Let me set the scene: Republican Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-08) was in his district on Thursday, doing general Congressmen stuff: in this particular case, he was making an appearance at a local high school [political] science club. Basic, not-particularly-[partisan]-political constituent outreach, in other words. Rep. Fitzpatrick was off doing the unglamorous civics thing, which is a large part of any Representative’s job.

But apparently the progressive PAC American Bridge feels that it’s their job to break into high schools while they’re in session and then go stalk Congressmen:

According to a source on the Fitzpatrick campaign, American Bridge sent a tracker who identified himself as “Jordan” uninvited into the school. That tracker was able to enter and trespass but a Fitzpatrick staffer politely turned him away. The campaign notified the school of the security breach. Most public schools do not allow unidentified individuals into school buildings without signing in, and there is no evidence that the American Bridge trackers ever attempted to sign in.

American Bridge, according to the source, then attempted to break a second tracker into the school. The source says that a teacher approached the second tracker, asked for identification, and then requested school security to watch the doors.

If this story is true, then what should have happened is that the two ‘trackers’ should have been arrested and American Bridge should be eventually subject to a restraining order against further trespassing on school property in the pursuit of their ‘duties.’ It is almost criminally insane to have and follow a policy that assumes that people automatically have permission to go into school buildings without even signing in and then follow invited guests around. I say this as a father of two kids: if this had happened in either of the two schools that my kids go to, I would be livid. I can’t follow my kids into the school buildings without signing in, and the teachers all know me.

Again: if this story is true, then American Bridge PAC has a very bad, and very litigation-friendly, flaw in its training methodology. I suggest that they fix it, before the American criminal justice system fixes it for them.

Moe Lane

PS: I invite progressives to argue that they have a right to invade high schools without permission, in order to stalk candidates. I invite them to argue that at the top of their lungs.