Saint Paul, Minn - The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed suit in State Court today to get a court order preventing the city of St. Paul from revoking the park permits awarded five months ago to the Welfare Rights Committee and to Ben Plunkett. Both the Welfare Rights Committee and Ben Plunkett entered a lottery created five months ago by the St. Paul Parks department, and received permits for Hamm's Plaza. The purpose of the lottery was to allocate scarce space in the St. Paul City Parks during the RNC Convention.
On Aug. 5, 2008, the Parks Department sent WRC and Mr. Plunkett letters revoking their permits for Hamm's Plaza in downtown St. Paul. They were told by the city that Hamm's plaza would not be accessible to the public during the convention. Then the police were quoted in the Star Tribune saying that the WRC permit for Sept. 1 was revoked specifically because at the time it was issued they did not know the President and Vice President would be in town. The President will not be in town on Sept. 3 & 4, the dates of Mr. Plunkett's permits.
The ACLU-MN is arguing in their case that the city revoked permits without proper justification and that they are sending out inconsistent messages about the security zones. In an earlier RNC related lawsuit the city told the judge that the credentials only perimeter would not encompass Hamm's Plaza, and that areas outside that security perimeter would be accessible to the public.
"This is another example of the creeping release of information regarding this convention," said ACLU-MN Executive Director Chuck Samuelson. "Both the Welfare Rights Committee and Mr. Plunkett have spent five months preparing for this week and the city changed their mind at the 11th hour. The city needs to let people know what restrictions it wants to impose in a timely manner."
The ACLU-MN, WRC and Mr. Plunkett are represented by Daniel Brown from the law firm of Dorsey and Whitney.