You should be proud of one of your Senators today Madison. Senator Russ Feingold has stood up time and time again to make sure the telecommunication companies who are complicit in allowing the government to invade your right to privacy are held accountable. As for the other one, Senator Herb Kohl, not so much. Today Kohl joined 18 other Democrats to vote against an amendment to the FISA bill that would "strike the provisions providing immunity from civil liability to electronic communication service providers for certain assistance provided to the Government." With his vote Kohl says he supports retroactive immunity for those who would violate the Constitution.

This amendment to the FISA bill was introduced by Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd and co-sponsored by Feingold. Also joining Dodd and Feingold in supporting this bill were Senators and Democratic Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obama, who will be in Madison tonight, turned out for the vote, Clinton did not.

This isn't over. The bill still needs to go to final passage in the Senate and Dodd is expected to attempt a filibuster (Dodd chose not to filibuster and will instead leave stripping immunity up to the House). If you are so inclined Senator Kohl can be reached in Washington at the following phone number: (202) 224-5653

I have a request in to the Senator's office for an explanation. As soon as we have it I'll make sure to provide it to dane101 readers.

Complete list of Democrats protecting the telecos:
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Ken Salazar (D-CO)
Tom Carper (D-DE)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Jim Webb (D-VA)
Ben Nelson (D-NE)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)