Posted on 10/30/2006 11:55:38 PM PST by Jomini
Beaufort County Commissioner Hood Richardson was arrested Monday night after handing out campaign literature at Southside High School during a football game. Two Washington police officers met him at the gate of Washington High School, his second stop of the night — and brought him to the Beaufort County magistrate’s office.
Richardson was charged with disorderly conduct. He was released after posting $1,000 unsecured bond.
“I still don’t know what was disorderly,” he said, standing outside the office at the bottom of the Beaufort County Courthouse.
“Maybe the tie,” said his campaign manager Bill Tarpenning.
Richardson was handing out fliers with referees’ signals on one side and his platform on the other. He is running against incumbent Democrat Arthur Williams for the House District 6 seat. Richardson received a warning at Southside High School, but stayed and handed out his campaign cards until “it sort of dried there,” he said.
Bryant Hardison, the chairman of the Beaufort County Board of Education, notified Richardson in writing before Monday’s game to stop handing out the campaign literature at such events. Hardison cited both a school-board policy and a state statute.
“We’re going to be out at both games — our school resource officer and leaders,” Hardison said Monday in a telephone interview before the game. “He’s welcome to go and press the flesh, but he’s pressing the issue when he’s handing out campaign literature. He’ll be asked to stop and if he doesn’t, we’ll take the necessary steps.”
Richardson sent two press releases before the Southside-Manteo game indicating that he would not abide by Hardison’s letter. “This is an exercise in civics,” the release stated. “All the young people there, as well as their parents, should be aware that no one should allow their First Amendment rights to be trampled on.”
Richardson arrived at the Beaufort County courthouse without handcuffs, in the front seat of a Washington police car, followed closely by Tarpenning and attorney Steve Rader in another car. Each man had a bright yellow campaign sticker on his lapel.
Curses on law.com...sorta, kinda. LOL!
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One way that the courts preserve "judicial economy" is by requiring legal actions to be brought only when there is some kind of "actual not conjectural injury." Even a liberal federal judge won't ignore that one when there is an actual injury.
So an actual injury would be the right of free speech WAS suppressed (like the case of the thread) because the arrest itself constitutes an 'injury' in the legal sense.
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Thanks so very much for your replies. I'm not trying to be dense, just trying to get a better idea about how this law thingy works. :-)
Odd how some will support a law breaker as long as he's a "R".
Hooray!
(doing happy dance)
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And you wonder why our laws are such a mess in this country!
That's going to take up a whole 'nother thread. :-) I don't see the law(s) as a problem, just peoples' understanding of it.
I've actually been accused of 'trying to subvert the laws of the country' because I pointed out that the Constitution acknowledged different spheres of operation for the federal government and the State governments.
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And why they have entire libraries for what should be fairly simple!
Shame on them! I still haven't worked up the guts to tell Hubby I want a $500 set of law books for Christmas.
Everything I've learned has been either from the local library or the Internet.
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Thanks again so very much. If you should see me make any erroneous posts (i.e. - shooting my mouth off) PLEASE don't hesitate to jump in with both feet.
LOL!
I guess "bad mood" might indeed cover it somewhat. I'm getting tired of how often the comments here about our own troubles are laced with complains like "Well, the other guys are worse" and "The other guys get all the breaks" and so forth. True or not, it's lame to complain about the other guy's ducks, when one's own ducks are not in a row.
Either we and our positions have merit or they don't, and we should stand on the strengths of our positions. When the position is weak, we admit it, fix it, and move ahead to the next thing. While it's occasionally useful to compare to how the other side is doing, it becomes dreary if every opportunity, we merely complain about the opposition.
To the point of your comment and my reply: Richardson's situation doesn't have a damn thing to do with Muslims or Democrats. It's between him and the law. I didn't see your comment as lending anything to the discussion about Richardson, so I flagged it.
But I'm sorry that you felt I was picking on you; that wasn't my intent, and so I apologize for seeming to do so.
You're quite right.
When I said "might not be the best way to start the ball rolling. Then again it might, if he doesn't mind the arrest record" I was referring not to his chances later in court, but the effect it would have on his candidacy, and his constituents' view of his actions.
It will indeed be interesting to see if he brings suit, and then what results.
> Then he would win the court case. As a Republican, he'll lose.
You might be right.
But if you really believe that the deck is stacked that badly against you, I presume that you are doing everything in your power to change, or if that doesn't work, to destroy, and if that doesn't work, escape, the system that oppresses you.
When liberals complain about America we tell them to find a place more to their liking. We better be careful with our complaints, lest we be subject to the same admonition.
See my comment farther down (#45) about why I think posting complaints about how life isn't fair to Republicans is not the best way to advance the conservative position.
Quite true.
In which case I'll be interested to see how he proceeds with his suit, and whether he wins.
I personally campaigned at said H.S. football games.
I wasn't 'in your face' about it, and was only asked to leave (1) school in the entire county I was covering.
The principal apologized to me and said it was because someone he knew to be a Democrat had complained to him personally...figures!
Of course I left without argument.
Richardson's campaign has been in touch with the US Justice Department today and will seek a temporary restraining order against the School Board from having him arrested again at this Friday's Northside -- Southside rivalry game. The School Board has back pedaled today and now states that no General Statute / law was violated but instead his actions were an "infraction" of School Board policies.
(Richardson is emulating the successful tactic of Senator Richard Burr in handing out campaign literature at high school football games with his platform on one side and referee signals on the other.)
Richardson is a member of the County Commission that was sued by the School Board a few months ago for budgeting "only" a 7 per cent increase in funding instead of the 15 percent the School Board requested. The subsequent County Commission appeal of the Superior Court verdict against them has frozen funding at the previous year's level until the appeal is heard.
The three School Board members up for reelection are facing strong challenges and are expected to be defeated next week. In addition the School Board violates its own policy by distributing campaign literature to teacher's mailboxes for candidates that have been endorsed by the teacher's union.
Subpoenas will be issued later in the week and those involved compelled to testify under oath. In addition Richardson is mulling the possibility of requesting the protection of the Federal Marshal at Friday night's game. He contends that political speech is the most protected form of free speech and is unlikely to back down.
J
""Religion is man attempting, but failing to reach God. Jesus Christ is God successfully reaching man.""
You're forgiven.
Cool.
There's WAY more to this than meets the eye. 06/29/06 Beaufort County Board of Education meeting. RESOLUTION ADOPTED certifying that the amount of money appropriated to current expense is not adequate to support the Beaufort County Schools. BUDGET DISPUTE PROCESS INITIATED.
Ended in a lawsuit
07/27/06 JURY VERDICT IN THE AMOUNT OF $10.2 MILLION. 07/28/06 County Commissioners met to discuss appeal.
www.beaufort.k12.nc.us/TIMELINE_for_BUDGET_DISPUTE.pdf
Ah ha! The plot thickens. :-)
Sounds like someones trying to use policy for their own brand of retribution. 'A law for thee but not for me' is one of the Democrats favorite games.
GO Richardson!
"If he wants to fight the school-board policy and/or the state statue, getting arrested might not be the best way to start the ball rolling. Then again it might, if he doesn't mind the arrest record."
Getting arrested is the best way to start the ball rolling, especially if you want to be able to contest the statute from the standpoint of free political speech, and not have a judge dismiss your case on the basis of lack of standing, ripeness, or some other dodge. It doesn't hurt his standing with libertarian conservatives, either.
Well isn't that INTERESTING!
This is going to get ugly for the Beaufort Board of Ed., I think.
He probably would have addressed the issue earlier, but had only recieved the letter from Hardison to stop passing out fliers the week before the incident.
Richardson was not arrested for expressing his views or soliciting votes verbally, but for distributing literature.
Are you going to the game? ; )
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