Use Of Fort McHenry For Political Campaign Criticized By Coalition To Protect America's National Parks

Okay, help me, please help me, get all of this straight.  So, the use of federal property and landmarks for partisan political purposes is already widely prohibited along the same lines that the Hatch Act prohibits civil servants from engaging in partisan political activities on government time or using government resources.  But, the republicans are still insisting that it be used by the Trump Campaign for a Mike Pence speech?  They actually think they want to showcase a Mike Pence speech?  I know; I know.  I can't explain it either; it must be a collective hallucination or maybe a mass mutation thing.  That's why I'm asking questions.

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine already has a designated First Amendment use area that was established to allow what are often, if not usually, "abnormal" folks to voice their stuff on the premises while also preventing damage to sensitive historic resources and reducing intrusions on the "normal" public's ability to access and use the protected site.  But, the republicans don't want to use the designated First Amendment use area?  The republicans want to use areas closer to, maybe even within or on, sensitive historic resources; but, they still want their activities classified as a First Amendment event and still want the fees for cost recovery, bonding, and insurance for damages to resources waived?  They want to illegally use this NPS site, but not be asked to pay for its use or insure against any possible damage?  Have I got it straight so far?

So, from the very first proposal to stage this thing, the NPS knew that NPS employees would be spending their time, at work, reviewing, planning, coordinating, facilitating, and trying to protect the resource from this Mike Pence campaign speech?  I know, a Mike Pence campaign speech; I can't stop laughing either.  But, despite knowing that this was an illegal use of the federal property in an area of  sensitive historic resources and knowing that allowing it would involve NPS employees spending their time, at work, in a de facto illegal misappropriation of tax monies intended for proper NPS activities, the NPS agreed to spend even more public tax monies to cover cost recovery and any damages to sensitive historic resources just as if the republicans were any other collection of "abnormal" lunatics screaming from their card table properly placed over in the designated First Amendment use area?  Have I still got all it straight?

Now, the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks is citing damage to the masonry walkway within the Fort caused by the heavy equipment used to set up a Mike Pence campaign speech?  I'm sorry; I know this is a serious topic involving serious illegalities on the part of the NPS and the administration; but, the fact that they broke all of these laws and regulations and did damage to a site that dates from America's first decades just to stage a Mike Pence campaign speech just cracks me up.  Okay, all seriousness aside, how old was the walkway section?  Was it covered under historic preservation guidelines or requirements?  If the impacts were severe enough to damage a masonry walkway, were they severe enough to compress the ground surface and indirectly disturb other nearby historic structures or buried resources?  If so, would NPS leaders in the current adminstration tell the public now or wait until they have a chance to cut and run and let the public get the news of how costly this fiasco turned out to be later?  Who is going to pay to repair this damage if, as correspondence from the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks seems to indicate, the damage was done outside designated First Amendment areas; but, fees for cost recovery, bonding, and insurance for damages to resources have been waived as if this campaign speech was occurring in those designated First Amendment areas?  Also, did the urgency to oust David Vela and to hurriedly replace him with Margaret, the rightwing lawyer who has no field management experience in the parks and has only been accumulating NPS experience for a week, have anything to do with any lingering discomfort with that Mount Rushmore campaign stop disguised as official business or any last minute urgent need to rubberstamp this guaranteed-to-be-ridiculous Mike Pence campaign speech?

Finally and at the risk of repeating myself, every rational adult must know, by now and after his celbrations of his cognitive health test triumph, that Trump doesn't, himself, have the mental capacity to read more than a few lines, much less begin to understand what's happening here.  But, the fact that Pence does not step up to at least keep the administration within minimally legal boundaries is clear evidence that Pence himself is deficient, either mentally or morally.  So, once again, the truth is that republicans, republican enablers, and republican appointees, as a whole, are the problem.  If we get rid of Trump, but leave the Senate in republican hands, we won't have accomplished anything close to what is needed to solve this problem.  We need to hold the House and take both the executive branch and the Senate.  We need to vote this November or as soon as we can in our individual jurisdictions and we need to remember that our problem isn't just Trump; it's an entire corrupt political party, from Greg Gianforte and Steve Daines in the north, to Cory Gardner and Ken Buck in the middle, to Lindsey Graham and Ron DeSantis in the south.  They're all, in one way or another, hellbent on using malice or ignorance or both to pillage and destroy this country, either deliberately or through a truly ridiculous level of bumbling, stumbling, drooling incompetence.  So, again, remember to vote!

