The Denver Three case percolates along

August 3, 2005

When we last checked in with our friends in the Denver Three (yesterday), the Secret Service and U.S. Attorney in Denver explained that no criminal charges would be brought against the mystery man who pretended to be a Secret Service agent when forcibly removing the three because of their anti-war bumper sticker.

Game over? Apparently not. Denver Post Columnist Jim Spencer moved the ball forward today with some key new details.

First, let’s back up for a second. The event where the Denver Three were ejected was a “townhall forum” on Social Security in March, held at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, which is a public facility. The three were removed from the audience by the mystery man, but escorted to the door by a museum employee.

[Wings Over the Rockies president Greg] Anderson admitted Tuesday that Courtney Walsh, the museum’s director of sales and corporate events, escorted Young, Weise and Bauer to the door after they were ordered to leave by “an individual on the (White House) security team.”

Anderson knows that individual’s name but said it’s “not appropriate” for the museum to reveal it.

He also said the museum chose not to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests from Weise, Young and Bauer.

“I don’t think the Freedom of Information Act applies to our records,” Anderson said, “because we are not a government entity.”

This raises a few new angles to the story.

First, the number of people who know the identity of the fake Secret Service agent continues is larger than we realized. The White House has said it knows, the Secret Service acknowledged early on that it knows, and now the staff at the museum knows. None of them is willing to share this information with the Denver Three, their attorneys, or interested reporters, but a civil lawsuit might help change their mind.

Second, administrators at a public, taxpayer-subsidized museum decided to ignore FOIA requests because it isn’t a “government entity”? This won’t do.

Wings Over the Rockies gets money from the metro area’s Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.

The money, said SCFD district administrator Mary Ellen Williams, is for “operating funds.” Williams said Wings Over the Rockies got $40,643 in SCFD grants in 2004 and is set to get $45,600 in 2005.

Sounds to me like a “government entity” that should respond to FOIA requests.

And third, this museum employee, who knows who the mystery man is, said the perpetrator was part of “the White House security team.” If accurate, that’s an interesting piece of information. The White House has told reporters for months that the thug was a “volunteer.” I’m no expert on presidential security, but I’m pretty sure there are no unpaid helpers on the White House security staff. Is it possible, just possible, that the mystery man who pretended to be a Secret Service agent wasn’t pretending?

The plot thickens.

The good news here is that a civilian knows the name. Civilians can be subpoenaed in a civil lawsuit and now that the government has decided not to prosecute they can’t claim a 5th Amendment right not to testify.

  • None of them is willing to share this information with the Denver Three, their attorneys, or interested reporters, but a civil lawsuit might help change their mind.

    So what’s the hold up here? why hasn’t a civil lawsuit been filed?

  • So what’s the hold up here? why hasn’t a civil lawsuit been filed?

    Patience, patience, Edo. They just got word about the conclusion of the Secret Service investigation a few days ago. They didn’t have the complaint written and ready to go! 🙂

  • I am so glad this story isn’t going away. “Town Hall Meetings” funded by taxpayers, held in public facilites – how can they justify turning away anyone? How is this different than any other form of discrimination? Thanks for keeping us up to date, CB.

  • How is this different than any other form of discrimination?

    It’s not at all different, except that it’s our government discriminating against us if it doesn’t like our bumper sticker.

    Thanks for keeping us up to date, CB.

    My pleasure. I hope readers don’t get too sick of the story, but I can’t help sinking my teeth into this one.

  • Mr. Carpetbagger, your tenacity on all fronts is appreciated. A few weeks ago you brought up the Plame issue after a quiet period on that subject and within about 36 hours it was all over the place again and has gotten much more complex. Hopefully your intuitive desire to blow on the Denver Three coals presages some coming flames on that front as well.

    Burn Bushie Burn.

  • In a speech Wednesday in Grapevine, Texas, Bush will talk about the fight against terrorists. “They are narrow-minded people, don’t tolerate human rights, women’s rights, don’t tolerate dissent,” he said. “There’s no such thing as rule of law as far as they’re concerned — that they’re cold-blooded killers.”

    I just read this little passage in an article on Yahoo. Narrow-minded people that don’t tolerate human rights, women’s rights, and dissent. Also sounds like the conservative movement in America. Conservative to a terrorist: Hello pot my name is kettle.

  • CB–Please continue to push the stories you find compelling . . . we’re all here because you have a gift for this and our other media outlets do not. Also, I see you noted on a few national media blogs frequently, so I definitely believe what you cover here goes well beyond your readers’ education.

