listopencil
10-14-2004, 01:18 AM
MICHAEL BADNARIK ARRESTED
October 8http://badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/badnarik_arrest_front.jpgRead the press release – “IT IS NOT TOO SOON FOR HONEST MEN TO REBEL …” (http://badnarik.org/press/release.php?p=1344) – explaining why Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party) and David Cobb (Green Party) chose civil disobedience to make their point.
Photos of the event can be found here: BADNARIK/COBB PROTEST AND ARREST PICTURES (http://badnarik.org/press/release.php?p=1356)
–
8:38PM CT
The first report from St. Louis is in - and presidential candidates Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) and David Cobb (Green Party) were just arrested. Badnarik was carrying an Order to Show Cause (http://thelfactor.org/arizona_state_lawsuit.html), which he intended to serve the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Earlier today, Libertarians attempted to serve these same papers at the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the CPD - but were stopped from approaching the CPD office by security guards.
Fred Collins reported to me from the ground that Badnarik and Cobb are in great physical condition and great spirit.
As soon as more details are available, they will be posted here immediately.
8:51PM CT
I just spoke with Jon Airheart on his cellular telephone. He reports that while he could see no handcuffs, both Badnarik and Cobb had their hands behind their backs, as if they were handcuffed. Airheart also confirms that Badnarik did have the papers to serve the CPD in his jacket pocket.
<A id=more-1346>9:09PM CT
The first AP report (http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/9872659.htm) just hit Google News: Just as the debate began, two third-party presidential candidates purposely crossed a police barricade and were arrested. Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik were protesting their exclusion from the debate
.
10:09PM CT
My cell phone is ringing off the hook. There is no way to catch up with all of the messages left - and I am sure the memory is full by now. Things are going too fast to keep up with them.
Jon Airheart just reported that he and Fred Collins are catching a taxi to the jail where Mike is currently located. The address is 200 South Tucker Street, St. Louis, MO. Jon stated that there were over one hundred police officers with helmets and shields in the particular line they crossed.
Thomas Knapp just reported that prior to their arrests, Badnarik and Cobb explained to the crowd why they chose civil disobedience to express their message. He stated that Badnarik had to “bodily” push his way through the police line. Once through, he peacefully surrendered, was handcuffed, and taken out of direct sight.
10:30 PM CT
We now have multiple audioblogs from Jon Airheart (in chronological order) at:
http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102201.mp3
(http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102201.mp3)
http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102271.mp3 (http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102271.mp3)
http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102278.mp3 (http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102278.mp3)
10:42PM CST
More news reports:
This quote comes from this St. Louis Post-Dispatch report (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/election2004/story/C5E191143DCACB1286256F2800113629?OpenDocument&Headline=Serious+meets+trivial+outside+debate):
“I have the freedom of speech and they have no authority to barricade that,” Badnarik said from outside the security line.
The Progress Report reports (http://www.progress.org/2004/debates08.htm):
“Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik pushed his way through the police line at the debate site about a minute after Cobb and was similarly arrested. Cobb and Badnarik have participated in genuine, non-scripted, nonpartisan debates four times in this campaign; a fifth debate is scheduled for October 15 at Eastern Tennessee State University with a number of other candidates.”
10:51PM CT
Apparently, we have overloaded the facilities at www.audioblogger.com (http://www.audioblogger.com). We will save and FTP the audioblog postings to our site as soon as we can retrieve them.
11:04PM CT
Jon Airheart and Fred Collins just called. They are at the city jail mentioned above. Jon stated, “What I will now tell you shows the absolute ineptitude of government. They don’t even know, and won’t know for three to four hours, whether he is in this particular jail.”
Fred Collins said, “He [Badnarik] should have picked a better city in which to be arrested.”
The question which remains is whether Mr. Badnarik is in the city or the county jail.
[b]11:12PM CT
It is a good thing we changed servers last night - as we have been seriously farked (http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1159548) tonight.
11:19PM CT
The following is reported via e-mail from George Getz, the Libertarian Party communications director about his attempt to serve the CPD in D.C. today: All:
At about 2pm ET, I hand-delivered the paper called “Arizona Case Order.” I talked to David [Euchner - the lead attorney in the Arizona case] immediately afterward and he said the other papers can be faxed later. I am now back at the office, and there’s no one here, so I’m unaware of any developments.
