When Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-NC) assaulted a student for asking him a question last month, he wasn't the only politician acting violently. Florida State Senator Al Lawson (D) got in a scrap of his own with a videographer too.
What happened was that a campaign worker for Representative Allen Boyd (D) was shooting video as Senator Lawson arrived at his campaign headquarters. Lawson then confronted the man, saying he wasn't "supposed to be at a campaign headquarters," and that he'd "get in a lot of trouble like that," before snatching the camera out of his hand.
Lawson kept the camera too! That is, until the Tallahassee Police Department forced him return it 3 days later, damaged beyond repair. Yet even though the assault, theft, and damage of private property is blatant, State Attorney Willie Meggs refuses to prosecute Al Lawson. What a privileged life politicians lead.
Here's the video.
Florida politician snatches and keeps camera from videographer
For the second time this month, a politician assaulted a man for videotaping him in public.
This time it was Florida State Senator Al Lawson, a Democrat, who snatched a camera from a man who was videotaping him outside his campaign headquarters this past weekend.
The videographer was Ralph Mason, a campaign worker for U.S. Congressman Allen Boyd, whom Lawson will try to unseat this November.
Lawson’s staffers uploaded the video to Youtube where they accused Mason of trespassing. It is not clear from the video where exactly Mason was standing but it was outside, not inside.
Lawson posts video confrontation on YouTube; no charges to be filed
State Attorney Willie Meggs declined to prosecute anyone Tuesday in the weekend camera-snatching incident at state Sen. Al Lawson's campaign headquarters, so the Tallahassee lawmaker's congressional campaign took the case to a higher court: YouTube.
Ralph Mason, a campaign worker for U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, was shooting video as Lawson arrived at his headquarters in Tallahassee to meet volunteers for a trip to the watermelon festival in Monticello. Lawson told him to stop and snatched the camera away from Mason, saying he'd give it to Boyd — with a few choice words — when they met at the festival parade.
"The facts are that Sen. Lawson has already admitted to taking property that was not his, and only returned the property at the request of the Tallahassee Police Department three days later," said Boyd campaign manager J.R. Starrett. "The video camera that he aggressively took out of the hands of one of our staffers was damaged beyond repair."
The camera was damaged, so Lawson's staff said an identical model was bought and, because the congressman had left the parade, given to Boyd's son David later Saturday. The original camcorder resurfaced and Lawson's campaign posted a 30-second clip of the confrontation on YouTube.
I've had enough of these politicians like Senator Al Lawson, who believe they're above the law. How about you?
I love how comments on the Youtube clip are moderated. I guess they don't want the mundanes commenting.
That's because us lowly mundanes don't know what we're talking about. We need to listen to our "betters."
I was another one that posted a comment & it never saw the light of YouTube. The truth hurts. In summary, Lawson complained about Mason trespassing. Florida's trespass law is in state statute 810.09. From what I saw Mason was in an outdoor area, so it is likely NOT a trespass as defined by statute since he was not inside a structure or conveyance. Outdoor trespass in FL has to generally be marked by a posted sign or a fence. It looks like they were in a parking area or some other public place.
THEFT on the other hand, s. 812.014 is the depriving one of a right to their property temporarily or permanently. If the camera was valued over $300, this is a felony.
VANDALISM, a/k/a criminal mischief, s. 806.13, is the injury or damage to the real or personal property of another. It's generally a misdemeanor unless the damage exceeds $1,000.
One has to wonder how a State Attorney can refuse to file charges when the crime was caught on tape- although this same State Attorney failed to charge a Sheriff (not a deputy) with DUI in a hit and run crash not too long ago. As a too-long time lawmaker, Lawson should know the law, and he certainly should not be above it.
Both of these candidates are prime examples of how the political class has ruined our country. Boyd, who receives over $100K in farm subsidies every year and is on the Agricultural committee, has been in elected office since 1989 and Lawson since 1981. Lawson has now been term-limited out of the FL Senate. If Lawson won the election, this would give him 31 years in elected office at the end of his first term. Any bets on him running for re-election at that point?
Vote OUT career politicians. Vote IN common-sense citizen candidates that serve a couple of terms and then let someone else serve.