Gallery Standards
Cindy Sheehan was invited as a guest of a California Congress-
woman to sit in the House gallery during the State of the Union Speech. When police noticed her t-shirt said, “2245 Dead. How many more?”, they labeled her a “protestor”, removed her from the gallery before the speech began and arrested her for “unlawful conduct”. Cindy has written her version of the incident.
Police also removed from the gallery the wife of a Republican Congressman from Florida. Her shirt read, "Support the Troops -- Defending Our Freedom." She told the police officer who labeled her shirt a protest that he was “an idiot”. She was not arrested.
What are the rules governing House gallery visitors? I have just spent over an hour trying to find them, without any luck. The House web site includes this “Document describing how to visit the House Floor Gallery”, which is not helpful. The Rules and Regulations for the press galleries include a reference at Regulation 3 to the gallery visitors conforming to the “dress standards” for members of the House, but I have not been able to locate the actual dress standards.
If the standards are intended to encourage House members and guests to focus on the business at hand, without the distractions of “message” clothing and ornamentation, then all writing and symbols should be prohibited, including among others, peace pins, American flag pins, sports and business logos, and military and other uniforms. The rules should be clearly posted and explained to guests before they are allowed to enter the gallery.
House Rule XVII at subsection 7 contains an interesting prohibition, as follows: “During a session of the House, it shall not be in order for a Member ... to introduce to or to bring to the attention of the House an occupant in the galleries of the House. The Speaker may not entertain a request for the suspension of this rule by unanimous consent or otherwise.” Obviously this Rule does not apply to the President, since Bush, like Clinton and probably others before them, like to load the galleries with people to show off. This time Bush even included a dog.
The most horrendous House gallery incident occurred in 1954 when Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery and wounded five Congressmen on the House floor. The most popular gallery of the 1950s though was the Peanut Gallery for the Howdy Doody Show.
posted by Tom Blake | 11:36 AM
4 Comments:
Tom,
Very interesting again. How do you find this stuff?
John from Phoenix
Tom,
I also want to comment on the Puerto Rican nationalists attack. We were 12 or 13 at the time. I was a paper boy then and I remember reading about it in the papers I was delivering. I was bewildered by the attack. I just didn't have the learning or the experience to understand that political situations can cause such a violent reaction by the people involved. By that age I had studied the American revolution and the Civil War, but I didn't understand that those passions continue to today and are also held by people who consider us the enemy.
Tom, I have not heard about any unrest by the Puerto Ricans recently. Do you know how stable their political system is today?
John from Phoenix
I think the key from Cindy's statement is the following:
"After I had my personal items inventoried and my fingers printed, a nice Sgt. came in and looked at my shirt and said, '2245, huh? I just got back from there.'
I told him that my son died there. That's when the enormity of my loss hit me. I have lost my son. I have lost my First Amendment rights. I have lost the country that I love. Where did America go? I started crying in pain."
I'd say more, but she's said it all. Disgusting.
Chris
Google is the main Internet tool I use to find information. I use the Google News and Image collection searches for more details and images. I follow links in articles of interest to find other sources.
I remember reading Look or Life magazine at the time of the shootings and they had a crime scene type drawing of where everyone was on the House floor, with the wounded persons highlighted. The Nationalists also tried to assassinate President Truman, who was living in the Blair House at the time, while the White House was being repaired.
This 1950s version of terrorism might indicate how it can create a backlash. Alaska and Hawaii became States in that decade, but PR is still not a State and will never be made independent in my opinion. I'll make a note to do some checking on what is happening down there.
As for the Capitol Police, they reportedly have now admitted they made a mistake in removing both women, since they had violated no rules. Why they went the extra step to arrest Cindy must be based in part on the fact she was critical of the Administration.
People who from personal passion become the early conscience of a society pay a price - sometimes even more than thirty years later when they run for President.
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