Mike Casper didn’t seek the limelight, and his role – if any – in asking three people to leave a presidential Social Security forum in Denver in March remains shrouded in shadow, some of it self-imposed.
Casper, whose name surfaced as someone who might know about the incident, said Tuesday that he worked as a White House volunteer at the March 21 forum.
He said he saw much of what happened and disputed much of what Bush opponents Alex Young, Leslie Weise and Karen Bauer say went on as they were asked to leave before the president appeared in Denver.
Casper said that Young, Weise and Bauer were asked to leave after they “were identified as people who had misbehaved at events before and people overheard (Weise and Bauer) talking in line” about disrupting the Denver meeting. They were not asked to leave because they arrived in a car with a “No More Blood for Oil” bumper sticker.
Casper insists he’s not the person whom Young, Weise and Bauer accuse of impersonating a Secret Service agent and forcing them out. The Secret Service, which is investigating, declined to comment.
Casper may not be the infamous Mystery Man who put the so-called Denver Three out. Still, a lack of critical information explains why this lingers like a bad case of poison ivy.
Although he said he volunteered “through the White House,” Casper refused to say who hired him or what he was asked to do. The White House didn’t return a phone call Tuesday.
Casper, a registered Republican who lives in Broomfield and works for the General Services Administration of the federal government, says he volunteered for the Clinton White House at the Denver Summit of the Eight in 1997. He says he’s volunteered – always on his own time – at another four or five presidential events since.
Casper says he doesn’t know the names of those who characterized Young, Weise and Bauer as chronic “troublemakers.” Yet their assurances were enough to earn the Denver Three an early exit.
Young, Weise and Bauer belong to Denver Progressives, an outgrowth of MoveOn.org, which worked against President Bush’s re-election.
Bauer and Young had gone to an anti-Bush rally a couple of days before the Social Security forum. The three say they arrived at the forum with “Stop the Lies” T-shirts under their clothes and planned to expose the shirts during the president’s speech. They say they nixed their plan after a man they were told was Secret Service said they’d be arrested if they misbehaved.
“At no time were they told anyone was Secret Service,” Casper countered.
Also, he added, what the Denver Three have speculated was an enemies’ list at the door was actually a list of people whose family members appeared on stage with the president.
Weise and Bauer were warned about misbehaving because someone overheard them talking about protesting as they stood in line, Casper said.
The women deny such a conversation.
Somehow, somebody knew who they were, as well as Young.
All three had proper tickets for admission and were allowed in. Then, all three were asked to leave before Bush arrived.
“They were obviously known because they were picked out by about 50 people inside the event as being troublemakers,” Casper said.
Casper said he and others were told that Young, Weise and Bauer “regularly come to events and disrupt them.” Thing is, he can’t name the sources of that information or any prior protests.
Meanwhile, Casper believes the Denver Three have no gripe.
“These people,” he said, “were asked to leave, and they left on their own.”
Actually, they say they acceded to a man wearing an earpiece and a lapel pin, who acted like the Secret Service.
Casper may not be that guy. But until the White House fills in all the blanks, this story will slither on.
Jim Spencer’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com.
