US Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the gap in sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses must go.

Last month the "Crack the Disparity" Coalition delivered petitions signed by tens of thousands of people, calling for an end to the draconian US crack sentencing laws, to the offices of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and Pat Leahy (D-VT), respective chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. This short video on ColorOfChange.org shows one of the deliveries, and features comments from Karen Garrison, whose two sons were unjustly caught up in these laws; and from Nkechi Taifa, who heads up justice reform efforts at the Open Society Policy Center.

The ColorOfChange.org page devoted to this petition also features audio from the press conference, including former Major League baseball star Willie Mays Aikens, who served 14 years in federal prison after an untreated cocaine addiction drew him into the federal system with crack charges.

Congressional Black Caucus Justice and Civil Rights Taskforce and Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School presents Rethinking Federal Sentencing Policy: 25th Annive

In a break with the Bush administration, Justice Department officials called Wednesday for the first time for Congress to pass legislation that would undo the vast disparities in sentences for thos

Good news from Washington, D.C.:

Justice Department officials this morning endorsed for the first time proposed legislation that would eliminate vast sentencing disparities for possession of powdered versus rock cocaine, an inequality that civil rights groups say has disproportionately affected poor and minority defendants.

Newly appointed Criminal Division chief Lanny A. Breuer told a Senate Judiciary Committee panel this morning that the Obama administration would support bills to equalize punishment for offenders accused of possessing the drug in either form, fulfilling one of the president's campaign pledges.

Breuer explicitly called on Congress to act this term to "completely eliminate" the sentencing disparity. [Washington Post]

The cocaine sentencing disparity has been a festering indefensible abomination for decades, and now that we're finally on track to fix this mess once and for all, I don't hear anyone complaining. It's great that the new administration is following through on their promises to support sentencing reform, but it's also just appalling to think that it's taken this long to get any momentum going towards fixing this notorious injustice. There was never anything to be afraid of.

Fixing dumb laws is the duty of the Congress and they'd be hard pressed to find a dumber one than this. Don't make this more complicated than it has to be. Just fix it already.

TAKE ACTION

     Today, be one of thousands of people across the country to phone your members of Congress to call for an end to the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Your calls will make an important difference.
 
     This National Call-In Day is part of Crack the Disparity National Month of Advocacy, a month-long coordinated push to eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.
 
     The current law:

• overstates the relative danger of crack cocaine compared to powder cocaine;
• contributes to the growth of our prison population, increasing the financial burden on taxpayers;
• disproportionately affects African Americans; and
• uses limited federal resources on low-level street dealers rather than on the major drug traffickers.

      Twenty-three years of a failed policy is long enough!  It's time to end this unjust and disproportionate sentencing policy. To participate call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard right now at 202.224.3121, and ask to speak to your representatives in the Senate and House. Urge them to support and co-sponsor H.R. 265, the Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act in the House and legislation in the Senate that eliminates the 100 to 1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

    You should place three calls because you have one representative and two senators.
 
     Use this link to help you with your calls to Congress.

Click here for talking points and script

Dear Friends,

On Thursday, April 23, thousands of people across the country will phone their members of Congress to call for an end to the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. We hope that you will mark your calendar and join us. Your calls will make an important difference.

The National Call-In Day is part of Crack the Disparity National Month of Advocacy, a month-long coordinated push to eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

The current law:

• overstates the relative danger of crack cocaine compared to powder cocaine;
• contributes to the growth of our prison population, increasing the financial burden on taxpayers;
• disproportionately affects African Americans; and
• uses limited federal resources on low-level street dealers rather than on the major drug traffickers.

Twenty-three years of a failed policy is long enough! It's time to end this unjust and disproportionate sentencing policy. To participate, mark your calendar for April 23, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121, and ask to speak to your representatives in the Senate and House. Urge them to support and co-sponsor H.R. 265, the Drug Sentencing Reform and Cocaine Kingpin Trafficking Act in the House and legislation in the Senate that eliminates the 100 to 1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

You should place three calls because you have one representative and two senators.

