Secret Service Now Investigating Bush Black List
Pattern of Excluding Local Residents from Public Events Emerging (Again)
Washington, DC - This morning, the Associated Press is reporting that the director of the Secret Service office in Denver is investigating claims that local residents were blacklisted from an public appearance by the President in Colorado last week. To access the AP report, click here
The investigation was opened on the heels of numerous published reports that the White House is adopting a tactic used by the Bush-Cheney campaign last year to exclude residents from otherwise public appearances by the President. Below is a DNC research document with the published reports of others who were blacklisted in the last seven weeks from Bush-led town hall meetings on Social Security.
White House Employing 2004 Campaign Tactics at Bush Events
During the 2004 campaign, the RNC ripped up tickets and removed Democrats and others waiting in line to see the President at private campaign rallies. This practice has now been copied by the White House, who now also screens those with tickets to see the President pitch his domestic agenda, including Social Security. The difference is that these recent Bush events are taxpayer-funded and should be open to the public.
February 3rd: Fargo, ND
40 People Barred From Bush Event in North Dakota; White House Says "List" Created by Volunteers. "Not everyone was welcome, apparently, at President Bush's speech in North Dakota yesterday. The Fargo Forum reported that a city commissioner, a liberal radio producer, a deputy Democratic campaign manager and a number of university professors were among more than 40 area residents who were barred from attending the Bush event. Their names were on a list supplied to workers at two ticket distribution sites." The White House "said the list may have come from volunteers; it did not come from the White House." [Washington Post, 2/4/05]
March 21st: Denver, CO
Two Men Removed From Bush's Denver Event. "The man near the entrance of George Bush's nonpolitical, taxpayer-financed 'town hall' meeting Monday stopped Karen Bauer and Leslie Weise. He directed the two Denver women toward a man in a smiley-face tie. 'You've been ID'd,' the second man told them. Bauer and Weise were amazed. Hidden under their business suits, the members of the group Denver Progressives wore T-shirts that said 'Stop the lies.' Along with another Denver Progressives member, Alex Young, they planned to expose the T-shirts as the president talked about Social Security. … Soon, a stocky man with a shaved head, an earpiece and a red lapel pin arrived. He never identified himself as a Secret Service agent, but he did have a message. 'He said we were allowed to go in, but if we caused any problems, we'd be taken to jail,' said Bauer, a 38-year-old marketing coordinator." [Denver Post, 3/23/05]
Secret Service Said They Were on a "List" Provided by the GOP. According to Lon Garner, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Denver district, "his agents don't remove people from presidential gatherings unless they break the law. The Republican staff, on the other hand, may ask people to leave, Garner said. And like the Secret Service, they also wear lapel pins and earpieces.' Garner said he understood that Republicans had two names on a 'list.'" [Denver Post, 3/23/05]
Colorado GOP Later Confirmed that it was a White House Event; Nevertheless, GOP Organizers Told them it was a "Private Event." "More than an hour before the president arrived, Bauer, Weise and Young were ordered to leave the Wings Over the Rockies Museum. … 'The guy said, 'If the staff asks you to leave, you have to leave. This is a private event.'' It wasn't. Bush's Denver appearance probably cost taxpayers tens of thousands in jet fuel, room rent and personnel. 'This was an official White House event and not a political event,' Colorado GOP executive director David Wardrop explained." [Denver Post, 3/23/05]
Secret Service Now Investigating. "The U.S. Secret Service on Monday said it was investigating the claims of three people who said they were removed from President Bush's town hall meeting on Social Security last week after being singled out because of a bumper sticker on their car." [Rocky Mountain News, 3/29/05]
March 22nd: Tuscon, AZ
University of Arizona Student Had Ticket Ripped Up and was Denied Entrance to White House Event; Student Placed on "List". "UA Young Democrat Steven Gerner, a political science and pre-pharmacy sophomore, said he and three other Young Democrats had been waiting in line with their tickets for about 40 minutes when a staff member approached him and asked to read his T-shirt. Gerner was the only one of the four wearing a UAYD T-shirt, which read, 'Don't be a smart (image of a donkey, the Democratic Party symbol). UA Young Democrats.' Gerner said the staffer, who refused to provide his name, asked for Gerner's ticket and crumpled it up. The staffer walked away, returned in 20 minutes, and told Gerner his name had been added to a list banning him from entering the convention center for the speech." Gerner received his ticket from Representative Grijalva's (D-AZ) office and his name was printed on the ticket. [Arizona Daily Wildcat, 3/22/05,
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/98/118/01_2.html]
Facility Administrators Said Orders Came from the White House; Secret Service Confirms that Event Organizers Were in Charge. "Kate Calhoun, TCC sales and marketing manager, said the venue's staff did not control entrance to the event, but said the Secret Service was taking tickets and exercising 'no discrimination whatsoever.' 'The venue does not issue or check or take tickets,' Calhoun said. 'It's coming straight from the White House - we rent them our space and don't get involved. It was a smooth operation from start to finish, and I did not see anyone denied entry.' Jonathan Cherry, Secret Service spokesman, said the Secret Service was not taking tickets at the event. 'The host committee controls who gets in and who gets out,' Cherry said. 'Secret Service agents are not ticket takers.'" [Arizona Daily Wildcat, 3/22/05,
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/98/118/01_2.html
