Trackers are part of the political process. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Democrat or Republican, candidates running for office, especially federal office, are going to be tracked.
We’ve already seen that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Theresa Greenfield has an aversion to cameras, but at least she doesn’t berate the trackers. Kimberly Graham, an attorney from Indianola, is running in the four-way Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Iowa, harassed an Iowa tracker while accusing her of harassment.
The tracker with America Rising, a Republican political research group, was following Graham during the Climate Crisis Parade held in downtown Des Moines last Saturday morning. In their first confrontation, Graham approaches the tracker who was filming her at a distance and started peppering her with questions about what she was doing there and whether climate was important to her.
Graham was violating the tracker’s personal space and the tracker politely asked her to take a step back.
“I wasn’t getting in your personal space, but you were getting in mine,” the tracker said.
Graham also said, “I’d like you to put the camera away.”
“That’s okay, it’s a free country,” the tracker replied.
“That’s alright, I’ll just call the police because there are plenty of them around,” Graham responded.
(I should note that Iowa is a one party consent state. Graham, as an attorney, should know that.)
“Okay, great, they’ll talk to you,” the tracker added.
During the second confrontation Graham, again, quickly walked up to the tracker, who appears to be walking away from the parade, and said she was going have her served with a lawsuit.
“Where’s the best place to serve you with a lawsuit? Is that your home or do you have an office?” Graham asked the tracker.
The tracker refused to provide that information, and Graham said she would find out the information another way.
Again, tracking is part of politics. Kimberly Graham is a U.S. Senate candidate. Taking video of her at events IS NOT harassment, especially when that tracker is not being disruptive.
The video is clear, the person acting in a threatening and harassing manner is Graham, not the America Rising tracker. Graham is the one who approached the tracker. Graham is the one who violated the tracker’s personal space. Graham is the one issuing threats.