Use this link (talking points and script) to help you with your calls to Congress: http://sentencingproject.org/AdvocacyMaterialDetails.aspx?AdvocacyMateri...

- The Sentencing Project

Dear Friends --

On Thursday, April 23, thousands of people across the country will phone their members of Congress to call for an end to the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. We hope that you will mark your calendar and join us.  Your calls will make an important difference.

The National Call-In Day is part of "Crack the Disparity" National Month of Advocacy, a month-long coordinated push to eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

The current law:
*   overstates the relative danger of crack cocaine to powder cocaine;

*   contributes to the growth of our prison population, increasing the financial burden on taxpayers;

*   disproportionately affects African Americans; and

*   uses limited federal resources on low-level street dealers rather than on the major drug traffickers.

Twenty-three years of a failed policy is long enough!  It's time to end this unjust and disproportionate sentencing policy.  To participate, mark your calendar for April 23. FAMM will send out contact information for your Congressional representative and two senators as well as talking points the day before the call-in.

Thank you --

Jennifer

Jennifer Seltzer Stitt

Federal Legislative Affairs Director
Sentences that Fit. Justice that Works.

 If you no longer wish to receive e-mail from us, please click here.

Thousands of people across the country will phone their members of Congress to call for an end to the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

The incoming Obama administration has posted its agenda online at the White House web site Whitehouse.gov.

In the other feature article in this issue, we looked back at last year, examining the drug policy high and low

For Immediate Release: December 16, 2008
Contact: Jasmine L. Tyler at 202-294-8292

PRESIDENTIAL COMMUTATIONS URGED FOR PRISONERS SERVING LONG CRACK COCAINE SENTENCES

WASHINGTON, DC- As the holiday season approaches, and President George Bush's term comes to a close, a broad coalition of 29 civil rights, religious, academic and justice organizations have asked the president today to commute excessive sentences for low-level crack cocaine offenses.

"Scripture reminds us that justice in the courts is a means of healing to society and families," said Bishop Jane Allen Middleton from the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church.

"Yet the disparity on sentences currently being handed down between crack and powder cocaine has unfairly targeted African-Americans and the poor," she said. "While legislation is needed to equalize these sentences, granting clemency to some of those serving unusually long sentences will send a much needed signal that our criminal justice system can and should be a means of healing to society and reunifying families separated by excessive incarceration."

Prior to taking office in 2001, President Bush signaled support for reforming the controversial sentencing disparity for cocaine offenses. In a CNN interview, he said the crack-powder disparity "ought to be addressed by making sure the powder-cocaine and the crack-cocaine penalties are the same."

Under current law, defendants convicted with as little as five grams, the weight of two sugar packets, are subject to a federal mandatory minimum sentence of five years. Offenses involving the pharmacologically identical powder cocaine do not trigger a five year mandatory minimum until a defendant sells 500 grams of the substance, 100 times the quantity of crack cocaine.

In 2007, the U.S. Sentencing Commission lowered the sentencing guideline range for crack cocaine offenses because the penalties were considered excessive. They also voted to apply the guideline reductions to people currently incarcerated for crack cocaine offenses but the sentence reductions were limited by the mandatory minimum sentences that only Congress can amend.

According to today's letter to Bush, the president's "clemency power is the only opportunity to advance immediate reform. By granting commutations to people who have already served long sentences for low-level crack offenses, [the president can] bring deserving citizens home for the holidays."

Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Margaret Love has noted that "the president's personal intervention in a case through the pardon power not only benefits a particular individual, it reassures the public that the legal system is capable of just and moral application." And, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has urged that the pardon process be "reinvigorated" to respond to "unwise and unjust" federal sentencing laws, stating that "A people confident in its laws and institutions should not be ashamed of mercy."

Today's letter to the president was also joined by a petition urging clemency for crack cocaine offenses signed by over 700 people.

