24 April 2005

The Denver Three...



From 9News.com:

DENVER - The three people from Denver who were kicked out of President Bush's town hall meeting on social security reform are threatening to sue the man who forced them out and the people who trained him.

They trio, who've become known as the "Denver Three," have asked repeatedly for the man's name, but have gotten no response. The secret service is investigating the incident.

Leslie Weise, Karen Bauer and Alex Young obtained tickets from the office of U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo, to attend the March 21 event at the Wings of the Rockies Museum.

Shortly after they arrived, they were approached by a man, who they thought was a U.S. Secret Service agent, who escorted them out of the event. They were told they'd been identified because of the bumper sticker on the car they drove that said "No Blood for Oil," a popular anti-war slogan.

After Weise, Bauer and Young filed a complaint with the Secret Service, they were told that the person was a local volunteer.

The town hall meeting was funded by taxpayer dollars and in theory, should have been open to the public.

"Somebody violated my clients' first amendment rights and we want to know who it is so that we can sue them and the people that trained them," says Dan Recht, the attorney representing Weise, Bauer and Young.

"It would be alarming that anybody from the White House would consider anybody with a different opinion from their's a threat," says Weise.

Although both Republican and Democratic members of Colorado's Congressional delegation have since said that the three shouldn't have been removed, Weise, Bauer and Young want to find out who is was who asked them to leave.

Neither the White House nor the Secret Service is commenting about the case.