  • How about this…

    Maybe the denver three could hire a professional sketch artist so we could have a nice picture to go with the story. Everyone loves pictures, especially the media whores who think there’s no story if there’s no picture.

    Maybe they could print out “wanted” posters, asking the public for information about the mystery man, and including the story that’s been ignored so far by most of the media. Everyone loves a mystery too!

  • Maybe they could print out “wanted” posters…

    Racerx, I will pass your suggestion along. I happen to be a big fan of outside-the-box thinking and this is outside-the-box thinking.

  • Wings Over the Rockies gets money from the metro area’s Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.

    Yeah but the FOIA applies to the federal government, not to organizations such as a museum that get local funding.

    A point to consider: many local libraries (particulary in larger cities and at universities) get some federal funding, directly or indirectly. Would we really want a situation where they had to respond to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who sent them a FOIA request to find out what books his neighbors were checking out?

  • For an administration that prides itself on supporting the “rule of law”
    there seem to be some glaring problems with their actual practice of
    it. This administration seems to grant immunity to itself and its
    acolytes with great regularity. Of course, who are we to question them,the lords,
    since we are mere peasants. How dare we expect Bush and Co. actually be expected to play by the same rules as mere mortals?
    I hope this mystery can be solved soon ( and maybe be extended to
    the Rove investigation?)

  • Erik Kosberg,

    I’m not a lawyer in Colorado (although I have practiced law, both state and federal, for more than 27 years), and I did some on-line research last night about whether Colorado has a FOIA and/or other law that might be used to force the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. My conclusion is “yes,” even though as far as I can tell Colorado does not have a FOIA as a separate and discrete statute by that name.

    Colorado Revised Statutes § 24-72-203 provides generally that public records are subject to inspection by the public. Typical exceptions are provided for law enforcement, testing, and other similar records; and a process for resolving disputes is provided, too. Colorado law provides a mechanism of which entities’ records are subject to public inspection, and procedures for carrying out that inspection process. Go to this link to see this:

    http://198.187.128.12/colorado/lpext.dll/Infobase4/359f5/3c138/3c13a/3c1d9/3c23a?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm

    A “public record� includes all writings made, maintained, or kept by specified entities, including (for our purposes here) a “political subdivision of the state� and a “local government-financed entity� as defined by law. The following link defines “public record� and “political subdivision�:

    http://198.187.128.12/colorado/lpext.dll/Infobase4/359f5/3c138/3c13a/3c1d9/3c1f1?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm

    A local government-financed entity� is one that (A) is operated by other political subdivisions OR by those who are officials or employees of other political subdivisions, and (B) any part of its annual operating budget is from dues, contributions, or other payments received from political subdivisions. For the definition of “local government-financed entity� go to:

    http://198.187.128.12/colorado/lpext.dll/Infobase4/45f07/45f32/45f34/462a0/462a1?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm

    The “Scientific and Cultural Facilities District� (the “Facilities District�)is clearly a “political subdivision of the state,� as it was created under Colorado Revised Statutes §§ 32-13-101 through 32-13-114, and you can get to an interactive link at:

    http://198.187.128.12/colorado/lpext.dll/Infobase4/4cfa5/4dc20/4ed2a?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm

    The Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum (the “Museum�) is a division of the Aviation & Space Center of the Rockies (the “Center�), a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization based at the abandoned Lowry (Colorado) Air Force Base in Denver. Although I have searched the Museum’s website and all of the available State of Colorado records as filed by the Museum and/or the Center, I cannot fully determine whether the Museum or the Center is a “local government-funded entity�. It seems that it is, as it does get funding from the Facilities District, AND it seems that the last listing of officers and directors was full of local governmental officials. Therefore, it seems that any written document made or held by the Museum and the Center ought to be subject to public inspection as permitted by C.R.S. §24-72-203.

    P.S. Sorry about the lateness and the length of this comment; I decided to do it late, and it took a long time to complete my research!! ĂŻ?Ĺ 

  • Is it possible, just possible, that the mystery man who pretended to be a Secret Service agent wasn’t pretending?

    Very, very, very unlikely. Secret Service hasn’t interfered with public protest issues for some decades now, and it would be unprecedented for them to start to do so. Instead, we’re probably talking about the WH advance team, which is responsible for all the non-security and non-communications aspects of Presidential travel. Advance team members are on-site before, during, and after Presidential visits as “fixers.” (“Volunteer” may have been true-but-inaccurate spin for “intern.”)

    It sounds to me like the advance team members are running around in “Secret Service-like” outfits (suits, sunglasses, earpieces) but not officially identifying themselves as federal agents. Not cricket by any means, but not really illegal, either.

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