At least one 8th district resident has had enough of the strong arm tactics employed by Rep. Chip Cravaack's staffers and supporters, and has filed an assault complaint against one of those working on the Cravaack for Congress campaign.
The assault complaint stems from an incident that occurred at an advertised meet the candidate meeting in Baxter on 20 September. A Milaca woman was inexplicably roughed up by a campaign worker for taking a picture at the public event:
The Baxter Police Department confirms that a basic incident report titled as assault has been sent to the city attorney for review. No arrests were made and statements were taken from both parties. It is now up to the city attorney to decide whether or not to file misdemeanor assault charges in the case. Prosecutor Matt Mallie was unavailable for comment at the time of this story.
DFL Chair Ken Martin blasted the Cravaack campaign for their outrageous actions:
It is never, ever acceptable to use physical force to prevent someone from attending a public event. The actions of Congressman Cravaack’s campaign were dangerous and wildly inappropriate. Congressman Cravaack should immediately issue an apology to the constituent his event organizer assaulted and instruct his campaign’s staff on how to treat event attendees with respect.
What does Congressman Cravaack have to hide? He brags about his constituent services and accessibility, but he goes to great lengths to make sure his supporters are the only ones who can hear what he has to say. Now we can see his supporters are even willing to use physical force to intimidate those who may disagree with him. This is simply beyond the pale. Congressman Cravaack was elected to represent all of the Eighth District, not just the people who are voting for him, and the use of physical force to prevent people from attending his public events is wrong on every level.
This troubling incident comes a little more than one month after a 22 year old
Bemidji State University student reported being manhandled by Cravaack staffers at an event in Hackensack. Congressman Cravaack, who personally witnessed that assault and ignored the young man's pleas for help, had no comment after that episode.
The Cravaack campaign did not return calls requesting comment about the assault complaint against one of its workers.
Cross posted from Iron Country Free Press
Those who wish to send a message that this behavior is unacceptable may do so by sending a contribution to Cravaack's DFL/Labor/Kos endorsed challenger former Congressman Rick Nolan