President Bush: Please Commute Long Sentences for Crack Cocaine

As the holiday season approaches, and President George Bush's term comes to a close, a broad coalition of 29 civil rights, religious, academic and justice organizations have asked the president today to commute excessive sentences for low-level crack cocaine offenses.

"Scripture reminds us that justice in the courts is a means of healing to society and families," said Bishop Jane Allen Middleton from the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church.

"Yet, the disparity on sentences currently being handed down between crack and powder cocaine has unfairly targeted African-Americans and the poor," she said. "While legislation is needed to equalize these sentences, granting clemency to some of those serving unusually long sentences will send a much needed signal that our criminal justice system can and should be a means of healing to society and reunifying families separated by excessive incarceration." Click here to read more.
Crack Sentencing Reform Makes Obama-Biden Transition's Priority List

By Bruce Nicholson

The Obama-Biden Transition has made elimination of the federal sentencing disparity for crack cocaine offense a key goal on its Agenda for Change in the 111th Congress. The Obama-Biden Transition Project, as it is formally known, will work to get the new administration up and running between now and the inauguration on January 20, 2009. The transition's website, www.change.gov, sets out an agenda divided into 22 issue areas. The Obama-Biden plan for change on crack sentencing is one of seven "Civil Rights" goals (there is no separate "criminal justice" issue area). The Obama-Biden transition reform goal is stated simply as follows:

Eliminate Sentencing Disparities: Obama and Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.

National Day of Advocacy - April 2009
By Kara Gotsch

With a new president and Congress to begin in January, and a renewed political optimism, the Crack the Disparity Coalition has outlined a strategy to finally eliminate the excessive mandatory minimum penalties for low-level crack cocaine offenses. That strategy includes you.

Without broad national support for crack cocaine sentencing reform, success on Capitol Hill will again elude us. The 100 to 1 sentencing quantity disparity between powder cocaine and crack cocaine was created by Congress under the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986. It has resulted in average sentences for crack cocaine offenses that are three years longer than for offenses involving powder cocaine. Sentences for crack cocaine are also nearly two years longer than for methamphetamine and four years longer than for heroin. Crack cocaine is the only drug that carries a mandatory prison sentence for a first-time possession offense.

Student Activists Empowered by Lobbying, Advocacy

On November 21, 2008, more than 200 students from across the United States descended on Capitol Hill to lobby Congress on repealing the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. The Lobby Day was the kickoff to the 2008 Students for Sensible Drug Policy 10th Anniversary International Conference, held November 21-23 at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is known for its advocacy on drug policies that directly impact young people and students, such as student drug testing and the law that denies federal financial aid to students with drug convictions. Lobbying for a change in policy that primarily impacts low-income African Americans was a welcome change for SSDP students.

Save the Date:

January 22-23, 2009: New Directions for New York: A Public Health & Safety Approach to Drug Policy, New York, NY

April 27-28, 2009: Crack the Disparity Lobby Day, Washington, D.C.

Media Attention

A Fox News Three-Part Series on the case of Clarence Aaron, a former college student whose involvement in a 1993 cocaine deal got him three life sentences in federal prison.

Washington Post Letter to the Editor Calling for President Bush to Use His Clemency Power on Individuals Serving Harsh Crack Cocaine Sentences.

Maryland Daily Record Coverage on the Number of Individuals in the State that Have Received Sentence Reductions Since The USSC's 2007 Retroactive Adjustment

... And Look for an Opinion Piece on Commutations by Kemba Smith in USA Today Before the Close of the Year.

The Crack the Disparity Coalition includes the American Bar Association, American Civil Liberties Union, Break the Chains, Drug Policy Alliance, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Open Society Policy Center, Restoring Dignity, Inc., Students for Sensible Drug Policy, The Sentencing Project, and United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society.

