Tea Party Organizers Harassed By Police?

Why would Virginia State Police officers show up at a Tea Party organizer's home on a Monday to ask questions after a weekend event? You can read more in the full letter (that link here), including charges of what amounts to surveillance and the taking down of license plate numbers and what appear to be other intimidating tactics by the police. We're not supposed to be living in a police state, for heaven's sake. The rights to assemble and protest, especially at public, political events, are protected ones. At least, they were.

Danville TEA Party chairman Nigel Coleman told Mims that Virginia State Police officers Monday came unannounced to the home of another member of the group to question him about attending a town hall meeting Saturday in Blairs which featured Perriello and two Obama cabinet secretaries.

Saturday, Coleman and other TEA Party leaders were refused an opportunity to ask Perriello a question during the event, and then were instructed by a plainclothes police officer to leave the property when they attempted to display signs urging the congressman to follow the Constitution and oppose Pelosi's "socialized medicine scheme." Coleman said he and the others peacefully complied, but were followed to a restaurant by an officer in an unmarked car, who then exited his vehicle, walked over to the activists' cars, and called in their license plate numbers over the phone.

Comments

[Scott]

Until conservatives start suing government officials who harass them, we will continue to be harassed. Are there no lawyers who will stand up for conservatives and the Constitution?

[Plumpplumber(balding)]

We're gonna try the peaceful way first. I'd say that their phones are tapped, and their houses are wired for video and sound. Obama is a Marxist, and his opposition must be destroyed.

[SacTownMan]

I'll bet the ACLU will be all over this in 5..4..3..2..1!!!!!!

[Plumpplumber(balding)]

Oh, by the way, even if you have your house swept for bugs, nowadays you'll never find them all. Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare to defend yourselves! Basic counter-surveilance and very public protests are the key. Be Copland don't underestimate Obama. Nixon basically loved this country, but Obama is out to destroy it. If Obama's organization is threatened, laws mean nothing to a Marxist.

[Plumpplumber(balding)]

Typo - careful, not Copland.

[Ran]

Yeah, well, liberals told us that if we voted for John McCain, we'd live in Bush's Police State. Damn, but they were right!

[Alex]

What this gentleman should do is tell the state police to get the hell off his property. Of course, he is a Tea Party organizer and needs to be a little more politic than that, but as for the rest of us warrant or get out!

[Plumpplumber(balding)]

But, please, don't underestimate what's going on. Take video of all interactions with the police. Most folks instinctively want to cooperate with the authorities. Get used to the idea that our country doesn't exist anymore. Don't trust the government. The Tea Party is gonna have to be very careful.

[southdakotaboy]

The thing to do is begin suing any Democratic Party/Government offical.

[Slide]

"We're not supposed to be living in a police state, for heaven's sake. The rights to assemble and protest, especially at public, political events, are protected ones. At least, they were."

I wasn't around here in the past so I don't know the answer to this question, but did Dan Riehl complain about protected rights when Cheney/bush authorized wiretaps without warrants? or detaining American citizens without their being able to consult a lawyer? Just wondering.

[Troll Hunter]

What a f^cking tool. So Preparation "S" whined about "authorized wiretaps without warrants [and] detaining American citizens without their being able to consult a lawyer" under Bush, and today he's busy going after... DAN?

""And the Jews? What insulting reason will you ascribe to them for voting for the anti-Semite Dems? hmmmm?"

"Posted by: Slide | Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 02:20 PM"

F^CK, but he's a duplicitous, bigoted moron.

[Sara]

And people wonder why I am, as a partially disabled almost senior, afraid to go out any more or if I do, to be careful I don't do anything to draw attention to myself. I know what it is like to have police invade our home and get my back broken because I asked to see a warrant that they didn't want to produce. Of course, they didn't have one and they weren't at the right house, but that didn't stop them from terrorizing, terrifying and brutalizing the 3 women, ages 40, 55, and 90, sleeping in the home.

For those advocating suing, good luck with that. It took me 6 years to get our case to court. Six years in which we were constantly harassed by law enforcement and the costs were so prohibitive to the point that I finally settled rather than go through the anguish any longer.

It is easy to be all macho when you are a big strong guy, not so easy for a single weakened woman, especially when the prevailing attitude is that you must have done "something" or the police wouldn't have been there. Now the rest of the country is finding out what it has been like here in California for years.

Remember, the police are the government and when the government says they are here to help, the best thing to do is head for the hills if you want to keep your health and freedom.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"I wasn't around here in the past so I don't know the answer to this question, but did Dan Riehl complain about protected rights when Cheney/bush authorized wiretaps without warrants? or detaining American citizens without their being able to consult a lawyer?"

Since Barack Obama and Slide say that the government has unlimited power to do whatever it wants to citizens, any attempt by Slide to attack Bush or Cheney for exercising any sort of government power is pure hypocrisy.

No morals, no values, and no principles. Liberalism in a nutshell.

[Jack Okie]

Slide, can you demonstrate that people on a call with a foreign termination have an expectation of privacy? Can you demonstrate that the FISA court ultimately ruled that surveillance illegal? And why do you persist in calling it "wiretapping"? You know it was something else. You are pathetic - you'd be a happier person if you grew up.

[Jack Okie]

Slide reminds me of a kid who chimes in to an adult conversation without a clue of what people are talking about.

[Slide]

ND30 silly wingnut blather: "Since Barack Obama and Slide say that the government has unlimited power to do whatever it wants to citizens"

Funny, I never recall Obama or myself saying anything even close to that but in Bizarro Wingnut World I'm sure it happened. It is a very very strange place this Bizarro Wingnut World.

[Lala]

Schumer's staff shut door in face of citizen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Pf0GS7p98&feature=player_embedded