GOP volunteer seeks dismissal of suit
Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
Published January 25, 2006 at midnight
The man being sued for ejecting three people from a 2005 presidential appearance in Denver is attempting to get the case dismissed before the plaintiffs can ask which White House official may have ordered the ouster.
Michael Casper, a General Services Administration manager who volunteered March 21 at a speech by President George W. Bush, is being sued by Leslie Weise, 40, and Alex Young, 26, two of the three people ousted from the event.
Weise and Young say they had done nothing disruptive, but were forced to leave the town hall meeting on Social Security because they arrived in a car with a "No More Blood for Oil" bumper sticker. They say Casper and others violated their rights to free speech and protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
The two sued Casper and Jay Klinkerman, chairman of the Colorado Young Republicans, with the stated goal of finding out who ordered the ouster. Casper was wearing an earpiece and a lapel pin denoting a security clearance.
Casper's attorney, Sean Gallagher, has filed a motion to dismiss the federal lawsuit, arguing that Casper enjoys governmental immunity and that he violated no clearly established constitutional right of the plaintiffs. Gallagher cited a case that found such an ouster legal - but it occurred at a private Republican Party event, not a taxpayer-financed public event like the Bush speech.
Attorneys for Weise and Young have asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer to allow them to question Casper immediately to find out the identities of the higher-ups who ordered the ouster. They are now identified in the lawsuit as "John Does."
The plaintiffs' motion says it will take so long to litigate Casper's claim of governmental immunity that it "may well prohibit plaintiffs from naming the Doe defendants before the statute of limitations expires."
A hearing in the case is set for today in U.S. District Court.
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