| MANCHESTER, NH - August 26 - Repeated efforts by U.S. Sen. John Edwards
(D-NC) and his campaign staff to block peaceful protesters from expressing their views during campaign events in public spaces cast doubt upon his commitment to civil liberties, members of Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM) said today.
Edwards has sharply criticized the Bush administration's civil liberties record. In a June 11 speech to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, he accused Attorney General John Ashcroft of pursuing policies that "take away our civil rights, take away our liberties, and take away our freedom."
But on Sunday, for the third time in less than a week, Edwards' campaign staff tried to block GSMM members from peacefully expressing their views in a public space. At a town hall meeting in Keene Central Square Park in Keene, New Hampshire, five GSMM members tried to enter the public park with signs protesting Edwards' position favoring the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) raids on medical marijuana patients in states that protect patients from arrest. Several campaign staff members stopped them.
When a campaign worker said, "We'll not allow you in with the signs ... this is our park," GSMM Campaign Coordinator Aaron Houston replied, "We have the right to be here," and entered with GSMM volunteers and signs. Edwards' campaign staffers then held their own signs in front of the protesters to prevent voters and journalists from seeing the GSMM placards.
This angered some audience members. An unidentified woman approached an Edwards campaign worker -- who was blocking a sign that read "Stop Arresting Patients" -- and asked, "What are you afraid of?" Under audience pressure, Edwards' staffers eventually withdrew and stopped blocking the signs.
During the question-and-answer period, Terry Bennett of Keene -- not a GSMM member -- asked Edwards, "Are there going to be supporters with the John Edwards signs all along the campaign trail blocking access to other people with dissenting views?" Edwards replied by falsely claiming, "I have seen some of these signs that said. ... `John Edwards Hates Cancer Patients.'"
No such sign was ever displayed. A GSMM volunteer did carry a sign that read "Edwards Wants to Arrest Cancer Patients," an accurate description of Edwards' support for the DEA raids on medical marijuana patients.
"For a man who claims to be a defender of civil liberties, Edwards seems to be terrified of free speech," said GSMM Campaign Coordinator Aaron Houston. "The only way he could criticize us was to lie about our message. Clearly, he knows his position is morally indefensible."
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