Buoyed by this month's election results and jazzed by the prospects for change with a new administration in Washington, some 450 student activists converged on the University of Maryland campus in

Like other interest groups, the drug reform movement has the Obama transition under a microscope, searching for clues on the new administration's intentions as it scrutinizes those appointments for

The political landscape in Washington, DC, is undergoing a dramatic shift as the Democratic tide rolls in, and, after eight years of drug war status quo under the Republicans, drug reformers are no

[Courtesy of the Crack the Disparity Coalition]

Secure Fairness in Crack Cocaine Sentencing -- Join Lobby Day this Spring

Plans are underway for the second national lobby day for crack cocaine sentencing reform in Washington, DC, hosted by the Crack the Disparity Coalition. An exact date has not yet been set but we invite advocates from around the country to attend the Capitol Hill event this spring. As a participant, you will speak with Members of Congress and their staff about the unjust sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and the need to eliminate it. Training and materials will be provided to you. Look for more details in the December issue of the Crack the Disparity Newsletter.

Home for the Holidays

By Karen Garrison

Karen Garrison is the mother of twin sons sentenced to nearly two decades for a first-time nonviolent crack cocaine offense. Her son Lawrence will soon be released due to the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recent changes to the sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine offenses.

The dream will be a reality for one of my sons who will be home this December. It has been 10 years and Lawrence and Lamont's room has hardly been touched. I covered the beds with heavy plastic. Long ago I gave away their clothes and shoes to shelters and halfway houses, not only because of their weight loss, but clothing goes out of style in a period of ten years. I must now begin to prepare a place for one of my twins, never forgetting that one will remain behind unjust bars. I am buying sheets, towels, and gathering healthy recipes he will enjoy preparing. I will try to purchase new furniture and have already bought the paint for his room. Coming home to those same bunk beds would just make it harder on both of us. Those are the beds he shared with his twin brother Lamont. Click here to read more.

Commute Crack Cocaine Sentences in Time for the Holidays

By Jasmine Tyler

This month the Crack the Disparity Coalition launched the "Home for the Holidays" campaign to rally support for individuals serving excessive penalties for crack cocaine offenses who have filed commutation requests with President George W. Bush. The President expressed concern for the crack cocaine sentencing disparity in the early days of his administration. The sentencing disparity "ought to be addressed by making sure the powder-cocaine and the crack-cocaine penalties are the same," he said in 2001. "I don't believe we ought to be discriminatory." Advocates are hoping to capitalize on these sympathies to expedite applications for crack cocaine cases and increase recommendations for clemency.

The campaign is promoting support for clemency applicants seeking relief from the uniquely severe penalties for low-level crack cocaine offenses that subject defendants possessing as little as 5 grams of crack cocaine to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. A powder cocaine defendant must be convicted of selling 100 times that amount to trigger the same sentence. Since Congress has yet to act to alleviate this disparity, advocates' focus this fall is to ensure that those who are seeking clemency do not go unheard.

Teen Profiles Crack Cocaine Reformer: Pamela Alexander - A Profile in Courage

By Laura S., Cincinatti, OH

This article was reprinted courtesy of TeenInk.com, a nonprofit, national teen magazine, book series, and website devoted entirely to teenage writing and art.

On December 11, 2007, members of the United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to make a groundbreaking change in one of their policies. They decided that the disparity between sentences for crack cocaine crimes and those involving powder cocaine was exceedingly unjust and prejudiced. With crack users being predominantly black and powder cocaine users predominantly white, the Sentencing Commission judged the much harsher sentences for crack users to be racially biased at their core. The Commission therefore has allowed thousands currently imprisoned for crack cocaine violations to appeal their sentences before federal judges, in an effort to shorten these sentences where feasible. While this represents a major step toward racial equality and justice, one uncelebrated, independent woman put her career on the line for this same issue - seventeen years ago.

Petition President Bush

Join citizens concerned about the harsh mandatory minimum sentences for low-level crack cocaine offenses by telling President George Bush and Pardon Attorney Ronald Rodgers to expedite and give special consideration to commutation applicants serving excessive sentences for crack cocaine.

