Current Events vs. Founding Documents

Unequal Application of the Law

Posted by Mark Musselman on March 4, 2012

Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment

Entry 131

Current Event

According to FoxNews Radio; October 27, 2011

Tea Party vs Occupy: Are Cities Guilty of Double-Standard?

Tea Party groups across the nation are accusing local and state governments of a double standard – charging them fees to hold rallies in public parks, while allowing Occupy protesters to set up camp for free.

“I find it extremely frustrating and upsetting,” said Colleen Owens, a spokesperson for the Richmond Tea Party. “It is definitely a slap in the face.”

Owens is demanding a refund of about $10,000 from the city of Richmond, claiming her group was charged for rallies at Kanawha Plaza but the Occupy protesters have not been charged.

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“If they are not going to apply the law equally, then they should refund our money,” she said. “They’ve been camped out there for almost two weeks and they have not paid one dime. They are not being held accountable to follow the law, yet we were expected to follow the law.”

Similar accusations have been made by other tea party organizations across the nation – including Atlanta, Winston-Salem, NC, and Nashville.

Judson Phillips, of the Tea Party Nation, told Fox News that he’s been getting e-mail from conservatives across the country wondering why they were charged by the government to hold rallies.

“Tea Party groups were given a bit of harassment as they tried to secure permits to hold rallies and yet when these Occupy groups come in – even though they don’t have permits, they’re allowed to do whatever they want,” he said.

Phillips said his group failed to comply with one regulation and were told they could not hold a rally at Legislative Plaza in Nashville.

“I was specifically told by one bureaucrat that if we showed up, they would have the Highway Patrol arrest us,” he said. “We could not do our event there, but Occupy Nashville has been camping out on Legislative Plaza for three weeks.”

And according to a spokesperson for the Tennessee Dept. of General Services, Occupy Nashville has been allowed to camp without securing a permit.

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Wendy Caswell, with the Louisville Tea Party told WHAS that Occupy Louisville protesters were allowed to get a permit to camp in Jefferson Park until Dec. 31st.

According to a spokesperson for the mayor, the Occupy group had to pay a $25 fee.

However, the tea party group had to pay $75 for a one day permit to use the same park. They were also required to purchase insurance, hire security and medical personnel.

 “Why isn’t the same standard (applied) to the Occupy Louisville movement,” Caswell asked radio host Mandy Connell.

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Press Release on Wispolitics.com;February 17, 2012

Reps. Craig, Farrow: Letter to DOA Sec. Huebsch

We are writing to again express our concerns to the Department of Administration (DOA) regarding the lack of enforcement of the Wisconsin State Facilities Access Policy. As you know, this has been an ongoing issue for many months. Based on a series of recent events in the Capitol building, it is clear that the Capitol Police have proven incapable of uniformly enforcing the security guidelines and access rules set by your department.

Not only does this lack of enforcement demonstrate and facilitate a lack of respect for the rule of law in the Capitol, it also endangers the safety of visitors, staff and members of the legislature in the building. As stated in previous correspondence, we continue to note a disturbing pattern of selective enforcement of the Access Policy by Capitol police.

Time and again, the Solidarity Singers, organized labor groups, and other protestor-affiliated events have blatantly ignored and outright broken the rules that were to have taken effect December 16th, 2011. For the Capitol police to continually overlook these infractions and capitulate to the demands of the disillusioned few, is tantamount to a violation of rights for the law-abiding citizens who visit the Capitol each and every day.

The events listed below are just a few examples of the many egregious incidents:

On February 14, 2012, as reported by the MacIver Institute, several weddings that had permits for use of Capitol facilities were forced to delay their ceremonies. It was later learned that Capitol Police Chief Tubbs had a pre-arranged agreement with the protest organizers, to allow them to amass in the Rotunda and carry on their planned demonstration, with the “mutual understanding” that they would vacate at 1:00pm and respect the scheduled weddings. It should be noted that each wedding party had followed the permit process and had been assured that the Capitol police would ensure the ceremonies could go as planned.

To the surprise of no one, the protestors did not hold up their end of the apparent bargain and the noise disturbance continued on well past the scheduled start time for the weddings. Chief Tubbs expressed his frustration to the protest organizers that they had not followed through as was “agreed upon.” We are happy to provide video evidence of this upon request.

On Tuesday, February 14th, Rep. August notified your department of a profound disturbance to the Assembly Committee on Consumer Protection and Personal Privacy. This committee meeting took place in Room 300NE. At approximately 12pm, he reported that the singing and screaming that reverberated throughout the Rotunda had become so loud it impeded the hearing proceedings up on the 3rd floor. This was due to the unauthorized protest that was allowed onsite to commemorate the “one-year anniversary” of the 2011 protests. In addition, items that have been expressly banned from the building including drums, trombones, megaphones, and other noisemakers were allowed into the building and confiscated only sporadically, if at all.

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VS

City Government vs. The Constitution

Founding Document

An excerpt from the US Constitition, Amenndment 14, paragraph 1

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

We the People:

Are government employees bolstering demonstrators who support government employees?  Are higher fees to other groups an attempt to abridge their privileges?  Our system is being tested.  This is not a time to lower our expectations or the accountability of those entrusted to apply our laws equally.