I will also fax the affidavit, as David and I discussed earlier.
GG
11:23PM CT
Former LNC Chair and Operations Manager for the Badnarik campaign Geoffrey Neale responded with: Do you have a signature from anyone at the CPD?
11:27PM CT
Here is Mr. Getz’s response to Mr. Neale: Unfortunately, no. But this guy was so hostile there was no way he would have signed it. He wouldn’t even take it in his hand, and made me just put it on the desk instead.
He wouldn’t even tell me his name!?! – he was just “Tom.”
I replied, “Tom, huh? Could you be more vague, Tom?”
However, David (our attorney) was on the phone with “Tom” at the time I came into the office, and overheard the whole conversation, so I don’t think he can deny it. The lawyer is an “officer of the court,” or whatever, and if he tells the judge that’s what happened, that better be what happened. Plus, in my affidavit I described the schmuck and his assistant schmuck pretty well, which would be very odd if I wasn’t there.
Let’s hope for the best.
George
11:50PM CT
Nancy Neale (Geoffrey Neale’s darling wife) just sent me the following interesting link while I was being interviewed by some reporter from Missouri:
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/thirdparties.html (http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/thirdparties.html)
12:04AM CT
Fred Collins just called on Jon Airheart’s cell phone, as Fred’s battery is ganz tot. He reports, “The county jail says they don’t have him and the city jail says they don’t have him.”
Where is Michael? Perhaps at Gitmo already?
12:33AM CT
Shortnews reports (http://shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=43554&rubrik1=Politics&rubrik2=US%20Politics&rubrik3=Election&sort=1&start=1): US Presidential candidates arrested entering CPD debate site US Presidential candidates Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) and David Cobb (Green) were arrested Friday in St. Louis after breaking through a police
line barricading the Commission on Presidential Debates event hosted at Washington University.
The candidates peacefully surrendered, protesting the exclusion of their opposing viewpoints and
questioning the legality of the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).
Local police responded to the incidents by delivering two additional busloads of officers in riot
gear to the University’s event site.
12:43AM CT
Jon Airheart just called to tell me, “WE FOUND HIM!” He is reported to be at some medium-security lockup at 7600 North Hall Street. They are going to call Tamara Millay to see if she is closer than they are - but Fred and Jon are going to catch a cab nonetheless to pick up Mr. Badnarik.
An anonymous hotel employee told Jon, “We need to get him out of there - it is not a pleasant place to be - but if you wish to escape its not that hard.”
The facility is locally known as the “City Work House.”
Airheart reports that he called one number to find Mr. Badnarik, which led him to another number, which led him to another number…
Eventually, before Fred and Jon found Mr.Badnarik, Mr. Badnarik called Jon.
Jon reports that Mr. Badnarik said the whole process would have taken a lot less time but there was a lot of commotion on campus. They arrested five students who “literally just accidentally crossed over into the ‘no-longer-a-free-speech-zone’ and they nearly were nearly taken out by snipers. According to the report, it was just five kids trying to go back to their dorms. After expressing outrage over the way the students were treated, Badnarik stated that this slowed his processing dramatically.
As Airheart was reporting this to me, he suddenly said, “Cab is here - got to go! But tell people that this is just like a scene from the movie Brazil.”
12:57AM CT
A gentleman by the name of Nick Patton called me. He said he “lives in area.”
He stated that crossing the initial police line was not difficult. He had been in the tents near the debates for two hours and was leaving the premises to watch on it all video.
“I was leaving and they took me down,” Patton said.
There were four other youths who live off campus who were also accosted and detained for around four hours, Patton reported.
1:09AM CT
The story has been picked up here by WorldNetDaily (http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40843).
01:22AM CT
A young man by the name of Abel Jones called me. He reported that he was walking back from the debate activities with one guy and two girls. They saw some guys who Jones said looked like Secret Service agents. They asked if they could cut across the lawn they were approaching, and the “Secret Service looking guys” said they didn’t care.
After walking 20 to 40 yards, they were taken down by two officers and told there were snipers trained on them.
They were told they were “lucky they were not hit by the snipers.”