Save the Date

September 24-27, 2008: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation 38th Annual Legislative Conference, Washington, D.C.

September 26-September 28, 2008: Critical Resistance 10th Anniversary Celebration and International Conference and Strategy Session, Oakland, CA

October 19-22, 2008: International Community Corrections Association 16th Annual International Research Conference, "Risk, Resilience and Reentry," St. Louis, MO

Spring 2009: Crack the Disparity Lobby Day, Washington, D.C.

Media Attention

Daily Press Editorial on Equalization of Crack and Powder Cocaine

Sun-Sentinel Coverage on Prison Term Reductions for Cocaine Cases

Kansas City Star Coverage on Former Kansas City Royal Baseball Player Willie Mays Aikens

The Crack the Disparity Coalition includes the American Bar Association, American Civil Liberties Union, Break the Chains, Drug Policy Alliance, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Open Society Policy Center, Restoring Dignity, Inc., Students for Sensible Drug Policy, The Sentencing Project, and United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society.

[Courtesy of the Crack the Disparity Coalition]

Secure Fairness in Crack Cocaine Sentencing -- Join Lobby Day this Spring

Plans are underway for the second national lobby day for crack cocaine sentencing reform in Washington, DC, hosted by the Crack the Disparity Coalition. An exact date has not yet been set but we invite advocates from around the country to attend the Capitol Hill event this spring. As a participant, you will speak with Members of Congress and their staff about the unjust sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and the need to eliminate it. Training and materials will be provided to you. Look for more details in the December issue of the Crack the Disparity Newsletter.

Home for the Holidays
By Karen Garrison

Karen Garrison is the mother of twin sons sentenced to nearly two decades for a first-time nonviolent crack cocaine offense. Her son Lawrence will soon be released due to the U.S. Sentencing Commission's recent changes to the sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine offenses.

The dream will be a reality for one of my sons who will be home this December. It has been 10 years and Lawrence and Lamont's room has hardly been touched. I covered the beds with heavy plastic. Long ago I gave away their clothes and shoes to shelters and halfway houses, not only because of their weight loss, but clothing goes out of style in a period of ten years. I must now begin to prepare a place for one of my twins, never forgetting that one will remain behind unjust bars. I am buying sheets, towels, and gathering healthy recipes he will enjoy preparing. I will try to purchase new furniture and have already bought the paint for his room. Coming home to those same bunk beds would just make it harder on both of us. Those are the beds he shared with his twin brother Lamont.

Commute Crack Cocaine Sentences in Time for the Holidays
By Jasmine Tyler

This month the Crack the Disparity Coalition launched the "Home for the Holidays" campaign to rally support for individuals serving excessive penalties for crack cocaine offenses who have filed commutation requests with President George W. Bush. The President expressed concern for the crack cocaine sentencing disparity in the early days of his administration. The sentencing disparity "ought to be addressed by making sure the powder-cocaine and the crack-cocaine penalties are the same," he said in 2001. "I don't believe we ought to be discriminatory." Advocates are hoping to capitalize on these sympathies to expedite applications for crack cocaine cases and increase recommendations for clemency.

The campaign is promoting support for clemency applicants seeking relief from the uniquely severe penalties for low-level crack cocaine offenses that subject defendants possessing as little as 5 grams of crack cocaine to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. A powder cocaine defendant must be convicted of selling 100 times that amount to trigger the same sentence. Since Congress has yet to act to alleviate this disparity, advocates' focus this fall is to ensure that those who are seeking clemency do not go unheard.

Teen Profiles Crack Cocaine Reformer: Pamela Alexander - A Profile in Courage
By Laura S., Cincinatti, OH

This article was reprinted courtesy of TeenInk.com, a nonprofit, national teen magazine, book series, and website devoted entirely to teenage writing and art.

