Adam Kokesh at an antiwar rally in September 2007. Photo: Flickr user ragessos

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had barely begun to give his acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention when a clamor went up in the upper levels of St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center. Adam Kokesh, a Marine who had become a leader of Iraq Veterans Against the War, stood up and unfurled a banner with two sides. On the first side: “YOU CAN’T WIN AN OCCUPATION.” On the other side: “MCCAIN VOTES AGAINST VETS.”

Security guards went into action and dealt with Kokesh’s banner; an irritated crowd of Republicans chanted “USA” until the banner was removed. McCain moved right on, but Kokesh hadn’t finished yet.

“I’m grateful to the president of the United States for leading us in these dark days following the worst attack in American history,” said McCain.

“Ask McCain why he votes against veterans!” shouted Kokesh.

He didn’t get another chance to rain on McCain’s parade, but Kokesh remained proud of what he did. A video that cut together the interruption with jokes, subtitles, and a pounding soundtrack went up on Kokesh’s YouTube account. It’s still there, even though Kokesh’s relationship to the Republican Party is very different now. He’s a candidate for Congress in New Mexico’s 3rd district, looking like the Republican front-runner just one short year after he crashed the convention. Over the course of a year, he’s made the move from confrontation-seeking anti-war activist to clean-cut politician in the mold of the man he supported in 2008, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

“The ground has really shifted away from the neocon agenda,” Kokesh told the Washington Independent during a break in his campaign schedule. “There was no influx of young people getting into the Republican Party to support John McCain. By contrast, Ron Paul brought a huge number of young people into the Republican Party. It’s really exciting to see that happening again with my campaign.”

Kokesh’s move into electoral politics–he is 27 years old, and this is his first stab at campaigning–unifies two trends that have made the GOP that will fight the midterm elections dramatically different than the one Kokesh used to protest. The first is the rise of Ron Paul’s libertarianism. After years of obscurity, Paul came out of the 2008 elections with a national fundraising base and new respect for his ideas about war and economics among Republican activists and voters. The second trend is the Tea Party movement. After feeling ignored by George W. Bush’s Republicans, the conservative base has come together to demand commitment to the Constitution, commitment to small government values, and guarantees of national and state sovereignty.

“He never had an official role in the campaign, but we could count on him to energize people,” said Jesse Benton, Paul’s spokesman. Kokesh was a late edition to Paul’s 2008 “Rally for the Republic,” an event meant to “bring the Republican Party back to its roots” held in Minneapolis before McCain’s address to the RNC in 2008.

“I’d like to think that this symbolizes some good old-fashioned traditional conservatism making a comeback in the GOP,” said Benton. “Republicans have seen that running as the ‘war party’ is a loser for them.”

Today, Kokesh argues that the efforts of Paul supporters look more or less successful. Bush-era “neocons” are out of the political mainstream, replaced by people like him. “Our nation is drifting dangerously from freedom to fascism,” Kokesh said at a July 2008 rally for Paul in Washington, D.C.; at a 2007 Senate hearing, he was photographed holding up a tally of how many times then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had said “I don’t recall.” But rhetoric that sounded out of the mainstream that year sounds perfectly in line with the comments of Republicans like Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) or Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), and criticism of the GOP or the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are no longer controversial in the party’s grassroots.

“If you want to compare to Washington, yes, I’m a radical extremist,” Kokesh said. “If you want to compare me to normal American values, I’m right in the middle of the road. I’m finding out that the grassroots of both parties are so grossly misrepresented by their representatives in Washington that we have more in common with each other.”

Depending on who’s analyzing the race, New Mexico’s third district is either an ideal or a poorly chosen battlefield for a candidate like Kokesh. It’s the most Democratic-leaning district in the state, having given 61 percent of the vote to the Obama-Biden ticket in 2008. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), the freshman that Kokesh wants to challenge, won his election by 27 points, spending $1.5 million to fend off a Republican who spent only $190,000. One Democratic insider labeled Kokesh as an interesting candidate with an interesting strategy and no chance to win.

