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August 25, 2009 08:56 PM UTC

Colorado Dem Party HQ Vandalized

  • 65 Comments
  • by: Dr B

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE #2: Well, this just got a bit more interesting.

Name: COLORADO CITIZENS’ COALITION

SOS ID: 20085621714

Type: 527 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Reporting Period: 10/23/2008 – 11/30/2008     Due: 12/04/2008

Date: 11/06/2008

Payee: MAURICE SCHWENKLER

1065 LIPAN

DENVER, CO 80204

Expenditure Type: Electioneering

Original Amount Reported: $0.00

Actual Amount: $500.00

Purpose: COMMUNICATION

That’s the one of two alleged perpetrators in custody. The address listed on Schwenkler’s Secretary of State payee filing from this Democratic-aligned 527 (for which, to be fair, he likely only worked for a few days just before the election) can be Googled back to:

Derailer Bicycle Collective, 1065 Lipan St, Denver CO 80204. Tel: 303-573-3896. Email: derailerbicyclecollective @yahoo.com *.  Community-run, completely free bike shop with an all-volunteer staff.

The Derailer Bicycle Collective, as profiled by Westword a couple of years ago, has an interesting political history, by all accounts peaceful but slightly to the left of Mikhail Bakunin. You’ve probably never heard of Bakunin because, well, that’s how left these kids are. And most people wouldn’t exactly consider them friends of “bourgeois” Democrats–they’re closer to the “Recreate ’68” set.

Anyway, that would certainly appear to change the complexion of this story. Do you suppose the Democrats got attacked for, um, caving in on ‘socialist’ health care? Original post follows.

Sad but true.

DENVER — Workers at the Colorado Democratic Party headquarters are cleaning up after vandals struck overnight.

   Nearly every window of the office on Santa Fe Drive was smashed with rocks. Very early estimates on the amount of damage caused at the office was about $10,000.

   Democratic Party Chairwoman Pat Waak said she received a call from police at 2:54 a.m. Waak said she believes the vandalism is connected to the heated debate over health care reform.

This is the lede at Channel 7 News http://www.thedenverchannel.co…

POLS UPDATE: The Denver Post reports the alleged perp is in custody:

The Denver Police Department has a man in custody, though they are not yet releasing the suspect’s name, said Det. Vicki Ferrari.

An officer on patrol spotted the vandal in the act around 2:20 a.m. and took him into custody after a short foot pursuit, she said.

Somebody check the voter file when they release his name, will you?

Comments

65 thoughts on “Colorado Dem Party HQ Vandalized

  1. Here’s what was found at the scene that told police who was behind this attack:

    Um, I think someone needs to tell these people what Kristallnacht was, who the Nazis really were, and how what they just did was by far the closest thing I’ve seen to Nazi behavior in this entire health care debate. This outrageous, and absolutely disgusting.

    Hate speech begets hate begets violence.

    H/T Morgan Carroll for the pic.

      1. Look absurd. She should have come clean and said I apologize for the acusation against the Republicans and move on but her comments only allow the Right to get more milage.

  2. http://twitter.com/DenverPolic

    BREAKING NEWS: DPD Offcrs arrested Maurice Schwenkler (24) for vandalizing the Colorado Democratic Party HQ at 777 Santa Fe

    http://www.sos.state.co.us/cpf

    ” Spending Detail

    Name: COLORADO CITIZENS’ COALITION

    SOS ID: 20085621714

    Type: 527 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

    Reporting Period: 10/23/2008 – 11/30/2008     Due: 12/04/2008

    Date: 11/06/2008

    Payee: MAURICE SCHWENKLER

    1065 LIPAN

    DENVER, CO 80204

    Expenditure Type: Electioneering

    Original Amount Reported: $0.00

    Actual Amount: $500.00

    Purpose: COMMUNICATION “

  3. To think that our right wingers might actually resort to violence!

    Seen any lefties carrying their firearms around lately?  Storming the town halls with pictures of Hitler?  Nope, only the crazed rights.  (Acknowledging not all righties are crazy.)

    I listened to about ten minutes of a Specter town hall meeting on Mike Malloy downloaded. I couldn’t take any more.  The level of ignorance of these people was, well, probably typical of most Americans.  They spouted about the constitution, yet I’ll bet most have never read it, at least since HS Civics.  Many of their voiced concerns Mike Malloy showed after how they were right out of the R. W. groups shilling for Big Pharma and Big Insurance.  

    And of course, total effin’ B.S.  