Jones said that no rights were read to them. He stated that one girl was treated roughly. Her earrings and shoelaces were taken off. He stated that she was treated more roughly than everyone else.
01:26AM CT
The story has just been picked up by Rational Review here (http://www.rationalreview.com/announcements/10092004.html).
01:47PM CT
I just talked with Mr. Badnarik. He was in his hotel room and eating some dinner.
He said that after he and Mr. Cobb were arrested, they were placed in a police van - then there was some delay as they threw some students in the van with them. The stories from two of them are posted in the prior two entries of this posting.
Mr. Badnarik says that they sat in a cell for one to one and a half hours. He reported that the fingerprinting process was not as thorough as he had expected.
They did not have to post any bail - but were given tickets for “trespass” and “refusing a reasonable order from a policeman".
Badnarik said that he had the papers to be served to the CPD in his pocket, but was never given opportunity to serve them.
01:52AM CT
The Cobb campaign has issued this press release (http://www.votecobb.net/news/arrested).
02:02AM CT
Here is a screen shot of a Badnarik sign on MS-NBC.
http://badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/MVC-016S.jpg
02:09AM CT
Another MS-NBC screen shot.
http://badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/P1010042.JPG
02:22AM CT
I am now able to begin catching up on e-mail messages and voice mails. This one obviously caught my attention:
Stephen,
My name is Joel Beckwith. I’m a supporter of Michael’s from AZ. I’m also running for office of course. I’m writing to give you good news that today the papers of the AZLP vs. ASU and the CPD were delivered to ASU personally by myself. I just wanted to share you some photos from the event. Hopefully it will come out in Michael’s favor… …Joel Beckwith
02:37AM CT
The following document is not yet available in .pdf format, so I have typed it below:
Affidavit
Friday October 8, 2004 3:35 PM
Statement by Samuel P. New and Margaret E. Taylor
Today at approximately 2:38PM, we entered the office building at 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW in Washington, DC in order to serve Janet Brown at the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) with papers handed down by Judge Pendleton Gaines, Superior Court Judge in Maricopa County, AZ. In the lobby of the office building at 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW. we were greeted by Officer S. Mack and another security officer. Officer Mack telephoned CPD to inform them of our visit and purpose. CPD refused to allow us to proceed to their office, on the fourth floor. We asked for the name of the person refusing to accept our materials, and the security officers informed us they did not know. We asked if we could wait in the lobby, while we placed a telephone call, we were told no, we would have to go outside. After consulting Geoff Neale, we returned to the lobby and left papers with Officer Mack, who told us that they were not accepted. We then left the building. This dialogue is documented with digital pictures and an audio cassette which was recorded in plain view, and I spoke directly into it.
[signed]
Margaret E. Taylor and Samuel P. New
[notarized in the District of Columbia]
02:40AM CT
The following two documents show two more attempts at serving the CPD.
Fax Service (http://www.badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/StephenGordonAffadavit1.pdf)
E-mail Service (http://www.badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/StephenGordonAffadavit2.pdf)
02:51AM CT
David Euchner sent the following message to Janet Brown at CPD: From: David Euchner
Date: October 8, 2004 4:13:56 PM EDT
To: “Stephen Gordon” , jb@debates.org
Subject: Re: Order to Show Cause
Dear Ms Brown,
Please contact my office immediately at 520-326-3550 or 520-400-8324 to confirm receipt of these documents.
David Euchner
Attorney for Plaintiffs Arizona Libertarian Party, Inc. and Warren Severin
03:04AM CT
The candidate is in bed, as he has a busy day scheduled for tomorrow. The reporters must have gone to bed, as well.
Two presidential candidates - Michael Badnarik and David Cobb - were arrested tonight. Papers were served to stop the third Bush - Kerry debate today. Neither of these stories (short of the aforementioned AP wire) were covered by the mainstream media.
We now know with whom the television networks went to bed tonight.
09:35AM CT
The story has been picked up by Slashdot (http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/04/10/09/1315259.shtml?tid=103&tid=219).
10:07AM CT
I spoke with Mr. Badnarik and Jon Airheart. They were at the Chicago airport catching a connecting flight. Mr. Badnarik stated that he did not get much sleep last night. He sounded wide awake and filled with energy to me, though.
