partner and I, relocation was among the options people were discussing.  Relocation with Richard, combined with making me a federal agent, was their strategy.  When Richard and I stopped seeing each other, the FBI and / or Homeland Security had to modify their strategy to achieve their goals.

 

Richard and I had our fourth romantic encounter in December of 2005.  The experience itself could have been better as he really did not seem to be enjoying himself.  In addition, we sat and spoke about life and family for a little while.  I noticed he was uneasy when I pointed out the pistol which was lying on the floor.  I told him not to mind it as having loaded weapons sitting around our house was common due to all of the problems we had over the years with residents in the area.  I can understand how he would be concerned given his unknown intentions.

 

His fourth visit was prior to one of the trips I took to a distant furniture store, and we had a conversation about the FBI and my case while we were in the car.  Richard asked if they were getting closer yet.  I replied, "Sometimes they are closer, and sometimes they are farther away."  I thought he was talking about physical distance and if I had gotten to know them, where in hind site I believed he was talking about solving our case of who our stalkers were.  Years later, it would cross my mind that he was probably asking if they had figured out our stalkers were Homeland Security.

 

In February of 2006, I would tell Richard I could not see him anymore only to find out from an FBI agent that Richard did not really like me anyhow.  Richard said, “Maybe it is for the best.”  I replied, “Maybe it is.”  My partner and I had recently returned from Florida, and he made it pretty clear that I needed to cut it off with Richard as well as stop talking about federal agents.   Not talking about them became increasingly difficult as Homeland Security became much more proactive and obtrusive in a never ending smear campaign.

 

Beyond my difficulty finding office space, I first noticed there being some what of a real issue in December of 2005 when a public defender offered me legal services if I needed them.  The office space I finally settled on was next to the Public Defender’s office, and this probably spurred controversy given rumors.  The rumor when I ran for office was that I was only doing it to legalize gay marriage.  That was easily disproved as I had a more conservative stance in favor of civil unions from the beginning of my campaign.  With a constitutional amendment banning civil unions coming up in a year, Homeland Security had to get more creative with child predator accusations. 

 

After I told Richard I could not see him while chatting online, our neighbor Scott expressed frustration to his wife.  He stood on his front deck and I overheard him say, “Now he will never become an agent!”  I knew Scott’s residents were monitoring us, but I did not realize at that time they were on the criminal Homeland Security team versus those that looked out for our best interests.  Not only did Scott monitor us, he also knew Richard was an agent.

 

My quest to figure out the interference in my life by the government continued.  This was largely due to my right to privacy being infringed, a lack of communication, and no results or information regarding my case.  I had heard of civil rights leaders complaining about federal agents following and intimidating them, but I never thought it would happen to me.  I stood up for civil unions, and that was only one issue of many I raised in my campaign.

 

With the goal of saving communications that would prove the federal government’s intrusion into our lives, I began chatting online extensively with bait and switch tactics.  I gathered enough information to prove my case to my partner, but the FBI was not happy with my actions.  Unknown to me all agents were not FBI, and unknown to local Homeland Security folks that their actions were being monitored, Homeland Security began a nonstop smear campaign with child predator accusations.  The intensity slowed by September of 2006, but it would continue for nearly a year.

 

I kept in touch with Richard online and even stopped by his retail employer approximately eight times over a year and a half.  He had become rather reserved, and he had gotten the sense that I was going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.  At one point online, I asked Richard who he was protecting.  He replied, “Me, my career, my income.”

 

On my last visit to his retail employer in August of 2006, I spoke with Richard about me becoming an agent.  He asked if I thought I could live two different lives.  I replied that I could.  I also told him that despite being smeared, I did not want to hurt anyone’s career.  While at his retail store, I had told him that my partner and I were going to finish the house and sell in the spring.  He responded that I could come see him anytime.

 

After deleting him from my messenger list as a friend, however, he and his colleagues referred to me as a stalker and resumed their smear campaign online.  Despite this, I still had feelings for him that skewed my perceptions.  I began making a differentiation between federal agents, along with actions and goals, as events unfolded over time.  I would eventually view him as a criminal as he was not the person I thought I knew.  It was the trip I took to Florida with my partner and my parents that started opening my eyes.    

 

Before our trip to Florida, I told my folks that I was going to leave my partner the following year to be with Richard.  Late one evening while in Florida, after we all had some liquor in all of us, I realized my openness to my parents was a terrible mistake.  My mother began loudly probing me of why I was going to wait until the next year.  Meanwhile, my father was yelling at me to stop embarrassing the family and to stop drinking.  That is when I knew that my parents had information I had not told them.  In addition, it was not entirely accurate.

 

Either my parents worked for a federal agency of some kind or had been contacted by one, or a political party with long reaching tentacles was skewing information to taint me two states away.  Other thoughts of them being contacted by Homeland Security or receiving a National Security Letter they would deny in 2008.  National Security Letters can come with gag orders, so they could not admit it if it occurred. 

 

However, why would the government have contacted them with openness while to me everything was a mystery that I had to solve?  Regardless, the puzzle just got more complex and something was rotten.  My partner and I managed to work things out over time, but not without a whole lot of pain and continued government intrusion into our lives.

 

After the November election, one of Richard’s fellow agents was saying that I lost in November.  I believe his name was Shayne, and he was referring to the marriage amendment.  I had seen him around, but I had never really had a conversation with him before.  He also said that I was moving, that I belonged with someone else, and that my life was about to get a whole lot more difficult. 

 

First of all, it is not a grown man’s business to tell another grown man whether or not he is moving.  Secondly, minus stopping into his retail employer, I had not seen Richard for about a year.  How would Shayne know if I belonged with Richard?  Did they hire a psychic with connections to spirits, or was he playing another game?  As a matter of fact, they did hire a psychic in 2008. 

 

Lastly, I had actually won despite the amendment passing.  The Democrats took back eight legislative seats with a majority in the Senate and a likely majority in the Assembly in 2008.  On the national level, we took back both the House and the Senate.

 

Beyond a pro civil union stance in my 2006 Assembly campaign, I could not be considered a civil rights leader with the exception of attending a few PAC events.  In addition, advice on civil unions to the DNC was far from my biggest contribution to politics. 

 

It was clear Richard was an out of uniform federal agent, and there was something fishy with my parents.  In addition, friends of many years were acting oddly.  Considering these were people that were close to me, I had to examine everyone with a fine toothed comb.