Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Costello talks of security concerns
After Scalise shooting, he says Chester County event could have been ‘death trap’
When House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana was shot last month on a Virginia baseball field where U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello was supposed to be playing shortstop, “it made me think,” Costello recently told Digital First Media.
And since then, one of the things it has made him think about is security.
In an email to Digital First Media on July 6, Costello, R-6, wrote that organizers who invited him to a February town hall-style meeting “actually were creating a potential trap for me so people would be able to shoot at me.”
Costello wrote that “the fake town hall was intended to embarrass me into attending even though they didn’t provide any security considerations.”
Writing “basic security measures are normal, they had none,” Costello added in a subsequent email on July 7, “no question the partisan fake town hall organizers put me in danger and obviously ‘death trap’ is what it could have been.”
The event to which Costello referred was held
on Feb. 25 at Phoenixville High School and was organized by Concerned Constituents Action Group. Costello told Digital First Media at the time that he had other commitments and could not attend, but the group held it anyway.
It first hit the headlines when the school board was asked to waive the fee to use the building. In March, the board voted 4-4-1 to deny the waiver request.
Wayne resident Claire Witzleben, who responded on behalf of the group to a Digital First Media inquiry about Costello’s security concerns, said it is “ridiculous” to suggest her group wanted to put Costello in danger.
“If he had responded to our requests, we would have been happy to discuss security concerns with him,” said Witzleben. In April, organizers told the Phoenixville Area School Board they tried at least 35 times to contact Costello through letters, emails and his website.
Despite the fact that Costello was not at the Feb. 25 event, Witzleben said “we screened people at the town hall about whether they were constituents of the Sixth District and we had local police there.”
Costello responded to questions about security measures in place at an “impromptu” meeting with protesters outside his West Chester office one day before the Phoenixville event by writing: “Security measures in West Chester included pre-registration so that we were able to filter out the few who made threats against me excluded (not to worry, from a diversity of opinion perspective, I’d say 80 percent of the crowd was single payer advocates), and a few sheriff’s deputies.”
After the shooting, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to provide members with an additional $25,000 to pay for additional security. The additional funding is intended to be used to beef up security, including at home-district offices and public appearances, according to The Associated Press.
About 90 minutes after the June 14 shooting, Costello told Digital First Media that as the team’s shortstop, he would have been on the field next to Scalise when the shooting started, but by chance he missed his ride there by just two minutes.
“We’re very happy Congressman Costello missed his ride and was not injured,” Witzleben said of the shooting. “In fact, we sent him a card to that effect and urging him to stay safe. It also said we hoped it would convince him to support” more stringent gun control legislation, she said.
She disputed Costello’s assertion the Concerned Constituents Action Group is “partisan,” or is backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in an effort to undermine his chances for reelection.
In February, Costello’s office emailed Digital First Media a copy of a Federal Election Commission complaint filed by resident Ben LaGarde, which states the then-called Costello Constituent Action Group failed to, among other things, register as a Political Action Committee with the commission and used his name improperly.
The group subsequently changed the name to its current name.
Witzelben said the group has not filed as a Political Action Committee, because they do not meet the legal definition of being one.
“We have no connection to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and we don’t raise money for candidates,” said Witzelben. “I buy our posters at a dollar store in Delaware with my own money,” she said with a laugh.
“Our members are Republicans, Democrats, independents, we run the gamut,” Witzelben said.
“We exist independent of who holds the Sixth District seat. Our goal is to have our voice heard by whomever holds that seat in Congress,” Witzelben said. “Congressman Costello doesn’t need to be scared of us.”
A spokesperson for the Federal Elections Commission confirmed that a complaint has been filed against the Concerned Constituents Action Group.
Digital First Media was informed it is FEC policy not to comment further on complaints or investigations until the commission votes and, within 30 days, the results of that vote are posted on the agency website.