Did Infamous ‘Pink Dress Guy’ Attack Robin Vos, two other Legislators?
MacIver News Service | September 15, 2011 UPDATED 11:45am
[Madison, Wisconsin] The incidents of verbal harassment against Republican lawmakers in and around the State Capitol escalated on Wednesday when a well-known protester confronted three GOP representatives and drenched them with beer.
Madison Police responded to a disturbance at the Inn on the Park, 22 S. Carroll St., Wednesday night after a man dumped a beer over the head of a state lawmaker. According to the police report, “the bartender said the man yelled out something like, “Money” and “Damn Republicans.”
According to an incident report filed by the Madison Police Department:
“The beer was poured atop a 43-year old Burlington, WI man. It also splashed onto two other state lawmakers. All indicated the suspect swore at them, and called them criminals. He was accompanied by a man with a video camera. The bartender asked the videographer to turn it off. She says following the request, the suspect then took the glass of beer and emptied it onto the lawmaker’s head. The suspect then fled. The lawmaker, who took the direct hit, indicated the suspect has been harassing him since February, but up until this point, it had only been verbal. He did not know the suspect’s name, but a female State Capitol employee, who was with the group, was able to provide police with a name, and said Capitol Police would have his contact information. The MPD called Capitol Police and obtained a couple of possible addresses for the suspect, as well as a couple of possible phone numbers. Officers attempted to find the suspect, but could not locate him. He will likely face a tentative charge of disorderly conduct.”
The police report identifies the lawmakers by their hometowns. MacIver News Service has learned that the lawmakers who had beer dumped on them include Republican State Representative Robin Vos (R-Burlington), the chairman of the Joint Finance Committee who helped usher through Governor Scott Walker’s labor reforms earlier this year, as well as State Representatives John Nygren (R-Marinette) and Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford).
A source present at the incident and who wished to remain anonymous has identified the perpetrator as Miles Kristan, a well-known fixture of the recent protests in Madison and elsewhere in Wisconsin. Kristan is also well known to the MacIver News Service. He has harassed our interns and our investigative reporter in attempts to prevent us from providing coverage of events in Madison and Janesville.
UPDATE – The MacIver News Service have discovered a video, posted online, of Kristan and another protester harassing Representatives Vos and Suder just last week. In the video, which is apparently shot by Kristan and can be seen here, the representatives leave the Capitol and head over to check into the Inn on the Park. This video corroborates allegations that these two individuals have repeatedly harassed Vos, Suder and others.
“I am somebody and you will listen to me,” the agitator screams at one point in the six-and-a-half-minute video. Earlier, he warns that he was giving Vos “five business days to respond.”
The video was posted on September 9, five days before last night’s incident.
We’ll have more on this story as it develops.