McCain Campaign Denies Involvement in Denver Protester Removal

The Denver Post reported Sunday that, despite accounts to the contrary by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, McCain staffers did not ask for the removal of a 61-year-old protester outside a McCain appearance here last Monday.

The vicious cycle rears it's ugly head. A DCPA security guard originally invoked the Secret Service as responsible for requesting Carol Kreck's removal DCPA grounds. The Secret Service eventually chafed at the public attention and issued a statement putting focus on the McCain camp. The McCain camp has finally said that the DCPA acted alone in asking the woman to dispose of her sign (which read "McCain = Bush") or else leave the premises.

Yikes. Next we'll read that Kreck arranged for her own removal, just to stage a publicity stunt. Woops! That's already out there:

You liberal pukes think that you don't have to follow the same rules as everyone else - the venues rule was no signs. That means NO SIGNS! If she wanted to discuss the facts she could have put down the sign and done so but all she (and the rest of you) have are platitudes and staged sound bites like this.

What a surprise that you have a camera handy.

Emphasis mine. Admittedly, this comes from the comments section (a notoriously shady realm) beneath the original post at Progress Action Now, the site that first reported the Kreck incident. And yet I suspect this commenter (who signed as "A real American") is not alone in his/her feelings.

I can see the point about No Signs means No Signs, though the "liberal pukes" might undermine the message. Moreover, I believe the statement reflects a willful failure to consider what is the actual boundary of the venue in question, a point around which there is much consternation in Denver and the blogosphere.

Secret Service Comments on Denver McCain Protester Removal

Responding to backlash over the removal of Denver librarian Carol Kreck from a McCain town hall event Monday at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Secret Service has put responsibility squarely on the McCain camp.

"Contrary to some recent reporting, the Secret Service had no involvement in Ms. Kreck being removed from the area," said Malcolm D. Wiley Sr., spokesman for the Secret Service. "It was not done at our request or suggestion. Any assertion to the contrary is inaccurate and inconsistent with our established policies and procedures."

And who was the man that originally approached Kreck? None other than a security guard for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts itself. According to the DCPA,

A representative of Senator John McCain's staff respectfully asked that the venue for its July 7 Town Hall Meeting, The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, not allow persons to display signage within the Arts Complex . . .

. . . and the DCPA complied, with a little help from Denver's finest.

As for whether free speech was hampered on taxpayer-funded property, the Post article reports that "A previous federal appeals court decision determined that the galleria area where Kreck was standing is not necessarily a public spot and that protests can be curtailed there."

Emphasis mine. Not necessarily? So that suggests it still might be. Interesting. I'd be curious to learn a little more about that previous decision and how the law will be applied in Denver's public spaces over the coming months, especially August 25-28.

Denver Librarian Carol Kreck Removed From McCain Town Hall

I'm so absorbed in my own little world editing high school curriculum--what can I say?: to date it pays better than poetry and blogging--that I wouldn't know anything about the 61-year-old, Denver librarian who was given a ticket yesterday for exercising free speech outside a McCain town hall event on city grounds if it wasn't for my friend Michelle who just sent this link.

The video is pretty galling. I am especially chagrined that the city cops actually escorted the woman off premises, acquiescing to the demands of event organizers and Secret Service, rather than standing up to the absurdity and appropriately refusing to diffuse a situation that wasn't a situation. The city cops should be the ones standing back from the political process where no threat to public safety is concerned, not carrying out the will of the candidate's zealous staff.