Debate with Bernie Sanders and Rich Tarrant at VT Law School ends with candidate arrested!

Richard Tarrant, Republican candidate for United States Senate
and Bernard Sanders, one of two Independent candidates for United States Senate, and
Craig Hill, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate,
and Peter Moss, Anti-Bushiest candidate,
and Peter Diamondstone, Liberty Union party candidate
and Cris Ericson, Independent candidate,
participated in a debate beginning at 6:30 October 17, 2006 at
Vermont Law School.

http://vermontlaw.edu
Vermont Law School is a private school.

Joseph T. Griffo, Student Bar Association President,
sbapresident [at] vermontlaw.edu
sent invitations to candidates.

Cris Ericson received an invitation stating she would be allowed a 90 second closing remark.
Apparently other candidates were informed they would have a two minute closing remark.
There were other discrepancies causing candidates to believe that they were being treated differently.

Cris Ericson believed she was invited many days after some other candidates and only belatedly.

Cris Ericson was seated to the far left.

During the debate, students asked questions and stated that they would only allow Rich Tarrant to answer a particular question, or they would only allow Bernie Sanders to answer a particular question.

One of the professors asked a question of the five men candidates and left out Cris Ericson, a woman candidate.
Then someone spoke up and Cris was allowed to answer the question.

There was a woman standing partway near the back of the audience that Cris believed was probably Shirley Jefferson.

http://www.vermontwoman.com/articles/0806/shirley.shtml

Shirley Jefferson is Interim Assistant Dean reported to have a raport with Joe Griffo.

Jefferson grew up in Selma, Alabama and witnessed first-hand Bloody Sunday in 1965 and the savage beating of peaceful protestors by police.

Despite the discrimination of the apparently arrogant students towards some of the political candidates, things went smoothly until Peter Diamondstone was told he could make a two minute closing statement.

Peter Diamondstone stated that he would make a four minute closing statement because Rich Tarrant and Bernie Sanders had been given extra time and had been given questions that other candidates were not given any opportunity to answer.

Peter Diamonstone is the leader of the Liberty Union party which has achieved Major Party status in the state of Vermont.

A student, probably Joe Griffo, argued with Peter Diamondstone.

Some other students appeared to possibly taunt him in an arrogant manner, but that would depend on what angle you were looking at them from.

Peter Diamondstone allegedly called one or more of the students something that sounded something like,
"you little shit".

It appeared that probably Joe Griffo then demanded that Peter Diamonstone leave the debate, keeping in mind that this is a private school.

It is possible that Joe Griffo ordered the police who were present to take Peter Diamondstone away.

The police might have been South Royalton town police.

No one asked Peter Diamondstone to sign a consent form for the fact that they were doing a television taping of this debate on private property, and apparently federal copyright law would require that.

Cris Ericson was not told ahead of time that there would be a television taping, and she was not asked to sign a consent form, and she will not.

The police took Peter Diamondstone into another room.

Then Cris Ericson was asked to give a two minute closing statement.
It was very difficult to do over the horrible screaming of Peter Diamondstone, apparently being possibly extremely abused by the police in the next room.
Cris could not tell if the audience was listening to her closing statement at all or if they were just turning their heads and listening to the screaming.

Someone at the back of the room called out, "you should see what's going on in there!"

Cris Ericson got up and left and went home and called the state police and said that she was upset and that she thought the South Royalton police might have used excessive force making Peter Diamondstone scream and that she felt upset trying to make her closing statement over the sound of his screaming.

All in all, the situation felt abusive.

Cris Ericson had written out a closing statement that she was going to read with a list of dates of debates and forums she and other candidates had not been invited to and had been excluded from.

Because of what she perceived as police excessive force and the peculiar situation of what seemed like the police following orders of the student, who may have been Joe Griffo,
she was afraid to read her closing statement as prepared,
and talked about the low minimum wage of only $3.65 an hour for workers in the tourism industry in Vermont instead.

Earlier in the debate Cris Ericson called for the legalization of marijuana
because voters were concerned with how people in Vermont could afford college education, and Cris said marijuana should be legalized and taxed.

Cris also stated that there were 700,000 people in prison in the U.S.A. for drug related offenses, and that the cost of keeping a person in prison for one year is about the same as sending a student to an expensive college for one year.
The audience clapped.

October 18, 2006 Cris Ericson will appear in a Governor candidate debate on http://www.cctv.org in Burlington, Vermont because she is also on the ballot as an Independent candidate for Governor.

Because Cris is on the ballot twice, she is discriminated against twice as much as other candidates who are not included in many debates and forums.

Cris feels that Peter Diamondstone did nothing wrong; he just debated his opinion and expressed his freedom of speech under stress of being disrespected. What's the point of a debate if he can't argue his point that he should be given equal time as a major party candidate?

Certainly calling the students, "little shits" or whatever he said, doesn't call for arresting him.

Vermonters get tired of rich students who come from out-of-state and who are arrogant.

There is a television taping of this event from one angle.

For a list of candidates in Vermont, and their websites
go to http://www.sec.state.vt.us and click on Elections on the left.