“There is almost zero chance this seat will change hands,” said David Wasserman, House race editor of the Cook Political Report, which ranks NM-3 the 133rd bluest seat in America. “It is just too Democratic.”

Still, Democrats and Republicans in the district, with the election 11 months away, expressed some respect for a first-time campaigner (Kokesh is 27 years old) who cleaned up for politics in a hurry. His connections to Ron Paul’s movement have allowed him to raise near $150,000 in a few months since entering the campaign in August.

“He’s an interesting candidate,” said Richard Ellenberg, chairman of the Santa Fe County Democratic Party. “There are some people who surprise me with–I almost want to call it their ’star-struck’ approach to this campaign. They were star-struck by Obama and they’re star-struck by Kokesh.”

A spokeswoman for the New Mexico Republican Party told the Washington Independent that the presence of another candidate in the Republican primary–Tom Mullins, another first-time politician–prevents the party from saying anything more than how its members are “excited to have strong candidates in this district.” But John Otter, a founder of the Green Party of the United States who is the party’s treasurer in Santa Fe, said that Kokesh had a shot at winning over anti-war liberals.

“Personally, I’d vote for him,” said Otter. “I’d be be attracted to someone with a position against the war. Lujan was elected with liberal votes, and he’s just gone with the flow.”

Kokesh’s appeal has a lot to do with the hard-edged activism that launched his career. He has traded in military fatigues for suits and plaid shirts. “I think people have told him that the one-fisted Black Panther salute might not sell anymore,” said Jesse Benton. His message, however, is the same anti-war libertarian populism that used to get him kicked out of buildings.

“You can’t just start chanting ‘End the Fed’ at a GOP county meeting,” said Kokesh. “You have to take a step back and explain this perspective on monetary policy. But what’s so exciting now, in terms of the opportunity presented by this horrible economic situation is that you can start teaching these Austrian economic principles, and all of a sudden they don’t seem so abstract because you can connect them to what’s happening in real life.”

Mullins, who entered the race in October and is running a more traditional Republican campaign, has not chosen to make an issue out of Kokesh’s anti-war activism or argue that his opponent is out of the party mainstream. “I disagree with his characterization of our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan as ‘occupations,’” said Mullins. “I think the president made the right decision, and we should finish the job, but to be honest the war doesn’t come up much right now.”

Kokesh agreed with Mullins, after smiling at how his opponent had tried to publicize his own libertarian credentials. (”He’s holding a copy of The Road to Serfdom on his website,” said Kokesh. “Of course, he’s also holding up a copy of Going Rogue.”) Anti-war activists are key to the Kokesh campaign. He received an attention-getting endorsement from former Sen. Mike Gravel, and he’s publicized his support from Tina Richards, a “marine mom” who gained notoriety after a heated 2007 confrontation with Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wisc.) over why Democrats refused to cut off funding for the Iraq War. But the issue that got him to confront John McCain isn’t motivating voters in New Mexico.

“Most of them don’t care, and that’s really sad,” said Kokesh. “It’s not just Republicans, but all voters. The Obama administration is keeping up the Bush policy of keeping Americans isolated from the war.”

But Democrats, even as they write off his chances at a win, say Kokesh’s transition from the anti-war movement to anti-Fed, libertarian populism is coming at a perfect time.

“I think he’s trying to pick up a national mantle, as a national personality in the Ron Paul mode,” said Ellenberg. “I think he’s been successful so far.”

Hennepin County District Court Judge Daniel Mabley ruled today that Darst is guilty of a gross misdemeanor charge of damage to property, as well as two counts of misdemeanor assault. The 30-year-old Minnetrista resident was acquitted on two burglary counts.

Darst, better known in activist circles as “Panda,” was a key informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in building a case that eight area anarchists (pictured) were engaged in a credible criminal conspiracy to disrupt September’s Republican National Convention in St. Paul. His subsequent arrest, however, has raised questions about his credibility as a potential witness in the cases.

