The U.S. attorney's phone number is 503-727-1108

I'm sitting here staring at a phone number on my computer screen. It is the phone number for Billy J. Williams, the U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon. I'm wondering if I should give him a call. I would really like to.

Of course, I'd never get through to him personally. But I would leave him a message. The problem is, it would be a pretty long message, maybe too long for his voice mail, which is probably getting full these days. The message would go something like this:

1. As the U.S. attorney, you are the chief federal law enforcement officer in Oregon. Everything that is done by federal personnel in enforcing federal criminal law in this state is your responsibility.

2.  For more than a week, heavily armed federal agents, including many from the border patrol, have occupied the Hatfield Courthouse and the Wyatt Federal Building in Portland. These agents, dressed in paramilitary gear and carrying sub-machine guns, have also been renting unmarked minivans and cruising through downtown Portland in these vehicles.

3.  During that time, these agents have committed unjustified acts that constitute crimes as well as civil wrongs. These include, but may not be limited to, assault with a deadly weapon, assault, and kidnapping.

4. It is not appropriate for you to delegate the investigation of, and response to, these violent and illegal acts to the very agencies that employ these offending individuals – namely, the Marshals Service and the Department of Homeland Security. These agencies cannot be impartial, and in any event, they do not have jurisdiction over the crimes that have been committed.

5. Your office's mission statement includes among its three pillars these two:

To provide leadership in our interactions with all federal, state, and local agencies as well as the community, and to serve as a liaison between them.

To foster public trust and confidence in law enforcement and the federal judicial system.

By allowing these poorly trained, unnecessarily violent, seemingly frightened, and ultimately counterproductive agents to continue to operate on Portland streets, for enforcement of federal criminal law, you are failing both in your mission and your legal duty. It is your responsibility to have these agents returned to their former duty posts immediately.

6. If you feel you cannot fulfill these duties, and that they must be discharged by anonymous bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., or by political operatives in the White House and the Attorney General's office, then you should resign.

So... should I call him? 

Should you?