Bush Staffers Ordered 3 Ejected From Event, Man Says

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Associated Press
Saturday, March 3, 2007

DENVER, March 2 -- A volunteer said Friday that he was acting on orders from White House staffers when he helped eject three people from a taxpayer-funded event President Bush was attending, according to the man's attorney.

The volunteer, Michael Casper, said in a deposition that two White House employees told him to throw out the three after Casper saw them behaving suspiciously, lawyer Sean R. Gallagher said.

Casper named the White House employees as Steven A. Atkiss, deputy director for travel, and Jamie O'Keefe, lead advance staffer for the 2005 event, Gallagher said.

White House spokesman Blair Jones said he could not comment on pending litigation.

Leslie Weise and Alex Young, two of the three people who were thrown out, filed a federal lawsuit against Casper and Jay Bob Klinkerman, both volunteers with the event's host committee. Weise and Young say that they were told to leave because of their political views and that the White House had a policy of ejecting dissenters from the president's appearances.

Martha Tierney, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said Atkiss and O'Keefe would be added as defendants.