COUNTDOWN TO ELECTION DAY
Candidates arrested at debate
Libertarian, Green party nominees tried to serve commission
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: October 9, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Two third-party presidential candidates were arrested at the presidential debate
in St. Louis when they tried to serve the debate commission with a show cause
order.
Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party and David Cobb of the Green Party were
protesting their exclusion from the debate between President Bush and Democratic
Party nominee John Kerry.
Just as the debate began, the two candidates purposely crossed a police
barricade and were arrested.
The debate took place at Washington University. The campus was alive with
protesters and backers of both major-party candidates.
Protesters had no direct path to the school's athletic complex, which was
converted into a red-white-and-blue television studio for the 90-minute debate
between Bush and his Democratic rival.
Cobb said his purpose was "to expose the undemocratic nature of these
debates, this election and our government. These are not debates, these are
infomercials."
Took all the spaces out of the last message for easier reading and updated the
above
MICHAEL BADNARIK ARRESTED
October 8
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, 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.
9:09PM CT
The first AP report 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 offices 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/23496/102271.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:
“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:
“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.
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 [Badnarik} 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.
11:12PM CT
It is a good thing we changed servers last night - as we have been seriously
farked 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
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:
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.
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.
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.
02:02AM CT
Here is a screen shot of a Badnarik sign on MS-NBC.
MICHAEL BADNARIK ARRESTED
October 8
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, 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.
9:09PM CT
The first AP report 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 offices 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/23496/102271.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:
“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:
“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.
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 [Badnarik} 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.
11:12PM CT
It is a good thing we changed servers last night - as we have been seriously
farked 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
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:
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.
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.
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.
02:02AM CT
Here is a screen shot of a Badnarik sign on MS-NBC.
http://badnarik.org/newsfromthetrail.php?p=1346