Allegan, Mich. — A lawsuit brought by embattled Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema of Grandville against the City of Allegan has been thrown out by a federal judge.
The lawsuit claimed there was a violation of constitutional rights to freedom of speech after a man who spoke out on the dangers of Islam was not allowed to speak at an event at an Allegan Schools building.
The police told the speaker, Kamal Saleem, before that event in January of 2012 that he couldn’t do his presentation because there was a safety concern.
Agema filed the suit with a handful of others, including: Elizabeth Griffin, Mark Gurley and Bill Sage.
It named the City of Allegan, City Manager Rob Hilliard, Police Chief Rick Hoyer and The Allegan Public School District as plaintiffs in the case.
Court documents in the case say, “Shortly before the event was to take place, a woman approached the police officers at Allegan High School and `stated that Kamal Saleem had a $25 million dollar bounty on his head`”
“An Allegan police officer talked with Jones, Saleem`s bodyguard, who did not deny that a bounty existed. ( … ) Jones further stated that there had been death threats directed toward Kamal Saleem from Islamic extremists in the past.”
The documents state that “Chief Hoyer ordered Plaintiffs to shut down the event.”
“School violence is on everybody`s mind,” said Rick Hoyer, Allegan’s Chief of Police, “Again, there`s a lot of folks out there who are extreme in what they do and what they think and we just didn`t need that happening at our school.”
Agema felt those arguments were not appropriate in that situation.
He brought forth the federal suit around April, 30, 2012.
The suit was intended to, “protect and vindicate fundamental constitutional rights.”
Court documents go on to say, “It is a civil rights action brought under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”
“He was very passionate about the issue,” said Hoyer in reference to Agema.
However, a federal judge dismissed the case, saying, “The government does not need to wait until havoc is wreaked to restrict access to a nonpublic forum.”
Her opinion went on to state, “Plaintiff`s allegations do not state a plausible constitutional deprivation,”
Hoyer feels the suit has been a waste of time and energy for the city and local leaders.
“It didn`t make a lot of sense,” said Hoyer. “I don`t know if there was a lot of common sense in any part of this. So, we`ll go forward and see if they file an appeal and deal with that as it comes.”
Some say the lawsuit proves that Agema will not back down and resign from the RNC as has been requested by Republican heavy-weight Betsy DeVos.
Agema has been under fire for inflammatory comments over the past few months targeting gays and Muslims.
That includes these comments at a Michigan CPAC speech.
Dave Agema
“My goal is to stop terrorism. I really don’t like it. Quite frankly, I shouldn’t say this, but it’s actually true. Not every Muslim is a terrorist but most terrorists are Muslim,” said Agema.
“I have a dream we get a president that doesn’t glorify gay NFL players,” said Agema.
The comments continued on Facebook where he posted a number of statements over the past few months.
“Well, it seems I’m in good company, the LGBT community is now going after Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty,” Agema said.
He also posted a link to an anti-gay article in the past which said in-part, “part of the homosexual agenda is to get the public to affirm their filthy lifestyle, as one homosexual admitted….”
There was also a post online that seemed to support the anti-gay policies in Russia that are being discussed in advance of the Olympics.
The post that was attributed to Agema said, “Read their law. Common sense in Russia!”
Governor Snyder hinted at trouble within the party a week ago during the very first part of his state of the state address when he called for civility.
Then, US Representative Justin Amash and his Challenger Brian Ellis echoed it, saying Agema should step down from the RNC.
Michigan Republicans say it’s been the talk of the Republican National Committee winter meeting in Washington DC this week.
It’s the convention Agema declined to go to, saying, “My liberal critics within the Republican Party have chosen to elevate this discussion to the RNC meeting and make it a drawn-out fight between liberals and conservatives within the party. For this reason, I have decided it is best for the party that I not attend the meeting this week….”
