Police Drop Charges in Sheehan’s Arrest
By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER
U.S. Capitol Police dropped a charge against Berkeley peace activist Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday, apologizing for removing her and a congressman’s wife from the President’s State of the Union speech for wearing slogan-bearing shirts.
Police didn’t explain why Sheehan was arrested and Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young, R-Fla., was not. But Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer asked the U.S. Attorney’s office to drop the misdemeanor unlawful-conduct charge against Sheehan, Deputy House sergeant-at-arms Kerri Hanley said.
“They were operating under the misguided impression that the T- shirt was not allowed,” Hanley said. “The fact that she (Sheehan) was wearing a T-shirt is not enough reason to be asked to leave the gallery or be removed from the gallery or be arrested.”
Still, Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, introduced a resolution Wednesday directing the sergeant at arms to investigate and report back to lawmakers on the women’s removal.
“There are no rules of the House Gallery that prohibit the wearing of T-shirts with writing on them,” Stark said in a news release announcing the resolution. “President Bush regularly requires his audiences to be screened and sanitized before he will appear before them. But this is supposed to be the people’s House. The president should not be able to override our governance and make us part of his Gestapo regime.”
In a posting to the popular, Emeryville-based political blog Daily Kos, Sheehan wrote she’s “speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country.”
She claimed she was dragged from the House Gallery by a Capitol Police officer after she unzipped her jacket to reveal an antiwar T- shirt which said “2,245 Dead. How many more?” She was never asked to remove or cover the shirt, she wrote.
Young told the St. Petersburg Times she was wearing a T-shirt that said, “Support the Troops Defending Our Freedom.” The newspaper said she was told to leave and reluctantly agreed but argued with officers in a hallway outside.
Other Bay Area House members have criticized Sheehan’s arrest.
“Since when is free speech conditional on whether you agree with the president?” asked Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, who gave Sheehan a ticket to attend the speech. “Cindy Sheehan, who gave her own flesh and blood for this disastrous war, did not violate any rules of the House of Representatives.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.