Two members of the “Denver Three,” a trio of Colorado residents who in March were ejected from one of President Bush’s “town hall” meetings on Social Security, allegedly over an anti-war bumper sticker on one of their cars, have filed a lawsuit against the seven White House staffers they say illegally removed them. A similar incident occurred in Portsmouth in February, though the Portsmouth incident is not part of the lawsuit.

The national office of the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of Leslie Weise and Alex Young in a Colorado federal court. Chris Hansen of the ACLU said the group filed the suit because incidents similar to what Weise and Young faced have occurred throughout the country. Weise, Young and attorneys with the ACLU announced the lawsuit in a telephone press conference Monday, Nov. 21.
“We think this is a national problem and, as a result, the national office of the ACLU wants to be involved,” Hansen said.

Weise and Young and allege they were removed from the event because of a “No more blood for oil” bumper sticker on Weise’s car. Before entering the event, Young, Weise and friend Karen Bower were approached by Michael Casper, whom they believed to be a Secret Service agent because of his dark suit and earpiece communicator. Casper, who turned out to be a White House staffer, told them, they were “being watched” and, 20 minutes later, removed them from the event.

The Wire previously reported on a similar incident that happened during the president’s stop at Pease International Tradeport in February. At that visit, Susan Mayer and Carol Shea-Porter were removed from the event at Pease shortly after revealing their “Turn Your Back on Bush” T-shirts. During the forum, event staffers sat around Shea-Porter and Mayer, apparently trying to block the view of their shirts. When the program wrapped up, Mayer and Porter stood up and turned their backs so that departing Bush supporters could see their shirts. The two then tried to get in view of the president, but were stopped by two security personnel who did not identify themselves.

“It’s a sad day when Americans are forcibly removed from a taxpayer funded public event by White House staffers solely because of a bumper sticker,” Weise said.

Other ejections from public forums were reported in Arizona, West Virginia and North Dakota. In Arizona, Steven Gerner allegedly was denied entry to one of the president’s town hall forums after wearing a University of Arizona Young Democrats T-shirt to the event. Gerner claims he was told he could not come in, even after offering to remove the shirt. In North Dakota, volunteers for the forum were given a “black list” containing the names of 40 people instructed not to be admitted to the event. The list was leaked to the Fargo Forum the day before the event.

Casper is named as one of the defendants in the lawsuit, along with Jay Bob Klinkerman, another staffer at the event, as well as five anonymous defendants whom attorney Martha Tierny expects will be identified in the discovery process.

“We want to follow the earpiece and find out who was giving orders,” Tierny said. “Our goal is to unearth the White House policy that resulted in ejection of Ms. Weise and Mr. Young and other Americans across country.”

The Denver Three’s situation attracted national attention, and eight of the nine members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation have come out publicly against the White House staffers’ actions.