[Mb-civic] Freedom? Justice? Bullshit?

[Jef Bek]

July 30th, 2005 4:19 pm

No charges in ouster

Feds won't pursue man who ejected 3 from Bush event

By Ann Imse / Rocky Mountain News

Federal prosecutors have declined to press charges of impersonating a Secret
Service agent against a White House volunteer who ousted three people from a
speech by President Bush in Denver on March 21.

The announcement was made Friday in a letter to Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar
and Reps. Mark Udall and Diana DeGette, all Democrats, who had asked for a
Secret Service investigation into the incident.

The three, Alex Young, 26; Karen Bauer, 38; and Leslie Weise, 39, said they
were told by the Secret Service that the man admitted ejecting them because
they arrived at the event in a car with a "No more blood for oil" bumper
sticker. 

U.S. Attorney William Leone said the investigation was "thorough and
complete." 

"I am certain that the Secret Service would demand, and our office would
aggressively prosecute, any person who was found to be impersonating a
Secret Service agent if the facts warranted such a prosecution," Leone said
in a statement. "This is not such a case."

He added, "Criminal law is not an appropriate tool to resolve this dispute.
The normal give and take of the political system is the appropriate venue
for a resolution." 

Young, Bauer, and Weise were bounced from Bush's appearance at the Wings
over the Rockies museum at the former Lowry Air Force Base. The event was
part of the president's national tour to promote changes to Social Security.

The trio, who have been nicknamed the Denver Three, said the event staffer
who confronted them was dressed like a Secret Service agent, wearing a suit,
radio earpiece and lapel pin that identifies people with security clearance.
The Secret Service has said the man was not an agent.

Bauer and Weise say they were pulled aside at the gate and were told by
another event staffer to wait for the Secret Service. They said the man who
showed up threatened them with arrest if they misbehaved.

The three are involved in a pol itical group called the Denver Progressives.
They admitted to wearing T-shirts under their clothing that said, "No more
lies." They said they considered revealing the T-shirts, but decided before
arriving at the event not to do so.

Later, though they had done nothing disruptive, they were forced to leave by
the man they thought was a Secret Service agent.

The incident raised questions in Congress about whether the man had
committed the crime of impersonating a federal officer. However, the man did
not tell the three he was an agent, which apparently factored in to Leone's
decision. 

"The person in question took no affirmative steps that one would need to
prove a claim that he was impersonating a federal officer," said Jeff
Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. He said the man did not
identify himself as a federal agent and did not display a credential, a
badge or other identification.

The Secret Service refused to name the man because he was not charged.

"It's very disappointing," Weise said. "We were really looking to this
investigation for some answers. To date we have received none."

"Clearly, our rights were violated, and no one is being held accountable,"
she said. 

Dan Recht, an attorney for Bauer, Weise and Young, said his clients plan to
pursue a civil lawsuit against the man, accusing him of violating their free
speech rights and assaulting them.

"We don't know who it was, but we'll find out who it was and we'll sue him,"
Recht said. "I'm disappointed but not surprised charges won't be filed, but
it remains to be seen whether the Secret Service did a thorough
investigation." 

Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry declined to comment.

Because the president's visit was a public event paid for by taxpayers,
considerable debate has erupted over whether it was legal to bar people
because of their pol-itical speech. Eight of Colorado's nine members of
Congress have objected to the idea of ejecting people over a bumper sticker.

But White House press secretary Scott McClellan backed the trio's ouster,
saying in April, "If we think people are coming to the event to disrupt it,
obviously, they're going to be asked to leave."

The White House has described the man as a "White House volunteer" and
refused to identify him.

Congressman Mark Udall, D-Colo., took issue with the investigation, saying
"it's puzzling that the Secret Service would take four months to come up
with nothing." 

"Frankly, if the Secret Service and White House have nothing to hide, and if
no law was broken, don't the American people have a right to know the
results of the investigation and who was responsible for ejecting the Denver
Three," Udall said in a statement.

DeGette chided the White House, saying, "The removal of three Coloradans
from a public, taxpayer-funded presidential event on Social Security does
nothing to foster civil discussion."

Salazar said he was disturbed because three people were not allowed to
participate in a public meeting on Social Security. "As elected officials,
we should be encouraging, not discouraging, public participation in open and
thoughtful discussions on our nation's most important matters."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.