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Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 by J. Robert Gough 
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Just when you think you’ve seen everything when it comes to goofy government in the great state of Illinois, we now have a group of citizens being denied the right to assemble at the building where Abraham Lincoln spoke and Barack Obama launched his presidency.
The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency is denying a request by a Decatur, Illinois group to hold a rally on the steps of the Old State Capitol, the same place where Obama held two large rallies during his campaign for the presidency.
Of course, it is also worth noting that Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech there in 1858. Seven years later, Lincoln’s body would lie in state inside that building.
Jerry Johnson of Restore Our Constitution said his group is being discriminated against.
“They are overstepping their bounds,” Johnson said. “We are the taxpayers. We pay for their salaries and for us to not be able to use it is a travesty. We are being discriminated against. Obama used it not once, but twice. We want to have a peaceful protest to restore our Constitution because they are taking away our rights one by one.”
Quincy native Rhys Saunders of The State Journal- Register wrote the first story I saw on this issue before it went viral. Saunders spoke to a flack from the IHPA who said that the Old Capitol’s space-use policy does not allow political rallies. Obama announced his run for the presidency from the steps of the building in February 2007 and introduced Joe Biden as his choice for vice president in August 2008.
“An exception was made for the Obama event because we felt it would gather international publicity, and we were proven correct when more than 500 members of the media covered the event and gave us visibility to millions of people around the earth,” IHPA spokesman Dave Blanchette said to sj-r.com. “I doubt the event in question could compare to the Obama event in terms of publicity.”
What a freaking load of crap that is. A tourist: “Let’s see, I wasn’t going to tour the Old State Capitol where Lincoln gave one of the most famous speeches in history, but I’m going to go there now that President Obama was there.” Really? C’mon.
Blanchette also told sj-r.com that state budget constraints have impacted the historic preservation agency and multiple special event requests have recently been denied, including a request by the Central Illinois 9-12 Project in April.
What staff? Open the damn gates and let the people gather on the steps. I’ll bet they will pick up their own trash if you ask them to do so.
“This is a microcosm of what is wrong with this state…and this national government,” Johnson said.
Now the group is planning a protest for this Sunday outside the gates of the Old State Capitol about being denied the right to protest in October.
So you get two protests instead of one. Why is it so many people who are hired for public relations are so freaking bad at it?
Del.icou.us
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