A construction worker, Jayson Nelson, supervisor in Wisconsin’s Outagamie County, “was forced to leave President Bush’s campaign rally” [in Green Bay] because he was wearing a John Kerry T-shirt, reported the July 18 Appleton Post-Crescent.

Nelson had attended a “Kerry for President” rally in Fond du Lac earlier that same day. After he threw a button-down shirt over his t-shirt, Nelson, holding a CIP pass he received as a local government official, quietly and patiently waited outside Green Bay’s Reach Center auditorium. A complaint from a woman standing next to Nelson prompted security guards to force him to remove his dress shirt, and once the Kerry t-shirt was revealed, Nelson was plucked out of the line and delivered into the Secret Service’s custody. Nelson was released after a brief background check, but wasn’t permitted to attend the event.

“I was told that no law was broken, but I was nearly treated like a criminal for the terrible crime of wearing a t-shirt,” Nelson commented. Nelson had no right to attend the event, according to Merrill Smith, Midwestern regional spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney re-election effort. “These events are for people who are going to get out and support the president and who are going to work on his behalf between now and November 2.”

Interestingly, the Secret Service said they would have done the same thing at a Kerry event, reported Nelson. (If he were wearing a Bush for President Tshirt, I would think.)

Hey. Nelson should consider himself fortunate. He could have been arrested and charged with “trespassing”, as were Nicole and Jeff Rank of Charleston, West Virginia. The Ranks were part of a crowd of spectators during a July 4th event billed as a “presidential appearance,” rather than a “campaign rally.” Like other participants, the Ranks acquired the proper tickets for the event, held on the steps of the state Capitol. They sang the National Anthem, and conducted themselves respectfully. But–unlike GOP loyalists sporting pro-Bush t-shirts and accoutrements, the Ranks were clad in t-shirts reading: “Love America, Hate Bush.”

Police took Nicole and Jeff Rank were taken away in handcuffs from the event,” reported the July 14 Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette. The couple was then fingerprinted and booked on “trespassing” charges –as if the Capitol steps suddenly became the property of the president and his supporters. Additionally, Nicole, who had worked as an environmental liaison for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was later told by the agency that “she was no longer needed in West Virginia.”

Noted the paper: “The Secret Service had been telling local police to sequester anyone displaying an anti-administration message, usually in areas completely out of sight or earshot of Bush.” This leaves local police and municipal governments on the hook for a federal policy intended to protect the president from the spectacle of public criticism of his performance. The charges against the Ranks were dropped, and the Charleston City Council offered a perfunctory apology. But the Secret Service Policy remains firmly in place….

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