Bingaman Calls for Inquiry Into "Sedition" Investigation

Editor's Note: Laura Berg, a nurse employed by the Veteran's Administration in Albuquerque, wrote a letter to the editor critical of the Bush administration that was published in the February 9-12, 2006 edition of Albuquerque's Alibi. Click to read the letter, entitled Wake Up, Get Real.

From the office of Senator Jeff Bingaman:
WASHINGTON – U .S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today called on the Veterans Affairs Secretary to do a thorough inquiry of why his agency opened an investigation into whether a VA nurse’s letter to a weekly newspaper criticizing the federal government amounted to “sedition.”

The VA’s Human Resource Office ultimately cleared the nurse, Laura Berg, of any wrongdoing.  But Bingaman said he is concerned that the investigation was ever undertaken.

The letter Bingaman wrote to VA Secretary James Nicholson reads, in part:

“I am writing to express my deep concern regarding news reports that Ms. Laura Berg, a nurse with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was investigated for sedition after writing a letter to a newspaper that was critical of the current Administration.

“In a democracy, expressing disagreement with the government’s actions does not amount to sedition or insurrection—it is, and must remain, protected speech.  Although it may be permissible to implement restrictions regarding a government employee’s political activities during work hours or on government premises, such employees do not surrender their right to freedom of speech when they enlist in government service. 

“Merely voicing opposition to the government’s policies and expressing the desire to change course does not provide reason to believe that a person is involved in illegal subversive activity.  Clearly, instituting investigations in these types of cases raises a very real possibility of chilling legitimate political speech.  People must be able to exercise their First Amendment rights without the fear of being investigated for sedition.”

Bingaman asked Nicholson to investigate the Berg matter in order to provide VA officials with guidance in handling similar situations in the future.

Berg’s letter to the editor was published in Albuquerque’s Weekly Alibi; it criticized the Bush administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq.