Secret Service looks at charges

Man at Bush speech faces criminal inquiry

Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 23, 2005 at midnight

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The Secret Service is looking into possible charges of impersonating an agent against a man who forced three people from a presidential speech last month in Denver, a government source said Friday.

The Denver office of the Secret Service interviewed the unidentified man shortly after President Bush's speech and discovered that he was not a Secret Service agent, although he looked and acted like one. The agency told the victims that the man was a Republican Party staffer who admitted ousting them solely because of a "No more blood for oil" bumper sticker on their car.

The agency did not pursue charges at that time.

This week, Dan Recht, the attorney for the three, said he had been called by the Secret Service and told that the Washington office had sent agents to Denver to investigate and that they wanted to interview his clients.

A government official who refused to be named confirmed the existence of the criminal inquiry.

The Secret Service agents' appearance in Denver on Wednesday and Thursday came one day after Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., faxed the agency a letter, insisting it reveal the man's name and "what your department did, if anything, to determine whether this person unlawfully posed as a law enforcement official."

Udall said the investigation is "the right thing to do. I hope we can settle this quickly."

The three - Karen Bauer, Leslie Weise and Alex Young - say they did nothing to warrant being thrown out.

They say the man was dressed like a Secret Service agent with a dark suit, earpiece and lapel pin. They say he threatened them with arrest. Before the man arrived, they say another event volunteer told them they were waiting for Secret Service.

The White House has said he was a volunteer "concerned that these people were coming to the event to disrupt the event."

Also Friday, the three said they are starting a legal fund to pay for a lawsuit against the man and whoever trained him, for violation of their right to free speech. Recht said he has already received unsolicited offers of contributions.

Recht said that if necessary, they could discover the man's identity through a lawsuit.

"We're going to get to the bottom of this," said Young.

Bush is now speaking only to invited audiences about his Social Security plan. "That makes them partisan political events paid for by the taxpayer," Young said.

The group also started a Web site, www.denverthree.org, with commentary of their own, news articles on the issue and a link to a Web site where the bumper sticker can be purchased.

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