http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/dem-congressional-candidates-event-raided-by-san-diego-sheriffs.php?ref=fpblg"The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that a fundraiser for Francine Busby, who previously ran for the deeply-Republican Fiftieth District and came close to winning in the 2006 special election and subsequent regular election, was raided by sheriffs after an unnamed neighbor made a noise complaint. Busby now calls it a "phony" noise complaint, and the article says that multiple neighbors said there was no great noise at all.
Here's the twist: The fundraiser was hosted by a lesbian couple, and shortly before the sheriffs came a particular neighbor had shouted anti-gay slurs at the assembled crowd. "It was a quiet home reception, disrupted by a vulgar person shouting obscenities from behind the bushes," Busby says.
As one neighbor told the paper: "We didn't hear anything until the sheriff came, with eight patrol cars and a helicopter."
The sheriff's department claims that somebody kicked an officer. By the time it was over, multiple people were pepper-sprayed, one of the hostesses was arrested, and the whole neighborhood got to see quite a scene."
Damn the state-sponsored domestic terrorists.
EDIT: Update - TPM talked to Busby via phone:http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/busby-blames-local-residents-political-agenda-sheriffs-department-officer-in-raid-on-fundraiser.php?ref=fpblg"Busby strongly denied that anyone at the fundraiser did anything to provoke violence by the sheriffs. (For their part, the sheriffs claim that somebody kicked an officer.) And she put the blame squarely on a neighbor who heckled the crowd, then called the sheriffs to complain of loudness from Democrats.
"You could hear his voice very clearly, it was loud. But as far as the actual words, I didn't hear them," Busby explained. "I heard my name, and obviously derogatory words. Other people heard profanity, and somebody heard something about gays, as well."It should be noted that the event was hosted by a lesbian couple.
"The deputies were telling people that they were taking statements from, that the call came in about noise from a Democratic rally, or Democratic demonstration," said Busby. In fact, she said, she had last spoken at about 8:30 p.m., and the police arrived an hour later when most of the attendees had left. "It was a nuisance-noise call, because there was no noise, and the fact that it was described as a Democratic rally or demonstration indicates to me that this person was calling for his own political motives."
I asked her about a statement from one of the arresting officers, Sgt. Thomas Yancey, that Busby herself should have shown leadership in keeping the crowd in order. She obviously disagrees. "Because first of all, nothing was happening until this woman was arrested. He put her in a restraint-hold and she fell to the floor," she said. "I walked in when all the confusion started, and he was spraying pepper spray in all their faces...and frankly someone told me, 'You need to get out of here,' because it was out of control. He was not listening; there was no controlling this person. The people who asked him to stop hurting this woman were pepper-sprayed without warning, there was no talking to this man.""