Jon said that he e-mailed some digital photographs of the arrest to me last night. I never received them. Perhaps they are floating around in the ether. Jon will resend them once he has internet access again.
11:17AM CT
The blogosphere begins to awaken. Mellifluous contributes (http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=Mellifluous&tab=weblogs&uid=142410874) the following: IF YOU BELIEVE THAT REAL DEMOCRACY THRIVES ON DIVERSE POLITICAL VOICES AND THAT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA SUPPRESSES ALTERNATIVE VIEWS, STAND UP FOR YOUR BELIEFS. POST THE FOLLOWING ON YOUR XANGA, PROFILE, OR LIVEJOURNAL, OR E-MAIL IT TO THOSE WHO CARE.
On October 8th at 9PM, two third party candidates were arrested for attempting to enter the Washington University complex holding the second presidential debate. The candidates, Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party and David Cobb of the Green Party, chose civil disobedience to fight the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Over half of Americans believe third party candidates should be included, yet politicians continue to funnel public funds into the bi-partisan Commission. S.W.A.T. teams were used to deny the will of the American people while mainstream media ignored this historic event, a shameless suppression of political diversity.
Americans deserve to know about the unjust takeover of our political process. I posted this to take matters into my own hands. If you believe that real democracy thrives on diverse political voices and that it’s time to use alternative methods to support these voices, post this in your Xanga, profile, or Livejournal, or e-mail it to those who care.
12:35PM CT
The following clarification was sent from David Euchner: …First, we did succeed in serving CPD. The Badnarik people were unable to execute service in St. Louis, but the LPHQ staff in Washington were very helpful to us and got the job done at the CPD office in DC. CPD attempted to evade service in DC as well, but the whole incident is recorded on audiotape and photographs. If they send someone to argue insufficiency of service of process, and I whip out our evidence, the Judge will be none too pleased with them.
By 1:30 Arizona time, I had confirmed via telephone with George Getz, Sam New and Margaret Taylor at LPHQ, and with Warren Severin in Tempe (our individual plaintiff) that service of process was complete (ASU did not resist at all, they were congenial to the Libertarian activist who served them). I called the court and let them know and our hearing is confirmed for Tuesday morning at 9am…
…As to why we didn’t use professional process servers, the reason is simple. We were concerned that a professional would not feel the same level of urgency with getting this job done immediately that we felt. In order to serve process, there is only one requirement: that the server be 18 years old and not a party to the case. LPHQ staffers certainly had other things to do with their time, but when I explained the situation to them they were extraordinarily helpful. Kudos to George Getz and Sam New and Margaret Taylor for a job well done.
I think that answers all the questions posed here. Now that the logistics are taken care of, I need to prepare my oral argument for Tuesday morning. Wish me luck!
David Euchner
Attorney for Arizona Libertarian Party
12:46PM CT
Here is a digitized version of the affidavit (http://thelfactor.org/assets/images/AffSvcCPD.jpg) signed by Sam New and Margaret Taylor.
1:54PM CT
The story is now covered at e.thePeople (http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/35752/). Here is a exerpt: You would think that Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and MSNBC would be all over this affront to the democratic process, but no, not a peep.
Badnarik was also attempting to serve the Commission on Presidential Debates with a “Show Cause Order,” issued by an Arizona judge, requiring the CPD to appear at a hearing concerning the Libertarian Party’s lawsuit to stop the upcoming debate at Arizona State University, as an illegal campaign contribution to Bush and Kerry, an unconstitutional use of Arizona state funds to support selected candidates, and a violation of the LP’s equal protection rights, since they are a recognized political party in Arizona.
If this happened in some other country, what would we call them? Undemocratic? Human rights violations? Unbelievable?
If you think America is a free country, you are sadly mistaken. If you think the news media aren’t controlled by the same people who control the Democrat and Republican parties, think again.
2:31PM CT
The photographs may not have arrived yet, but here is one person’s depiction of last night’s events:
http://badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/cartoon.jpg
2:49PM CT
Reason Magazine Hit and Run provided some not-so-good coverage (http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2004/10/free_badnarik.shtml#006908) while Boing Boing has decided to cover the basic facts (http://www.boingboing.net/2004/10/09/both_presidential_ca.html)
The cartoon made me chuckle.
