FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Arlington County Fair Unfair to Green Party
Green Party Candidate & Volunteers Removed from Fair Grounds
(Arlington, VA) August 21—Green Party candidate for Arlington County Board, Josh Ruebner, and a team of campaign volunteers were removed from the grounds of the Arlington County Fair on Saturday after distributing campaign literature.
Despite the Arlington County Fair being held in a public park and community center, event organizers claimed that it was a “private” event and that they had authority to prohibit the distribution of political literature at the county fair.
According to the Arlington County Fair web site, Arlington County sponsored the event and dozens, perhaps hundreds, of county employees staffed the event, including police officers, fire fighters, and bus drivers. In addition, Arlington County provided in-kind donations of free shuttle buses and advertisement to support the county fair.
Ruebner criticized the discriminatory policies of the Arlington County Fair. “It’s outrageous that the county fair is considered a “private” affair while tax-payer dollars are supporting it. Even more outrageous is that candidates running for office in Arlington who can’t afford the exorbitant tabling fees at the county fair should have their freedom of speech abridged. The residents of Arlington deserve to have access at their county fair to the full range of political candidates and parties vying to represent them, not just those with large campaign treasuries.”
After being confronted by police and hostile fair organizers, Maria Dolores Rodriguez, a campaign volunteer, stated that “it seems like democracy has a price tag and if you can’t afford it, then you have to settle for those who can.”
Another campaign volunteer, Paul Snodgrass, noted that “even though we had already stopped distributing fliers upon request, organizers continued to approach us with hostility, summoning police officers to remind us that we were not allowed to be in a public space.”