A supporter of presidential candidate Ron Paul was threatened with arrest in Orlando last week for handing out campaign literature at an Independence Day celebration, an Orlando Sentinel blog reported. Paul's Orlando campaign coordinator Nick Egoroff, who was dressed like George Washington, told the Sentinel that police threatened to arrest him and other campaign volunteers because they were handing out fliers without paying $1,500 to rent a booth at the city's fireworks festival.
After Egoroff contacted the Sentinel, Orlando officials tried to write off the whole thing as a misunderstanding, but he said he feared arrest until a TV reporter began filming police harassing the volunteers.
"We would have been arrested yesterday. It was only because the media was there that we weren't carted off," Egoroff said. "And I'm a Republican, not some long-haired hippy. If they could treat us this way, I shudder to think what minorities put up with."
Commenting on the Sentinel's blog post, Egoroff said he "couldn't be more proud of Ron Paul volunteers. Our group will continue to get the empowering message of FREEDOM out."