October 8http://badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/badnarik_arrest_front.jpgRead the press release – “IT IS NOT TOO SOON FOR HONEST MEN TO REBEL …” (http://badnarik.org/press/release.php?p=1344) – explaining why Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party) and David Cobb (Green Party) chose civil disobedience to make their point.
Photos of the event can be found here: BADNARIK/COBB PROTEST AND ARREST PICTURES (http://badnarik.org/press/release.php?p=1356)
–
8:38PM CT
The first report from St. Louis is in - and presidential candidates Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) and David Cobb (Green Party) were just arrested. Badnarik was carrying an Order to Show Cause (http://thelfactor.org/arizona_state_lawsuit.html), which he intended to serve the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Earlier today, Libertarians attempted to serve these same papers at the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the CPD - but were stopped from approaching the CPD office by security guards.
Fred Collins reported to me from the ground that Badnarik and Cobb are in great physical condition and great spirit.
As soon as more details are available, they will be posted here immediately.
8:51PM CT
I just spoke with Jon Airheart on his cellular telephone. He reports that while he could see no handcuffs, both Badnarik and Cobb had their hands behind their backs, as if they were handcuffed. Airheart also confirms that Badnarik did have the papers to serve the CPD in his jacket pocket.
<A id=more-1346>9:09PM CT
The first AP report (http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/9872659.htm) just hit Google News: Just as the debate began, two third-party presidential candidates purposely crossed a police barricade and were arrested. Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik were protesting their exclusion from the debate
.
10:09PM CT
My cell phone is ringing off the hook. There is no way to catch up with all of the messages left - and I am sure the memory is full by now. Things are going too fast to keep up with them.
Jon Airheart just reported that he and Fred Collins are catching a taxi to the jail where Mike is currently located. The address is 200 South Tucker Street, St. Louis, MO. Jon stated that there were over one hundred police officers with helmets and shields in the particular line they crossed.
Thomas Knapp just reported that prior to their arrests, Badnarik and Cobb explained to the crowd why they chose civil disobedience to express their message. He stated that Badnarik had to “bodily” push his way through the police line. Once through, he peacefully surrendered, was handcuffed, and taken out of direct sight.
10:30 PM CT
We now have multiple audioblogs from Jon Airheart (in chronological order) at:
http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102201.mp3
(http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102201.mp3)
http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102271.mp3 (http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102271.mp3)
http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102278.mp3 (http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102278.mp3)
10:42PM CST
More news reports:
This quote comes from this St. Louis Post-Dispatch report (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/election2004/story/C5E191143DCACB1286256F2800113629?OpenDocument&Headline=Serious+meets+trivial+outside+debate):
“I have the freedom of speech and they have no authority to barricade that,” Badnarik said from outside the security line.
The Progress Report reports (http://www.progress.org/2004/debates08.htm):
“Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik pushed his way through the police line at the debate site about a minute after Cobb and was similarly arrested. Cobb and Badnarik have participated in genuine, non-scripted, nonpartisan debates four times in this campaign; a fifth debate is scheduled for October 15 at Eastern Tennessee State University with a number of other candidates.”
10:51PM CT
Apparently, we have overloaded the facilities at www.audioblogger.com (http://www.audioblogger.com). We will save and FTP the audioblog postings to our site as soon as we can retrieve them.
11:04PM CT
Jon Airheart and Fred Collins just called. They are at the city jail mentioned above. Jon stated, “What I will now tell you shows the absolute ineptitude of government. They don’t even know, and won’t know for three to four hours, whether he is in this particular jail.”
Fred Collins said, “He [Badnarik] should have picked a better city in which to be arrested.”
The question which remains is whether Mr. Badnarik is in the city or the county jail.
[b]11:12PM CT
It is a good thing we changed servers last night - as we have been seriously farked (http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1159548) tonight.
11:19PM CT
The following is reported via e-mail from George Getz, the Libertarian Party communications director about his attempt to serve the CPD in D.C. today: All:
At about 2pm ET, I hand-delivered the paper called “Arizona Case Order.” I talked to David [Euchner - the lead attorney in the Arizona case] immediately afterward and he said the other papers can be faxed later. I am now back at the office, and there’s no one here, so I’m unaware of any developments.
