Socialist Party USA Presidential Nominee Brian Moore was threatened with arrest Sunday afternoon by Brattleboro (Vermont) Police officers for petitioning in a supermarket parking lot to qualify on the presidential primary ballot of the Liberty Union Party of Vermont. The primary is scheduled for March 5th.
The manager of Hannaford Supermarkets in Brattleboro repeatedly ordered Moore, in a hostile voice, to leave the large mall parking lot because it was private property and owned by the store. Moore and his three colleagues stood their ground and refused to leave claiming they had a constitutional right to participate in a democratic process in a public area so that he could be a qualified presidential candidate in Vermont.
Two City of Brattleboro police cars, containing a lieutenant and a Sergeant Mike Gorman, arrived on the scene within minutes and ordered Moore and three of his petition colleagues "to leave or they would get a trespassing order, and would arrest us if necessary," Moore stated. Peter Diamondstone, an attorney and a leader of the Liberty Union Party in Vermont, and one of Moore's colleagues doing the petitioning, informed the officers that they had a constitutional right for such actions.
The officers decided to telephone State Attorney Dan Davis's office to determine the proper procedure. The petitioners, at Moore's request, were allowed to continue seeking signatures while the police and store manager waited for the chief law enforcement office of Vermont to make a decision. A last minute return call from the State Attorney Dan Davis's office saved the day for the Socialist Presidential candidate and his team. The petitioners continued on and finished the weekend with close to 500 signatures---halfway toward their goal of 1,000 signatures of Vermont voters, which is due Monday, January 21st, 2008, in the Vermont Secretary of State's Office.
Many of the shoppers Moore spoke with in the parking lot were from New Hampshire, several miles away, and thus could not sign his petition. Democratic and Republican presidential candidates were campaigning simultaneously as the Moore group petitioned, as close as 7 miles away, in the Town of Moreland, New Hampshire, and Keene, NH, which is 14 miles from Brattleboro. Moore observed "How ironic that these closeby major party candidates are campaigning effortlessly, while minor party candidates face obstruction after obstruction, in many states, just to gain ballot access." Moore hopes to gain access to 20 state ballots for the November General election. Moore says "Our political system is undemocratic and unfair, and biased in favor of the status quo and a two-party system."
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