According to the findings released by Judge Mabley today, police were summoned to a Minnetrista residence on January 11 shortly after 2 a.m. Upon arrival officers found that the rear door to the home had been ripped off its hinges. They also observed damage to a window, a hole in a wall, damage to a dog dish and a cracked wooden chair.

The five people present at the residence informed the cops that Darst was responsible for the damage. He’d arrived at the house earlier that night after learning that his wife was there and that she was extremely intoxicated.

“The Defendant came into the residence swinging, punching and calling for his wife,” according to Judge Mabley’s findings. One of the witnesses reported that Darst was swinging “like he wanted to kill us.”

Darst claimed in an affidavit that he was immediately attacked upon entering the residence and that he was acting in self defense. But his statements to police shortly after the incident contradict this claim. When asked at the time whether anyone had assaulted him, this was allegedly Darst’s response: “No, they were pushing me back. … Which is understandable considering that, you know, it is their home.”

Darst waived his right to a jury trial last week. Instead he agreed to abide by Mabley’s determination of guilt or innocence based on written records related to the case. Darst will be sentenced on May 18. The prosecution is seeking a prison term of 180 days.

The overwhelming majority of these — roughly 85 percent — have since been dropped owing to insufficient evidence. This includes the cases of 323 people who were picked up in a mass arrest on the final day of the convention and 39 journalists who were detained. In addition, as of last month, another 52 defendants had either pleaded guilty or paid a fine.

But of the small number of misdemeanor cases that have proceeded to court, the city attorney’s office has yet to secure a single conviction. The latest setback occurred Thursday when a jury acquitted two RNC protesters — Ilana Radovsky and Gracia Logue-Sargeant — of seven charges, including unlawful assembly and fleeing police, as reported by the Pioneer Press. In addition, two of the four charges facing Sean Patrick McCoy were dismissed by Ramsey County District Court Judge Edward Wilson owing to insufficient evidence. He was slated to be back in court today on the remaining counts.

In January, charges against seven protesters were dismissed after the prosecutors completed their case. Ramsey County District Judge Michael Fetsch determined that no jury could reasonably convict the defendants based on the evidence presented.

The Austin, Texas–based activist acknowledged producing eight Molotov cocktails and conspiring to violently disrupt the Republican National Convention in September.

McKay initially attempted to plead guilty to the three felony counts Monday, but his admission of guilt was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis. The reason? McKay continued to insist that a government informant, Brandon Darby, was partly responsible for producing the incendiary devices.

McKay had initially pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. A trial last month ended in a hung jury. But prosecutors had since come up with additional evidence, including a phone conversation between McKay and his father in which he acknowledged that the Molotov cocktails were produced without assistance from Darby.

This morning, under direct questioning from Davis, McKay repeatedly acknowledged criminal wrongdoing.

“Just so I’m clear, you did not come to Minneapolis-St. Paul to peacefully demonstrate?” Davis asked at one point.

“No sir,” McKay responded.

“Are you making any claim that you’re innocent?” Davis queried at another point.

“No, I am not,” the defendant acknowledged.

The use of informants to infiltrate activist groups planning to engage in civil disobedience during the RNC has proven problematic in obtaining prosecutions. In an unrelated case, an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation was recently arrested and charged with five criminal counts, including burglary and assault.

Davis ordered a pre-sentence investigation, but no date has been set for McKay’s sentencing. His longtime friend and fellow activist, Bradley Neal Crowder, pleaded guilty in January to illegally possessing the Molotov cocktails.

After accepting McKay’s guilty plea, Davis ruled that he was to begin serving time immediately. The defendant removed his suit jacket, necktie and belt and was taken into custody.