I will also fax the affidavit, as David and I discussed earlier.
GG
11:23PM CT
Former LNC Chair and Operations Manager for the Badnarik campaign Geoffrey Neale responded with: Do you have a signature from anyone at the CPD?
11:27PM CT
Here is Mr. Getz’s response to Mr. Neale: Unfortunately, no. But this guy was so hostile there was no way he would have signed it. He wouldn’t even take it in his hand, and made me just put it on the desk instead.
He wouldn’t even tell me his name!?! – he was just “Tom.”
I replied, “Tom, huh? Could you be more vague, Tom?”
However, David (our attorney) was on the phone with “Tom” at the time I came into the office, and overheard the whole conversation, so I don’t think he can deny it. The lawyer is an “officer of the court,” or whatever, and if he tells the judge that’s what happened, that better be what happened. Plus, in my affidavit I described the schmuck and his assistant schmuck pretty well, which would be very odd if I wasn’t there.
Let’s hope for the best.
George
11:50PM CT
Nancy Neale (Geoffrey Neale’s darling wife) just sent me the following interesting link while I was being interviewed by some reporter from Missouri:
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/thirdparties.html (http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/thirdparties.html)
12:04AM CT
Fred Collins just called on Jon Airheart’s cell phone, as Fred’s battery is ganz tot. He reports, “The county jail says they don’t have him and the city jail says they don’t have him.”
Where is Michael? Perhaps at Gitmo already?
12:33AM CT
Shortnews reports (http://shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=43554&rubrik1=Politics&rubrik2=US%20Politics&rubrik3=Election&sort=1&start=1): US Presidential candidates arrested entering CPD debate site US Presidential candidates Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) and David Cobb (Green) were arrested Friday in St. Louis after breaking through a police
line barricading the Commission on Presidential Debates event hosted at Washington University.
The candidates peacefully surrendered, protesting the exclusion of their opposing viewpoints and
questioning the legality of the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).
Local police responded to the incidents by delivering two additional busloads of officers in riot
gear to the University’s event site.
12:43AM CT
Jon Airheart just called to tell me, “WE FOUND HIM!” He is reported to be at some medium-security lockup at 7600 North Hall Street. They are going to call Tamara Millay to see if she is closer than they are - but Fred and Jon are going to catch a cab nonetheless to pick up Mr. Badnarik.
An anonymous hotel employee told Jon, “We need to get him out of there - it is not a pleasant place to be - but if you wish to escape its not that hard.”
The facility is locally known as the “City Work House.”
Airheart reports that he called one number to find Mr. Badnarik, which led him to another number, which led him to another number…
Eventually, before Fred and Jon found Mr.Badnarik, Mr. Badnarik called Jon.
Jon reports that Mr. Badnarik said the whole process would have taken a lot less time but there was a lot of commotion on campus. They arrested five students who “literally just accidentally crossed over into the ‘no-longer-a-free-speech-zone’ and they nearly were nearly taken out by snipers. According to the report, it was just five kids trying to go back to their dorms. After expressing outrage over the way the students were treated, Badnarik stated that this slowed his processing dramatically.
As Airheart was reporting this to me, he suddenly said, “Cab is here - got to go! But tell people that this is just like a scene from the movie Brazil.”
12:57AM CT
A gentleman by the name of Nick Patton called me. He said he “lives in area.”
He stated that crossing the initial police line was not difficult. He had been in the tents near the debates for two hours and was leaving the premises to watch on it all video.
“I was leaving and they took me down,” Patton said.
There were four other youths who live off campus who were also accosted and detained for around four hours, Patton reported.
1:09AM CT
The story has been picked up here by WorldNetDaily (http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40843).
01:22AM CT
A young man by the name of Abel Jones called me. He reported that he was walking back from the debate activities with one guy and two girls. They saw some guys who Jones said looked like Secret Service agents. They asked if they could cut across the lawn they were approaching, and the “Secret Service looking guys” said they didn’t care.
After walking 20 to 40 yards, they were taken down by two officers and told there were snipers trained on them.
They were told they were “lucky they were not hit by the snipers.”
Jones said that no rights were read to them. He stated that one girl was treated roughly. Her earrings and shoelaces were taken off. He stated that she was treated more roughly than everyone else.
