Excerpts from "City Police Spied Broadly Before G.O.P. Convention"
By Jim Dwyer, March 25, 2007, The New York Times

A police report on an organization of artists called Bands Against Bush noted that the group was planning concerts on Oct. 11, 2003, in New York, Washington, Seattle, San Francisco and Boston. Between musical sets, the report said, there would be political speeches and videos.

"Activists are showing a well-organized network made up of anti-Bush sentiment; the mixing of music and political rhetoric indicates sophisticated organizing skills with a specific agenda," said the report, dated Oct. 9, 2003. "Police departments in above listed areas have been contacted regarding this event."

"The police have no authority to spy on lawful political activity, and this wide-ranging N.Y.P.D. program was wrong and illegal," Mr. Dunn said. "In the coming weeks, the city will be required to disclose to us many more details about its preconvention surveillance of groups and activists, and many will be shocked by the breadth of the Police Department's political surveillance operation."

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The satirical performance troupe Billionaires for Bush, which specializes in lampooning the Bush administration by dressing in tuxedos and flapper gowns, was described in an intelligence digest on Jan. 23, 2004.

"Billionaires for Bush is an activist group forged as a mockery of the current president and political policies," the report said. "Preliminary intelligence indicates that this group is raising funds for expansion and support of anti-R.N.C. activist organizations."

Mind you by January 23, 2004 there were only a few dozen Billionaires at most, I think, and the meetings in the weeks before that had maybe only a dozen people each. So if they had a source it would have been one of those maybe two dozen people. Or if they were suspicious of the fundraising it means it was someone who was close to Paul probably, or Phil, or Meg. Or else it was all bugged or something. I guess many assumed there were "spies" in the room during the meeting after the NY Times Magazine article, there were many strangers there and it was kind of weird. But a report labeled January 23, that means the spying happened on or leading up to January 23. I went to my first Billionaire's meeting maybe the second week of January. There had been at least one before that but I had been in Albany and away from Victoria at the time. The first one I went to had many people there for the first time, it was just getting started. That first loft we used was great. You know what may have happened was that the cops read about it on the Burner List and just showed up to see.