According to the criminal complaint, Darst showed up at a Minnetrista housewarming party on Jan. 11 looking for his wife, with whom he’d quarreled earlier in the evening. Darst allegedly kicked in the door of the home and physically assaulted two individuals attending the party. “The defendant appeared to be full of rage and anger,” the complaint states.

The incident might be dismissed as a routine domestic dispute — except for Darst’s prior interactions with law enforcement. He previously served as an undercover informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, helping to build a case against the so-called RNC Eight (pictured). The group of activists are charged with criminally conspiring to disrupt the Republican National Convention held in St. Paul in September. But Darst’s own alleged criminal acts have raised questions about his credibility as an informant in the high-profile prosecutions.

Darst’s scheduled 3 p.m. court appearance never occurred, however. Apparently owing to scheduling conflicts for attorneys involved in the case, the legal matter was dealt with in an impromptu hearing earlier in the day.

According to a tape recording of the proceeding, Darst agreed to waive his right to a jury trial. Instead Mabley will decide his guilt or innocence based on written records related to the case.

Despite the unusual legal arrangement, prosecutors continue to insist that Darst is guilty of the alleged crimes. “He had reasonable alternatives available, including calling the police if he was concerned about the safety of his wife and he had the option to retreat from the dwelling,” said Assistant Hennepin County Attorney John Halla during the hearing. “He did neither.”

But the legal machinations have left some wondering if Darst might have struck a deal with the prosecution in order to avoid a trial.

“Otherwise why not just go to trial and let a jury decide?” asks Jordan Kushner, an attorney representing one member of the RNC Eight, Luce Guillen-Givins. “I would have to guess there’s more to this than what’s on the record.”

Whether these suspicions are justified will be known shortly. Mabley is slated to rule on the criminal charges facing Darst next Monday.

“This is just the beginning,” says Ted Dooley, one of the attorneys handling the cases. “There’s going to be a lot of litigation, and it’s going to take a long time.”

Plaintiff Michael Whalen’s duplex was raided by St. Paul police on August 30, two days before the start of the convention. At the time, Whalen (pictured below) was housing members of Eyewitness Video, who were in town to document RNC protests.

Among the reasons given for the search, according to his lawsuit: He once co-owned Arise Bookstore with former Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson and had received “large, heavy boxes” in the mail.

What was inside these suspicious boxes? Vegan literature. Nonetheless officers searched the house and detained the occupants for three hours. Ultimately no property was seized and no arrests were made.

Police also claimed in their search warrant application that they’d tried to pull over a vehicle driven by Whalen and that he’d fled the scene.

“It’s not a mistake,” says Dooley, of the assertion. “It’s a goddamn fabrication.”

Three other lawsuits claim the actions of police officers prevented them from working as journalists.

Wendy Binion, an Oregon resident who works with the Web site Portland IndyMedia, was arrested on the second day of the convention near Mears Park. Her lawsuit claims that she was “battered, assaulted, subjected to excessive, unreasonable force, unreasonably seized, falsely arrested and falsely imprisoned” by St. Paul police officers. She also alleges that officers confiscated her video camera, ATM card and other personal property and did not return it for two months.

“I firmly believe that if they are going to declare war on our Constitutional rights of free speech, assembly and press that they should be tried as the war criminals that they are,” Binion says.

Similarly, Vladimir Teichberg and Olivia Katz of New York were in town to document the convention for the Glass Bead Collective. Five days before its start, they were stopped by police officers while walking in northeast Minneapolis. They claim the officers detained them for at least 30 minutes and held their possessions — including a laptop computer, cell phones and cameras — for 14 hours. (This Minnesota Independent video features Teichberg discussing the incident just after it happened.)

They were never charged with a crime. Most of their property was eventually returned. Still missing are a $100 bill and Katz’s driver’s license, according to the lawsuit.

A pair of local activists are also among the plaintiffs who filed cases yesterday. Mick Kelly previously sued St. Paul in June after he was arrested for handing out literature outside Xcel Energy Center on the evening that Barack Obama laid claim to the Democratic presidential nomination. The city settled the suit by paying the anti-war activist $5,000.

