Presidential Candidate Vows "Jail or Debate"
Debate 'Crash' Attempt by 3rd Party Candidates TONITE!
"IT IS NOT TOO SOON FOR HONEST MEN TO REBEL ..."
LP Prez Candidate Badnarik: I will debate or be arrested
October 8, 2004
For Immediate Release
Contact: Stephen P. Gordon
Office: (512) 637-6867
Cell: (256) 227-8360
[email protected]
Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party's 2004 presidential nominee, will
debate John Kerry and George W. Bush in St. Louis on Friday. Or he'll go to
jail instead.
"A majority of Americans say that I should be included in the events sponsored
by the Commission on Presidential Debates," says Badnarik, 50, of Austin,
Texas. "And the CPD, as a non-profit, has received special treatment from
government on the requirement that they be non-partisan in their activities. Bi-
partisan is not non-partisan.
"Unless I am allowed to participate, the debates become a massive campaign
contribution to two of the candidates, illegal under the very campaign finance
laws those two candidates have passed and signed as Senator and President."
At 8 p.m. on Friday evening, Badnarik, along with the demonstrators expected to
assemble in protest against his exclusion, will proceed to the police line
erected to keep himself and the other legitimate candidates out during
broadcast of the "bi-partisan campaign commercial."
And then he will cross it.
"We'd have preferred to see John Kerry and George Bush stand up like men to
debate the issues facing America," says Badnarik's communications director,
Stephen Gordon. "However, they have interposed the machinery of government
between the American people and the honest debate which must precede any honest
election. Now it's up to patriots like Michael Badnarik to force the issue." In
Arizona, the Libertarian Party is taking the state university to court to
prevent the expenditure of state money on a similar event.
Badnarik has previously debated David Cobb, the Green Party's candidate;
Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party; and Walt Brown of the Socialist
Party. Kerry and Bush, as well as Independent Ralph Nader, declined to
participate in those debates. He will proceed from a New York taping with Bill
Moyers to St. Louis, ready to take on the Republican and Democratic machines in
defense of American democracy.
[MoyersAppearanceBackground http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/message/23744 -tlp]
Voters in 48 states and the District of Columbia will be able to vote for
Badnarik on November 2nd. More than 600 Libertarians currently serve in public
office across the United States.
-30-
Additional press information:
- The protest will proceed from Northmoor Park on Big Bend Ave., just south of
Washington University to the corner of Big Bend and Forsyth, where the police
line is expected to be arrayed. Badnarik's crossing onto the Washington
University campus will take place at that point, some time between 8 and 8:15 p.
m. Badnarik and Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb plan to cross
the police line together.
- The headline quote is from Thoreau, and intended to apply to the US
occupation of Iraq:
"In other words, when ... a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by
a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon
for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the more urgent
is the fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the
invading army." -- Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
We must be FOR a brave love of
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;
as it triumphs over the tyranny of fear!
-Terry Liberty Parker
see Liberty's Premise
at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/message/20500
:( Ed Ward, MD :cool:
Presidential Candidate Vows "Jail or Debate"
The fasci'crats of both the major parties are nothing but FASCISTS. Who am I voting for? DUH. Michael Badnarik. The only Presidential Candidate aligned with the Constitution. I am voting for people rights. No other man has the right to tell me what to do with the life granted to me by God, Nature and Evolution. He is nothing more than me and I am nothing more than him. No other man has the right to take God's, Nature's and Evolution's Rights from me. So throw my vote away?, you say. ROFL, Roll on the Floor Laughing, I will vote for Right, Rights, Peace, Property and Prosperity. To do other is to promote the current tyranny in cowardice. I'd rather 'poop' on my vote, eat it and die, than vote for either of those 2 fascists.
Ed Ward, MD
Presidential Candidate Vows "Jail or Debate"
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
Presidential Candidate Vows "Jail or Debate"
World Net Daily Picked up the story. But, did absolutely nothing for the candidates platforms, except mention their names.
To hear the story as it happened:
http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102201.mp3
http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102271.mp3
http://www.audioblogger.com/media/23496/102278.mp3
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=40843
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
http://badnarik.org/newsfromthetrail.php?p=1346