On December 11, 2007, members of the United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to make a groundbreaking change in one of their policies. They decided that the disparity between sentences for crack cocaine crimes and those involving powder cocaine was exceedingly unjust and prejudiced. With crack users being predominantly black and powder cocaine users predominantly white, the Sentencing Commission judged the much harsher sentences for crack users to be racially biased at their core. The Commission therefore has allowed thousands currently imprisoned for crack cocaine violations to appeal their sentences before federal judges, in an effort to shorten these sentences where feasible. While this represents a major step toward racial equality and justice, one uncelebrated, independent woman put her career on the line for this same issue - seventeen years ago.

Petition President Bush

Join citizens concerned about the harsh mandatory minimum sentences for low-level crack cocaine offenses by telling President George Bush and Pardon Attorney Ronald Rodgers to expedite and give special consideration to commutation applicants serving excessive sentences for crack cocaine. Sign a petition by clicking here.

Save the Date

September 24-27, 2008: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation 38th Annual Legislative Conference, Washington, D.C.

September 26-September 28, 2008: Critical Resistance 10th Anniversary Celebration and International Conference and Strategy Session, Oakland, CA

October 19-22, 2008: International Community Corrections Association 16th Annual International Research Conference, "Risk, Resilience and Reentry," St. Louis, MO

Spring 2009: Crack the Disparity Lobby Day, Washington, D.C.

Media Attention

Daily Press Editorial on Equalization of Crack and Powder Cocaine

Sun-Sentinel Coverage on Prison Term Reductions for Cocaine Cases

Kansas City Star Coverage on Former Kansas City Royal Baseball Player Willie Mays Aikens

The Crack the Disparity Coalition includes the American Bar Association, American Civil Liberties Union, Break the Chains, Drug Policy Alliance, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Open Society Policy Center, Restoring Dignity, Inc., Students for Sensible Drug Policy, The Sentencing Project, and United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society.

The US Sentencing Commission, the panel that sets sentencing guidelines for federal courts, has signaled that it intends to focus next year on developing alternatives to imprisonment, a move that i

Pete Guither points out that the Republican Party’s newly released platform pledges to continue the disastrous and increasingly unpopular war on drugs:

Continuing the Fight against Illegal Drugs

The human toll of drug addiction and abuse hits all segments of American society. It is an international problem as well, with most of the narcotics in this country coming from beyond our borders. We will continue the fight against producers, traffickers, and distributors of illegal substances through the collaboration of state, federal, and local law enforcement.

In 2008, I’m beginning to doubt that anyone is going to win any votes with this kind of language. Given the risk of rubbing the libertarian crowd the wrong way, it wouldn’t have surprised me to see this rhetoric left out altogether. Of course, that would have been a conspicuous omission, I suppose, and you can bet that we’d have more than a few words to say about that.

On the plus side, Pete noticed that the section called "Locking Up Criminals" omits drug crimes from the list of offenses for which the Republicans support mandatory minimum sentencing:

We support mandatory sentencing provisions for gang conspiracy crimes, violent or sexual offenses against children, rape, and assaults resulting in serious bodily injury.

That’s really a rather positive sign, indicating that we may be moving towards a bipartisan consensus that our drug laws have gone too far.

I’m also tempted to theorize that Obama’s decision to bring Biden onto the ticket may have been a contributing factor here. Months ago, Dick Morris editorialized in favor of attacking Obama on sentencing reform, arguing that by supporting revised crack sentencing guidelines, Obama wants to let thousands of crack dealers out of jail. It’s cynical and ruthless ploy that becomes considerably harder to pull off with Biden on the ticket. Given his central role in pushing through the original sentencing disparity, and his recent evidence-based reversal, Biden has all the credibility to blow any "soft on crack" attacks back to the '80's where they belong. I’m no fan of Biden’s drug war record, but there’s an interesting dynamic here, which I'll concede to those who've argued that Biden's awful history could end up providing cover for reform.

Which brings us to the obvious question: if the democrats don’t support mandatory minimums for drug offenses, and the republicans don’t support mandatory minimums for drug offenses, who does?

(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)