    1. Are you being serious here parsingreality?  Put aside the fact that it appears this vandalism was done by someone on the Left.  PhRMA is spending tens of millions of dollars promoting Obamacare. Do you ever watch TV?

      Perhaps your post was a poor attempt at sarcasm, but if not, get the facts.

      1. Big Pharma just pulled billions of dollars of wool over the administration’s eyes.  Oh, they are on board, and they’ll give up 2% of their sales to, sniff, be good corporate citizens. Oh, we have been so judgmental of them, sniff.

        Considering that the VA and foreign countries get discounts ranging from about 30-50%, please pardon my sarcasm.

        And you have some evidence about this guy being from the left?

        1. Dem operative paid by Dems trashes Dem Party HQ.  This shows some serious ethical lapses and a clear lack of discipline.  

          Next we’ll hear this guy was a paid SEIU or CEA organizer.

  4. So this guy was paid by a Democrat 527?  Either a disaffected Democrat who didn’t get treated very well or someone trying to frame Republicans.  Either way, Pols original speculation is turned on its head.

            1. Once paid, always paid … there’s some serious ethics smoke now hanging over 777 Santa Fe.  

              Its amazing that an organization would enable its agents to conduct false flag ops … on itself no less.  

              The Guv needs to instruct the party Chair to treat this cancerous growth before it spreads.

  5. Denver Republican Party officials condemn vandalism of State Democratic Party Headquarters.

    According to a press release issued by the Denver Police Department on the afternoon of August 25th, and a Denver Post article by Jessica Fender, 24-year old Maurice Schwenkler was arrested on suspicion of smashing a number of windows at the Denver headquarters of the Colorado Democratic Party on Santa Fe Drive early Tuesday morning, August 25th.

    In response, Ryan Call, Chairman of the Denver Republican Party, issued the following statement:

    The Denver Republican Party condemns without reservation this cowardly and destructive act of vandalism.

    While disagreements in terms of policy or position are to be expected in the course of political discourse, wanton destruction of property is not an appropriate substitute for political speech.  The Denver Republican Party hopes that actions of this kind would not be condoned or tolerated by any Denver citizen–regardless of their political affiliation.  The Denver Republican Party believes that thoughtful, respectful discussion and debate concerning matters of public policy, and participation in the democratic process are how meaningful change is brought about in our nation, our state, and our community.

    We applaud the efforts of the Denver Police Department in connection with this matter, and trust and have the utmost confidence that local law enforcement and the Denver District Attorney’s office will prosecute this individual and his co-conspirators to the fullest extent of the law.

    The statement is available at http://www.denvergop.org.

    1. While I am sure we still have a lot to learn, I want to thank the Denver GOP for clearly condemning this criminal conduct.  Was this just the Denver GOP or is that the State GOP too?

    1. It’s natural to assume that when bullshit like this happens that it was done by someone from the other side.  It is weird though that persons from the left did this.  Were they trying to gin up a “false flag” incident, or are they pissed that the Democrats aren’t going hard enough left for their taste.  Hopefully we’ll get some answers.

      BTW, has anyone heard from MJD on whether the police have gotten around to investigating the vandalism on his car?

    1. This diary was worthwhile because 1) the event that happened was news, 2) it illustrated that some on the left are too quick to condemn some on the right, and 3) it was those on the left who dug up and published the political affiliations of the alleged (and he’s still alleged) perpetrator.

      I think this thread has been very educational.  Nobody circled the wagons around this asshole.  With the exception of early, uninformed condemnations, the posters here have simply let the facts speak for themselves.

  6. All this left v right crap is so out of touch with what is really going on. To put this guy in the same “left” as the Democratic Party is completely laughable. NEWSFLASH If this kid is left, the Democratic Party is not left.

    If this kid is really so left, he would be pissed that the Dems aren’t acting enough. He could see the main barrier to health care as being the Dems which, he’s got a case and a whole lot of history to back it up. Dems are the biggest obstacles to other Dems. It’s frustrating as hell to see it. All the anarchist kids I know who hate the system, hate Dems much more than they hate Republicans because the Dems aren’t as different from the Rs as they should be given how insane Rs are.

        1. They were apparently wearing hoodies and had their T-shirts pulled up over their mouths. It was cold out last night and they were on their bikes — it would have been strange if they hadn’t been dressed that way.

          Sure, it’s possible they’re anarchist revolutionaries angry at the DLC-style Democrats wavering on the public option, or even some sophisticated 3 a.m. false flag operation meant to smear Tea Partiers. Those things are possible.

