Heckler of Democratic Fundraiser Calls Police -- Who Procede To Bust Up Event With Pepper Spray!

California can sometimes be like the old South, where some local police jurisdictions are happy to use their authorities to harass political activities on the left. It's the old "community standards" argument -- if an activity is not the natural or acceptable for the neighborhood, police powers are justified following a citizen complaint. For example, a porn store in Vatican City would be closed down and its owner arrested, following a complaint.

In a wealthy San Diego neighborhood, a Democratic Party fundraiser hostess was pepper-sprayed, arrested and jailed overnight! The reason: complaints of excessive noise made by persons seeking to disrupt the fundraiser. The affair was quiet and had no band or entertainment.

Here's the raw account from Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/28/747742/-Police-Chaos-at-Democratic-Campaign-Event-

TANGENT ALERT

Speaking of Democratic Party fundraisers: I had a miserable time at one when in college when I was with a group of college students campaigning for Kathleen Brown to defeat that Nazi, Pete Wilson, in the 1994 California gubernatorial election. It was a horrible time when progressive issues were on the defensive, the year of the "angry white male voter." It was the Lou Dobbs-Rush Limbaugh election, as you recall, that swept in the Republican majority to Congress. President Clinton's performance in office left the Repubs emboldened for a pushback attempt after their shocking defeat in 1992. In this year of pushback to the liberal-progressive agenda, even the crowd inside Democratic fundraisers could be surprisingly hostile to progressives. I guess we were regarded as a liability that year, less desirable to be seen with.

I was in a conversation about health care and saying "wouldn't it be great if we could pass universal: you're all with me, right?" I was surrounded and shouted down, called poor person, pro-welfare, told to get a job or buy Blue Cross. I told them I had Blue Cross, but said wouldn't it be better to have universal, where coverage is extended to everybody and health care is managed better. That made them livid, so the situation I found myself in only got worse, close to physical. It was a bit intimidating to say the least. What's wrong with this country?

I never expected to be taken to task by the punch bowl with professional psy-ops precision. I suspect I had run into professional health insurance company lobbyists who were in attendance. I was really wounded by that encounter and surprised at how lousy I am at holding up an argument. In my fantasies I whip out all the facts and statistics and close them down it with a call for human decency in allowing everyone to have health care access. But I'm simply not that good, so I "lost."

Those who do not understand California think the whole state leans left, but there are some places you better take that Obama sticker off your car... it's guaranteed to be asking for eventual trouble. They will come after you when they notice you are alone.

Now Hawaii, THAT'S a safe place leave your Obama sticker on.

UPDATE seen on http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/Hostess-of-Francine-Busby-party-arrested/W0g74AJ7c0mEJYb88WonQg.cspx?p=Comments

dontlie - 6/27/2009
4 Votes
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I was there. It was a quiet very classy political fundraiser with valet parking and catering. The older crowd (I'm 54 and many were much older than me) was very quiet and the only music was some very low background guitar music in the first hour. When Francine made her remarks at about 8:15 or so the mic was so low that those in the back were having a hard time hearing her. What we did hear was a very loud very vulgar neighbor from behind a hedge shouting insults. Francine made a joke about that and the crowd cheered which was the noisiest it got all evening. At about 9:15 the guests began leaving and when about half of them were gone I was helping clean up carrying dishes in to the caterer when I saw an officer talking to the Shari. The next thing I knew he twisted her arm and threw her to the ground, knocking a glass of water out of someones hand so that she was face down in glass and water. People who were VERY understandably shaken began yelling for him to stop hurting her. The Crazed officer then whipped out pepper spray and sprayed everyone in the room. People were coughing and choking and horrified. Several people called 911 to report the officer and were told that they could not report the police. Many of us, myself included had to run to get water on our faces. We couldn't breath. This woman was brutally attacked in her own home without provocation. No one punched the officer. That is a lie. The party was not noisy. That is a lie. The police did not come twice. That is a lie. We were told that the complaint was that there a "Democratic Demonstration" I'm not sure what that means. Why would someone have a demonstration in their back yard? I also don't why they would feel it necessary to use such excessive force when it should have been obvious to them that the complaint made was false. The Sheriff's Dept. is trying to spin this because they know they have an out of control officer and they are doing damage control.