Trail Tales: Slashed GOP Tires
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Election Day is finally here and now we're at the trail's end.
Slashed Tires in Milwaukee
About 30 rented cars and vans that were to be used in the Wisconsin Republican Party's get-out-the-vote effort had their tires slashed Tuesday morning, FOX News has learned, and the GOP condemned the act.
State Republican Party spokesman Chris Lato said the slashed tires "clearly were targeted sabotage" to hinder the party's work.
Milwaukee police said just after noon on Tuesday that they had a description of the suspect in the case. A private security guard reported a man running from the lot where the tires were slashed, according to Police Sgt. Ken Harris.
The guard reported seeing a white male, 18 to 25 years old, between 5-feet-6 and 5-feet-9 tall and about 170 pounds, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans, running from the Republican offices around 6:45 a.m., Harris said.
Milwaukee police detectives typically would not investigate a case of slashed tires, but were investigating this incident given the potential political overtones of the crime, according to Harris.
"Because there is a chance it might have been politically motivated, we are making every effort to bring this case to a swift conclusion," Harris said.
Lato said party volunteers offered their vehicles for party use, but he did not know whether all the damaged rental vehicles had been repaired.
"Does it slow us down? Yeah. It's not going to help," he said.
Lato said the party headquarters in Madison were vandalized overnight with graffiti ? specifically with black spray paint reading "Illegitimate Democracy" twice across a large wall.
But Madison Police Department spokeswoman Emily Samson said nothing from the Republican headquarters address had been reported to her office since Oct. 22.
Meanwhile, Democratic Party spokesman Seth Bothelli condemned the actions of "overzealous supporters on both sides" that have gone beyond yard-sign vandalism. He said signs were stolen from a Democratic campaign office in Wausau.
Milwaukee police also reported a problem this morning where two people were blocking the exit of a parking lot, preventing Kerry supporters from leaving the lot and screaming and spitting on cars. Officers removed the disruptive people, but no arrests were made.
FOX News' William La Jeunesse contributed to this report.
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