          1. was that they had extra gear for the gig. You’re probably right, it was a spur of the moment thing for them to pull their shirts over their faces.  

            1. Like LB below, I’ll withdraw my suggestion the suspect was more likely a drunken kid than a politically motivated vandal. The latex gloves and the fact (reported in the Post) that he was arrested in St. Paul protesting the Republican convention pretty much put an end to that speculation.

              Since I’m not someone who can “accidentally” delete what I wrote “while updating,” I’ll just say I was wrong and it looks like sufimarie had it pegged. Sorry.

    1. you got it just right, especially in those last lines.

      Weakness of will is simply not an easy sell, because NOBODY respects it.  Strength of will is an easy sell.  To almost quote Nietzsche, everyone respects a strong will because nobody has one.  

      1. is that this kid was not trying to make Rs take the hit. I think he’s pissed at Dems for not doing enough, or maybe he really is against paying for everyone’s health care, I don’t know. Because he has worked for the Citizen’s Coalition and the address he used is the Derailer Collective’s, (which, the Derailers have a really good thing going btw) I would think he doesn’t feel too much of a sense of ownership on his money so he isn’t against HC but, who knows.

        I think he is rogue. His actions are not representative of any organization or long-standing affiliation.  

                1. His address is registered around the corner from DNC headquarters.

                  He was wearing latex gloves, and used a hammer to break the windows, along with an accomplice.

                  I withdraw my drunk kid theory.

                  When is Pat Waak going to apologize to the anti-this-particular-healthcare-bill folks for immediately blaming them for what looks like an orchestrated act of vandalism meant to smear them?

                  1. as Dick Wadhams apologizes for tea party people calling the President a Nazi.

                    Seriously LB, your insinuation that this was somehow orchestrated by the CDP is utterly asinine.

                    1. Hopefully Waak is smarter than that (I suspect she is).  She was awfully quick to blame for the vandalism.  Hopefully she’ll be equally as quick to apologize for what she said.  Wadhams has plenty of things he could apologize for, but something someone else said or did isn’t one of them.

                      How about your invocation of Kristallnacht?  Is it still appropriate?

                    2. But even Cologeek admitted that it’s natural to blame the other side. I already said my bad on that anyway.

                      Even the Denver Republicans thought it was one of theirs, hence the quick press release condemning it.

                    3. Isn’t it equally an outrage that they were broken by a Dem as it would have been if they’d been broken by an R?

                    4. But if it was obvious from the outset that it was a far-lefty (definitely not a Dem, though he worked for them LB, I thought we’d been over this already) then the Republicans would never have issued a condemnation.

                      For every time Dick Wadhams has ever said something that deserved an apology later, and he’s laughed that off, I don’t see why the same standard shouldn’t be applied to Pat Waak.

                      But for the sake of this thread, I will agree that Waak should probably apologize for jumping to the same conclusion that every single other person including Republicans did.

                    5. He didn’t have much more on the “outrage”.  

                      Not that I heard, anyway.  Shocker.

                    6. but obvious.

                      Nobody, not even the Republicans, had an initial inclination that this wasn’t another not-so-rogue Republican fighting for his white privilege.  

                    7. that Republicans had nothing to do with it since nobody was shot.

                      Smashing windows is a lefty thing to do anyway. I used to be involved with the World Bank/IMF/WTO protests until some asshole kids smashed a Burger King window while I was there.

                    8. I was once much more in the habit of running with kids like the ones you mention. I couldn’t take it anymore when I heard them refuse to participate on the first Tuesday of November because each one of them would say “it doesn’t make a difference, you can’t make a difference, there is no difference between the two parties” all of which are incorrect. I struggle to forgive someone who consciously thinks but demonstrates otherwise through their actions, that the only political action the system affords is voting.  

  7. This person was a paid contract status door to door canvasser who helped with the CCC’s efforts during the final 4 days to promote dem candidate state congress and senate races in targeted districts.

    There were a handful of Denver Derailer volunteers who were hired for canvassing the final four days before November elections. Most of the Derailer volunteers had previous canvassing experience as I recall and seemed like pretty earnest young people who were excited to earn a paycheck doing something they believed in.

    This story is indeed surprising because it is definitely fair to say that all of the volunteers at the Derailer are ultra liberal in their beliefs…er, well…maybe leaning closer towards anarchist beliefs.

    No matter what the motivations were for this vandalism, if this person is found guilty they should face the appropriate punishment. This healthcare stuff is getting more and more divisive 🙁

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