It is one of the strangest media occurences in a long, long time in Kansas City.
Did respected Kansas City Star columnist and regular KCPT contributor Charles Gusewelle actually harrass people during a recent rally for Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney?
Participants at the rally claim that Gusewelle drove his SMART car around their rally and actually gave the finger to them–including children. The Star printed a letter to the editor about Gusewelle’s alleged behavior, but says it is a personnel matter.
A participant at the rally has now provided Bottom Line Communications a photo reportedly of Gusewelle driving past the rally. They say they also provided it to the Star to verify their claim of bullying by Gusewelle.
Here it is:
ILLEGAL SIGNS
Don’t know if that’s Charles or not. I do see a bunch of illegally placed signs though.
A commenter on the original story was a partipant at the rally:
“Well actually I was a participant myself at the Romney-Ryan rally, and the leader of the rally checked with the police department and the city to see if the rally was allowed to be held there. How is freedom of speech and freedom to assemble peacefully against the law?
“It’s not like we left the Romney signs on Ward Parkway long after the rally was over. Once we were finished, we immediately took down all signs and posters and took them back home with us.”
ILLEGAL SIGNAGE?
Like David, I, too, am unable to identify the driver of the car from this picture. At any rate, there are far too many illegally-placed signs here, there and yonder as Election Day draws closer. Sticking a sign in the ground within the right of way represents lazy campaigning if you ask me. Candidates should be making direct contact with voters and asking them for permission to put a sign in the yard.
NEED MORE INFO
Even if Gusewelle is driving the car, the fact that he drove by doesn’t constitute harassment. We would really need to see what he is doing.
NEEDS TO QUASH STORY
Well, you can see his left hand outside the window. Gus needs to get ahead of this story and quash it. It’s only going to keep growing unless he addresses it.
I just wonder if the “respected” columnist has any shame at all for his disrespectful behavior?
TERMINATED
He should be immediately terminated. He is a represtative of a major newspaper and to flip off a child should not be tolerated.
GO
Go Gus!!!
ONE KID MAKES A RALLY?
Since when does 1 little kid holding a sign constitute a “rally”? If that’s the level of support Romney can muster I can rest assured that Obama will get 4 more years to finish cleaning up the mess he inherited.
IS IT GUSEWELLE OR NOT?
The whole point of the story is Gusewelle’s alleged actions. But as usual, the narrative gets changed so people won’t focus on the real issues: did Gusewelle really flip off people at a rally? It doesn’t matter how many people were there, it doesn’t matter if the signs were temporarily placed illegally…what matters is if Gusewelle is honest about whether this is him or not.
Is this his car? Does anyone else drive it? Basic reporting skills could be used here to determine if it is him. It’s that simple.
POETIC WORDS ABOUT RUFUS THE DOG?
The real question is, when will we get to read 1,000 poetic words about the lovely drive down Ward Parkway the columnist took with his dog?