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2 GOP workers triggered arrests
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- Police reports released this week show Republican volunteers at last week's presidential rally played a key role in the arrest of three sign-waving protesters. The reports and interviews by the St. Petersburg Times suggest it was the volunteers who first demanded the three protesters surrender their small signs, which derided George W. Bush and brought attention to Gay Pride Month. Summoned to the scene, police charged the protesters with trespassing when they refused to give up the signs or to leave. Volunteers at the Legends Field event say they were just following orders given by event organizers that prohibited signs on the field. But video footage obtained by the Times appears to show the rule was selectively enforced. Even as the disturbance unfolded, numerous crowd members were allowed to wave pro-Bush signs, some handmade, some professionally printed. Questions remain about how the rule was intended to be enforced. Even a police officer confronting the protesters seemed unsure why it applied to them but not to Bush supporters. A taped exchange between the officer and a protester, 59-year-old Sonja Haught, captures the confusion. Told by the officer she can stay on the field if she surrenders her sign, an angry Haught asks about the Bush supporters: "Why can't they lose their signs?" The officer's response: "You're talking to the wrong person." Two Republican volunteers were at the center of the action: Bill Bunkley and William D. Cordova. Bunkley of Tampa told the Times he was standing near the podium when he heard protesters chanting "Hail to the thief!" and other slogans. He noticed their signs. At a hasty briefing before the event, he said, he was told that no signs of whatever political persuasion should be allowed through the gate onto the field. "When I asked the folks they would have to give up their signs because they had to be left at the gate, they started yelling about their First Amendment rights, and some curse words started to fly," Bunkley said. Why were the Bush signs allowed to stay? "I did not see a single Bush sign prior to this confrontation," Bunkley said. Bunkley said he asked protesters to mind their language, since there was a group of little leaguers standing nearby. The close-pressed crowd was growing increasingly hostile to the protesters, he said. "I called in security (and said), "We've got some flaming tempers down here,' " Bunkley said, adding he stands by his action because he wanted to defuse the situation. A Tampa Police Department report says that another Republican volunteer, William D. Cordova, who was working as an usher, summoned an officer to the scene. "Cordova stated to me that the individuals were not complying with the event rules and would not relinquish their signs," the report reads. "Cordova repeatedly ordered the individuals to comply with the event staff personnel or face being ejected from the event." The more the protesters resisted giving up their signs, the more unruly the crowd became, with some grabbing at a sign held by protester Mauricio Rosas, the report says. Volunteers, Legends Field security, and police all asked Rosas to leave. "Rosas was attempting to incite the crowd by his outright disobedience and his encouragement to the individuals around him to interlock their arms with him," the report says. The tape shows the crowd applauding as Rosas, 37, is dragged away. They cheer again when police lead Haught and the third protester, Janis Lentz, 55, off the field. The White House, which has not taken a position on whether the presidential rally was a public or a private event, says the New York Yankees organization was the event's host. The Yankees have not returned repeated calls for comment. "What happened here in Tampa is a total travesty of justice," said Robert Kunst, president of the Oral Majority, a Miami Beach-based political action group that organized a small demonstration Thursday in front of City Hall. Kunst and the protesters are calling for an investigation into the police conduct, promising to sue. They charge authorities committed a hate crime by asking Rosas to give up his gay pride sign. They hand delivered their complaint to Tampa Mayor Dick Greco's secretary. "Tampa, get ready to write a check -- we're going after you," Kunst said. - Christopher Goffard can be reached at (813) 226-3337.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
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