01:26AM CT
The story has just been picked up by Rational Review here (http://www.rationalreview.com/announcements/10092004.html).
01:47PM CT
I just talked with Mr. Badnarik. He was in his hotel room and eating some dinner.
He said that after he and Mr. Cobb were arrested, they were placed in a police van - then there was some delay as they threw some students in the van with them. The stories from two of them are posted in the prior two entries of this posting.
Mr. Badnarik says that they sat in a cell for one to one and a half hours. He reported that the fingerprinting process was not as thorough as he had expected.
They did not have to post any bail - but were given tickets for “trespass” and “refusing a reasonable order from a policeman".
Badnarik said that he had the papers to be served to the CPD in his pocket, but was never given opportunity to serve them.
01:52AM CT
The Cobb campaign has issued this press release (http://www.votecobb.net/news/arrested).
02:02AM CT
Here is a screen shot of a Badnarik sign on MS-NBC.
http://badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/MVC-016S.jpg
02:09AM CT
Another MS-NBC screen shot.
http://badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/P1010042.JPG
02:22AM CT
I am now able to begin catching up on e-mail messages and voice mails. This one obviously caught my attention:
Stephen,
My name is Joel Beckwith. I’m a supporter of Michael’s from AZ. I’m also running for office of course. I’m writing to give you good news that today the papers of the AZLP vs. ASU and the CPD were delivered to ASU personally by myself. I just wanted to share you some photos from the event. Hopefully it will come out in Michael’s favor… …Joel Beckwith
02:37AM CT
The following document is not yet available in .pdf format, so I have typed it below:
Affidavit
Friday October 8, 2004 3:35 PM
Statement by Samuel P. New and Margaret E. Taylor
Today at approximately 2:38PM, we entered the office building at 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW in Washington, DC in order to serve Janet Brown at the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) with papers handed down by Judge Pendleton Gaines, Superior Court Judge in Maricopa County, AZ. In the lobby of the office building at 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW. we were greeted by Officer S. Mack and another security officer. Officer Mack telephoned CPD to inform them of our visit and purpose. CPD refused to allow us to proceed to their office, on the fourth floor. We asked for the name of the person refusing to accept our materials, and the security officers informed us they did not know. We asked if we could wait in the lobby, while we placed a telephone call, we were told no, we would have to go outside. After consulting Geoff Neale, we returned to the lobby and left papers with Officer Mack, who told us that they were not accepted. We then left the building. This dialogue is documented with digital pictures and an audio cassette which was recorded in plain view, and I spoke directly into it.
[signed]
Margaret E. Taylor and Samuel P. New
[notarized in the District of Columbia]
02:40AM CT
The following two documents show two more attempts at serving the CPD.
Fax Service (http://www.badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/StephenGordonAffadavit1.pdf)
E-mail Service (http://www.badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/StephenGordonAffadavit2.pdf)
02:51AM CT
David Euchner sent the following message to Janet Brown at CPD: From: David Euchner
Date: October 8, 2004 4:13:56 PM EDT
To: “Stephen Gordon” , jb@debates.org
Subject: Re: Order to Show Cause
Dear Ms Brown,
Please contact my office immediately at 520-326-3550 or 520-400-8324 to confirm receipt of these documents.
David Euchner
Attorney for Plaintiffs Arizona Libertarian Party, Inc. and Warren Severin
03:04AM CT
The candidate is in bed, as he has a busy day scheduled for tomorrow. The reporters must have gone to bed, as well.
Two presidential candidates - Michael Badnarik and David Cobb - were arrested tonight. Papers were served to stop the third Bush - Kerry debate today. Neither of these stories (short of the aforementioned AP wire) were covered by the mainstream media.
We now know with whom the television networks went to bed tonight.
09:35AM CT
The story has been picked up by Slashdot (http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/04/10/09/1315259.shtml?tid=103&tid=219).
10:07AM CT
I spoke with Mr. Badnarik and Jon Airheart. They were at the Chicago airport catching a connecting flight. Mr. Badnarik stated that he did not get much sleep last night. He sounded wide awake and filled with energy to me, though.