Here is the news release from FOMC today telling us the monument will be closed to the public.

BALTIMORE, MD – The National Park Service, in cooperation with local, state and federal law enforcement, public safety and transportation agencies, will implement a park closure as a security measure for a first amendment event.

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine will be closed on Tuesday, August 25 from 1pm until 11:59 pm, and on Wednesday, August 26 from 1pm until 11:59pm.

Closed areas include: Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, 2400 East Fort Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21230, including Wallace Street and Nimitz Street immediately adjacent to the west and north of Fort McHenry (in total forty-two acres) stretching from the Patapsco River on the east to Nicholson Street on the west and stretching from the Baltimore Harbor on the north to the Patapsco River on the south.  A copy of the record of decision is available upon request.

Okay.

Kick the public out for a political propaganda show.  Got it. 

Interesting that the news release uses a vague term -- "First Amendment Event"

How much will this cost the NPS and will the trump campaign reimburse for it?

It's bad enough to think of the possibility that trump may be reelected, but to think we may be forced to pay for it with our taxes is disgusting. 

just to pile on to the other anonymous:

Aug 25th is the birthday of NPS, and a fee-free day.  At least some parks simply don't allow special use permits that day because they ahve special programs and many more visitors than other days.

Aug 26th is the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, something all of NPS has been pushing for months.  Parks have been asked to fly 19th amendment flags, and produce additional 19th amendment interp programs.

But a more telegenic background for a political speech is a higher priority.  

As for the damage, E&E News reports that the bricks damaged in the walkway date from a 1930s restoration, so not original, but still well more than 50 years old so all the historical preservation laws apply (they now apply to most Mission 66 buildings).

"First Amendment Event" is a legal term.  Regular special events like weddings or commercial photography shoots like car ads require paying permit fees and for any additional park staff.  "First Amendment Events" do not have to pay permit fees, nor pay for any required additional staffing.  But, first amendnent events can be restricted to areas that do not disrupt the rest of the park visitors, and that reduce risk to sensitive park resources.

Rick B., I agree that showing, on either the photo or a map, the designated First Amendment use area as opposed to where Pence wants to strut his stuff would help everyone understand the full extent of this probably mostly taxpayer subsidized political fiasco.  I mention showing it on a map because, as Anonymous indicated in the comment of 11:19am, the public is apparently being locked out of a relatively large area, forty-two acres, for the better part of two historically important commemorative days.

Anonymous, thank you for the additional information and I sincerely agree with you, only stronger.  After so many years of widespread corrupt, malicious, and incompetent behavior, it truly would be bad enough, not just Trump, but that any republican could have any chance of winning this November.  But, it is even more disgusting to even imagine our taxes would be misused to help pay for it.

And, different anonymous, thank you for pointing out the historic importance of each of the two days on which this illegal political stunt will be locking the public out of this national monument and shrine and for reminding everyone that one of these two historically important commemorative days was also supposed to be a "fee-free" day for the public, all of which just rubs salt in the wounds.

So, I say again and at the risk of repetition, we all, every last one of us who can spell better than the republicans who post on this website, need to vote this November or as soon as we can in our individual jurisdictions and we need to remember that our problem isn't just Trump; it's an entire corrupt political party, from Greg Gianforte and Steve Daines in the north, to Cory Gardner and Ken Buck in the middle, to Lindsey Graham and Ron DeSantis in the south.