In the new lawsuit Kelly claims that on the final day of the convention he was attacked by Minneapolis police officers while marching in a parade. According to the lawsuit, Kelly was carrying a banner that read “Confront the warmakers, U.S. out of Iraq now.” He was surrounded by officers on horseback, the banner was ripped from its pole, and he was shot at close range with a non-lethal weapon. The projectile left a bruise “the size of a frisbee,” according to the lawsuit.

“What it was, I don’t know,” Kelly says of the weapon used against him, “but it was close and it was painful.”

He was detained and ticketed, but the citation was later dropped. He is is seeking more than $1 million in damages.

Michelle Gross is a founder of Communities United Against Police Brutality, which highlights alleged civil rights abuses. She was present at the headquarters of the RNC Welcoming Committee when it was raided by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office three days before the start of the convention. Gross claims that she was inappropriately “strip-searched” by deputies and that one officer touched her “under her brassiere in a sexually offensive manner.”

Gross believes she was targeted because of her work highlighting police misconduct.

“I do think it was retaliatory,” she says. “But how can you know what’s on people’s minds?”

The final two lawsuits were filed by Rebecca Sang, of Cerritos, Calif., and Jason Johnson, of Cedar Lake, Ind. Both claim they were victims of excessive force and false arrest. They were cited for allegedly obstructing police, but the charges were subsequently dropped.

There are expected to be a slew of additional cases filed in the coming months. Although nearly 800 people were arrested during the four-day gathering, only about 15 of those cases have resulted in criminal charges. Last week the St. Paul city attorney’s office announced that it would not be pressing charges against 323 swept up in a mass arrest on the final day of the convention.

Dooley says the cases are important because they will allow the public to scrutinize police tactics leading up to and during the four-day gathering.

“This could go, God help me, for years,” he says. “But we will find out things.”

Photo: Jill Brady (via The Vigil)

FBI whistleblower-turned-activist Coleen Rowley is on a roll. She ripped into the City of St. Paul’s report on Republican National Convention law enforcement in a commentary that appeared Friday at MinnPost and today at The Huffington Post. Tomorrow, as court hearings start in the cases of the RNC8 protesters, Rowley and individuals from Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and other groups will file formal complaints against the city, state and Ramsey County over police tactics. And Rowley’s inquiries into what she suspects was overbroad surveillance during the RNC are starting to bear fruit — or at least what she calls a first “non-responsive” response from Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher’s office.

In her commentary, Rowley cites President Obama’s inauguration as an example of a National Special Security Event (like the RNC) that police pulled off “somehow, without tear gas, tasers or thousands of people dragged off in handcuffs.” St. Paul’s Heffelfinger-Luger report, Rowley points out, avoids the question of “whether such aggressive ‘police state’ action during the RNC was actually necessary.” She concludes:

Perhaps the worst mistake made in the RNC Commission Report is falling for the notion of trade-offs between security and liberty instead of seeing them as intertwined. President Obama phrased it well in his inaugural speech statement, when he said “we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.”

After a “Mardi Gras-themed procession” at noon on Tuesday on the state Capitol lawn, Rowley and others plan to file ”Notices of Claim” (pdf) that will contain charges like this:

In the year-long investigation and planning that preceded the RNC and the police enforcement during the RNC, Sept 1-4, 2008, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, along with other state, local and federal law enforcement agencies and private corporations and associations of private companies, including the “Department of Homeland Security’s (now defunct) Highway Watch” and presumably the FBI’s “InfraGard” corporate partnerships did produce faulty and defamatory “intelligence” assertions that linked the organization WAMM that I am a member of to “terror networks”. Ramsey County opened an investigation approximately one year before the RNC that provided the basis of the false claims used to defame WAMM and to violate the privacy rights of WAMM members by then disseminating this information to private corporations, associations and other law enforcement agencies.

