Another daily report on my effort to Do Something Every Day about Donald Trump’s assault on government, free speech, and the rule of law. Today I sent emails to House Judiciary Committee chair Martin LaLonde and Senate Judiciary Committee chair Nader Hashim repeating an idea I explored in my most recent blogpost: That one or both committees hold wide-ranging hearings on the state’s immigration-related relationships with the feds. Cut-and-pasting the message to Sen. Hashim:
Sen. Hashim:
Hi, John Walters here. Not a constituent, but an interested party. You may have read my most recent blogpost about Gov. Phil Scott’s, shall we say, measured response to the illegal detention of Mohsen Mahdawi. It included a suggestion which I am repeating here because it involves the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The events surrounding Mr. Mahdawi’s kidnapping and detention raise a number of questions regarding state/federal cooperation beyond the fact that he is being held in a state prison. Cut-and-pasting a passage from the blog, in which I call for a hearing of the House or Senate Judiciary Committees or possibly a joint hearing to raise these questions with appropriate state officials.
“We know the motorcade that whisked Mr. Mahdawi away had Vermont license plates. What can the DMV say about that? Can it reveal who registered the vehicles? How does it facilitate this unAmerican secrecy? Do state or local police agencies participate in or offer any support to the Trump regime? What rules do sheriff’s departments operate under, if any? How does the Department of Corrections interact with the feds? Are federal agents allowed access to detainees in state prisons? Do they interrogate detainees in state facilities?
“That’s a starter list of questions. Such a hearing wouldn’t disrupt the system, but it would put useful information on public record and perhaps lead to legislation limiting state interaction with the feds.”
I think this would be a relevant and appropriate legislative response to Mr. Mahdawi’s detention. I hope you agree.
Thanks and best wishes,
John Walters
The Vermont Political Observer. 
Another thought on the motorcade… A) The last car in it had a handicap plate. That’s an odd choice of a car for an officially sanctioned event like this. It implies that it’s the driver’s own car. B) That car did not have a front plate displayed, despite having a bracket. Not showing having front plate is illegal unless it’s a Vermont Strong plate, or you don’t have a bracket.
I urge folks to follow the example and contact your Senators & Reps, not once but repeatedly. It’s a small state — they may be your neighbors or nearly so. Buttonhole them at the grocery store, at school, or at your kids’ sporting events. Push them to make something happen!
Same goes for the Governor, for what it’s worth.
Whatever the hell is going on here definitely has a granular retributive aspect to it. A perfect example is DOE notifying the state that it had decided not to extend the deadline on a Covid-19 pandemic-era grant – the Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief funds — a grant which had been paying for Orange Southwest Supervisory’s summer programs. It is a tiny grant, not even lunch money for the DOE. Coincidentally — or maybe not — Orange SW was the site of a high-profile suit brought by Americans Defending Freedom (ADF) on behalf of a Christian day school regarding a trans child playing on a junior high girls volleyball team in Randolph VT.
Hope you hear back.
I have. Both chairs reached out by the end of the day, which is generous of them. Still expecting to hear a bit more, then I’ll write about it.