Jon said that he e-mailed some digital photographs of the arrest to me last night. I never received them. Perhaps they are floating around in the ether. Jon will resend them once he has internet access again.
11:17AM CT
The blogosphere begins to awaken. Mellifluous contributes (http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=Mellifluous&tab=weblogs&uid=142410874) the following: IF YOU BELIEVE THAT REAL DEMOCRACY THRIVES ON DIVERSE POLITICAL VOICES AND THAT THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA SUPPRESSES ALTERNATIVE VIEWS, STAND UP FOR YOUR BELIEFS. POST THE FOLLOWING ON YOUR XANGA, PROFILE, OR LIVEJOURNAL, OR E-MAIL IT TO THOSE WHO CARE.
On October 8th at 9PM, two third party candidates were arrested for attempting to enter the Washington University complex holding the second presidential debate. The candidates, Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party and David Cobb of the Green Party, chose civil disobedience to fight the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Over half of Americans believe third party candidates should be included, yet politicians continue to funnel public funds into the bi-partisan Commission. S.W.A.T. teams were used to deny the will of the American people while mainstream media ignored this historic event, a shameless suppression of political diversity.
Americans deserve to know about the unjust takeover of our political process. I posted this to take matters into my own hands. If you believe that real democracy thrives on diverse political voices and that it’s time to use alternative methods to support these voices, post this in your Xanga, profile, or Livejournal, or e-mail it to those who care.
12:35PM CT
The following clarification was sent from David Euchner: …First, we did succeed in serving CPD. The Badnarik people were unable to execute service in St. Louis, but the LPHQ staff in Washington were very helpful to us and got the job done at the CPD office in DC. CPD attempted to evade service in DC as well, but the whole incident is recorded on audiotape and photographs. If they send someone to argue insufficiency of service of process, and I whip out our evidence, the Judge will be none too pleased with them.
By 1:30 Arizona time, I had confirmed via telephone with George Getz, Sam New and Margaret Taylor at LPHQ, and with Warren Severin in Tempe (our individual plaintiff) that service of process was complete (ASU did not resist at all, they were congenial to the Libertarian activist who served them). I called the court and let them know and our hearing is confirmed for Tuesday morning at 9am…
…As to why we didn’t use professional process servers, the reason is simple. We were concerned that a professional would not feel the same level of urgency with getting this job done immediately that we felt. In order to serve process, there is only one requirement: that the server be 18 years old and not a party to the case. LPHQ staffers certainly had other things to do with their time, but when I explained the situation to them they were extraordinarily helpful. Kudos to George Getz and Sam New and Margaret Taylor for a job well done.
I think that answers all the questions posed here. Now that the logistics are taken care of, I need to prepare my oral argument for Tuesday morning. Wish me luck!
David Euchner
Attorney for Arizona Libertarian Party
12:46PM CT
Here is a digitized version of the affidavit (http://thelfactor.org/assets/images/AffSvcCPD.jpg) signed by Sam New and Margaret Taylor.
1:54PM CT
The story is now covered at e.thePeople (http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/35752/). Here is a exerpt: You would think that Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and MSNBC would be all over this affront to the democratic process, but no, not a peep.
Badnarik was also attempting to serve the Commission on Presidential Debates with a “Show Cause Order,” issued by an Arizona judge, requiring the CPD to appear at a hearing concerning the Libertarian Party’s lawsuit to stop the upcoming debate at Arizona State University, as an illegal campaign contribution to Bush and Kerry, an unconstitutional use of Arizona state funds to support selected candidates, and a violation of the LP’s equal protection rights, since they are a recognized political party in Arizona.
If this happened in some other country, what would we call them? Undemocratic? Human rights violations? Unbelievable?
If you think America is a free country, you are sadly mistaken. If you think the news media aren’t controlled by the same people who control the Democrat and Republican parties, think again.
2:31PM CT
The photographs may not have arrived yet, but here is one person’s depiction of last night’s events:
http://badnarik.org/supporters/blog/images/cartoon.jpg
2:49PM CT
Reason Magazine Hit and Run provided some not-so-good coverage (http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2004/10/free_badnarik.shtml#006908) while Boing Boing has decided to cover the basic facts (http://www.boingboing.net/2004/10/09/both_presidential_ca.html)
The cartoon made me chuckle.