Rowley’s public-data requests to the FBI (her former employer) and Ramsey County have so far elicited only a brush-off response from Fletcher’s office (pdf).

Her draft response:

1) If I understand correctly, any data gathered on the other organizations and groups (besides the RNC Welcoming Committee) that I inquired about—to include that gained by viewing their websites–is not contained in separate files but in the same investigative file as the one that has led to prosecution of some of the “RNC Welcoming Committee”. Is that understanding correct?

2) If you are saying that the information your Department has collected on other groups and members of other groups, is all contained in one big file, there still would be no reason it cannot be segregated out for release, would there? Since there are no ongoing prosecutions related to these other groups and members of these other groups? For example: the “Women Against Military Madness (WAMM)”; “Troops Out Now”; the “Anti-War Committee”; “Protest RNC 2008” and other peace and social justice groups are charted out in a “Social Network Analysis” and “Power Centrality Ranking” that links them to the “RNC Welcoming Committee” in a Homeland Security-Highway Watch document that has recently come to light. It’s not clear whether this “intelligence” product was only produced as a result of “viewing their websites” but even if that’s so, wouldn’t there at least be notes and copies made from that law enforcement effort of analyzing the public websites?

3) I have a hard time believing that Ramsey County Sheriff Department informant(s) reported information only on the “RNC-8”. It is precisely the other individuals who are not being prosecuted and about whom information may be contained in the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office that is of interest for the research that Mr. Cox and I are conducting. Are informant report files maintained separately?

4) Again assuming I’m correct in believing that the Ramsey Sheriff Department’s information is contained in one big file that also involves the information collected on the “RNC Welcoming Committee,” what is the name of that file? How is it indexed for retrieval and further use? Was the file opened to contain all investigative data collected in the lead-up to the RNC or was it focused solely on the RNC Welcoming Committee? If the latter, why would the information on other groups and members of groups not connected to the prosecution of the “RNC Welcoming Committee” not be releasable at this time? Can you give me an idea of the size of the file and how many other individuals and groups (not being prosecuted) are documented or referenced in the file?

5) Why did you ask for a delay when first responding to my request back in December, telling me you expected my request to take a lot of time to gather up responsive materials?

Here is the court schedule for the RNC8 hearings. All will take place at the Ramsey County Courthouse, 15 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul (courtroom assignments listed on screens in the lobby).

Max Specktor: Feb. 24, 1:30 p.m.
Monica Bicking: Feb. 24, 2:30 p.m.
Luce Guillen-Givens: Feb. 27, 9:30 a.m.
Eryn Trimmer: Feb. 10:30 a.m.
Erik Oseland: Monday, March 2, 9 a.m.
Rob Czernik: Tuesday, March 3, 9 a.m.
Nathanael Secor: Tuesday, March 3, 10 a.m.
Garrett Fitzgerald: Tuesday, March 3, 1:30 p.m.

An additional 20 cases stemming from the mass arrest on the final day of the gathering are still being investigated.

“There was a lot of confusion for a lot of people that night,” said City Attorney John Choi in announcing the decision.

“Ultimately this decision reflects specifically our prosecution standard: Can we prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial? We’ve come to the conclusion that, for the cases involved the Marion Street bridge and the Cedar Street bridge, that would not be the case.”

However, Choi defended the St. Paul Police Department’s decision to arrest nearly 400 people on Sept. 4.

“There was probable cause to arrest, but there wasn’t probable cause to prosecute,” he said. “Those standards are very very different. It is our obligation not to proceed on cases where we believe that we would not succeed at trial.”

Local civil rights activists said the failure to press charges is just the latest evidence that many of the arrests during the RNC were frivolous.

“The reality is that those arrests should never have been made,” said Bruce Nestor, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

“Much of the alleged disorder is directly attributable to the police presence and police overreaction.”

“They should never have arrested them in the first place,” added Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “I believe that they were arbitrary and capricious arrests.”

