ACLU expands review of state police monitoring

Last week, Gov. Martin O'Malley selected Sachs to look into the spying and submit a report within 30 to 60 days.

Sachs said Tuesday that the investigation would probably be complete after Labor Day.

The Sachs probe followed the release of documents, sought by the American Civil Liberties Union, that showed 14 months of surveillance by undercover state police during 2005 and 2006.

Sachs, an ACLU member and a former federal prosecutor, said news accounts have detailed what happened, but the review has "another dimension" Û the legal context of the events.

"To what extent [the spying] was and wasn't in conformity with the law? That's got to be looked at," Sachs said, adding he has made no judgments.

The ACLU received the documents through the Maryland Public Information Act. The state police had objected to their release, but the papers were handed over when the ACLU took the matter to court.

The ACLU plans other document requests to see if state police surveillance involved other individuals and organizations, said Meredith Curtis, an ACLU spokeswoman.

State Police Superintendent Terrence B. Sheridan insisted last week that no other spying took place.

The surveillance began over public safety concerns within the agency's Special Operations Division during the weeks leading up to murderer Wesley Eugene Baker's execution Dec. 5, 2005, said Sheridan, speaking at a July 31 Annapolis news conference announcing Sachs' selection to lead the probe.

But ACLU staff attorney David Rocah was unconvinced. The state executed three other people over the previous 11 years. Did those events prompt similar tactics? Rocah asked.

ÎÎWhat is the threat here?" he asked. ÎÎThey don't have a scintilla of an iota of a speck of evidence."

Senate Judicial Proceedings Chairman Brian E. Frosh said Sachs' appointment would not alter his plans to hold hearings on the spying this fall.

ÎÎI think it should help us," said Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda. ÎÎThere are two things ... the Judicial Proceedings Committee needs to do. One is to understand what happened. And two, see if a policy response is warranted and craft it. This ought to help us significantly."

Frosh and Rocah praised Sachs' selection.

ÎÎI feel comfortable in relying on Steve Sachs to get the facts. I can't think of a better person in the country than Steve Sachs," Frosh said. Said Rocah: ÎÎWe do think Mr. Sachs is well respected for very good reasons. And we think he is a good choice to do this kind of investigation."

Although Sheridan has portrayed the surveillance as legal, that has not stopped the issue from being cast in a political light. On Thursday Û as he has previously Û O'Malley (D) mentioned the spying took place during ÎÎthe previous administration."

House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby offered this take on Sachs' role: ÎÎI hope he doesn't just look at the state. He should look at the information that went to the administration in Baltimore city, including the mayor."

And outside Annapolis, Casa of Maryland, an immigrants advocate, is one of the groups joining the ACLU's second information request, in part because of the politics during the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), O'Malley's predecessor.

ÎÎMy hope is, frankly, there's nothing there. But just in case," said Kim Propeack, Casa's advocacy director. She said she has no reason to suspect Casa was spied upon. ÎÎBut we had a notoriously difficult relationship with Governor Ehrlich, and we spoke out loudly when he declared multiculturalism was bunk."

At last week's news conference, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) said his predecessor, Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., who is also O'Malley's father-in-law, did not know about the spying. O'Malley, who was Baltimore's mayor in 2005 and 2006, said he did not know anything, either.

ÎÎThe insinuation that somehow city police was involved in an undercover capacity is... there's no evidence, no factual basis for that, which doesn't mean people aren't free to make those insinuations, which is why we love America," O'Malley said.