The city attorney’s office has now processed roughly 90 percent of the 672 potential misdemeanor cases stemming from RNC activities. Of those cases, 52 have resulted in guilty pleas or fines. An equal number of cases are currently pending in the court system. However, the overwhelming majority of arrests — 490 — have either not resulted in charges or the cases have been dismissed by the courts.

So far no civil litigation has been brought against the city for police actions during the four-day gathering. Anti-war protester Mick Kelly has sent the city a letter stating his intent to sue for alleged civil rights violations, but has yet to file a case.

The city has a $10 million insurance policy, paid for by the Minneapolis St. Paul 2008 Host Committee, to cover litigation costs. However, numerous lawsuits are expected in the coming months.

“We’ve got a bunch of cases we’re looking at,” said Samuelson.

“Attorneys have been engaged in active information gathering in consideration of civil litigation related to the pattern of mass arrests and excessive use of police force,” Nestor confirmed. “I would think that planning can now go forward.”

Nearly 800 people were arrested. Pepper spray and flash-bang grenades were repeatedly used to disperse crowds. Store-front windows were smashed and vehicle tires slashed. If nothing else, the four days of the Republican National Convention certainly succeeded in bringing some excitement to the normally sleepy streets of downtown St. Paul.

Before a sometimes rambunctious public audience today, a seven-member panel, led by former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Luger, presented an 82-page report on policing during the Republican National Convention to the St. Paul City Council. While the panel generally concluded that the St. Paul police acted appropriately in overseeing security arrangements during the four-day gathering, it did offer numerous criticisms of the department’s preparations and tactics. Among the shortcomings outlined in the report:

• The cops should have done a better job of preparing the public for the police presence during the RNC. In numerous community events leading up to the convention, police officials emphasized that they intended to utilize a friendly and low-key approach to law enforcement. In reality, there were scores of cops in riot gear lining parade routes and protests on all four days of the convention, leading many observers to characterize it as a police state. “We take fault with the city for not preparing the community better,” Luger told the city council.

• The St. Paul Police Department was slow in working out “joint-powers agreements” with more than 100 outside law-enforcement agencies deemed necessary to staff the event. This led to uneven training for officers and a “slow and disjointed response to anarchist activities” on the first day of the convention.

• There was no established protocol for dealing with journalists who got swept up in unlawful assemblies and other events. This led to the arrest of more than 40 reporters who were attempting to do their jobs. “Both the media and the SPPD struggled with the question of who was a journalist and whether journalists (however defined) should be afforded some form of special treatment should they find themselves detained or arrested,” the report concludes.

• The use of “mass arrests” to deal with disturbances should be further reviewed. In particular, the report raises questions about the detainment of roughly 350 people on the Marion Street bridge during the final night of the convention.

Despite these criticisms, the panel concluded that the threat of violence from protesters during the convention was significant and that there were credible plans to shut down the convention. “These were sophisticated, organized and tenacious activists intent on committing repeated and highly dangerous acts of violence,” the report states.

During the one-hour presentation, a packed house of observers often laughed, jeered and offered unsolicited criticisms of the report’s findings. While the outside review was intended to placate critics of the police’s handling of the convention, it was clear that many who showed up were unimpressed by the process. Heffelfinger and Luger were repeatedly interrupted by cries of “lies” from the audience as they gave their testimony. On a couple of occasions city council president Kathy Lantry threatened to shut the meeting down if the audience did not desist from disrupting the presentation.

The seven-member panel was hired in October by the City of St. Paul to review police preparations and tactics during the four-day gathering. The group interviewed more than 50 people involved in RNC protests and policing, reviewed thousands of pages of planning documents, and watched hundreds of hours of videotape. All exhibits, including videos and photographs, can be reviewed on the city’s web site.

Despite the criticism, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman expressed satisfaction at how the four-day gathering proceeded.

“I still believe at the end of the day it was a successful convention,” he told the city council. “We will take this report very seriously and we will act upon it where appropriate.”