MTA looks into officer telling Trump supporters to leave train station

Donald Trump supporter Joe Visconti hands a Trump pamphlet to a commuter at the Greenwich train station Thursday. Donald Trump supporter Joe Visconti hands a Trump pamphlet to a commuter at the Greenwich train station Thursday. Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close MTA looks into officer telling Trump supporters to leave train station 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

GREENWICH — Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said one of their officers stopped Donald Trump supporters from campaigning at the Greenwich train station Thursday for safety reasons.

“The individuals were asked to desist because of concerns about operations and safety on the platform during a busy time,” Aaron Donovan, MTA deputy director for external communications, said in a statement Friday. He would not answer further questions other than to confirm “no summonses were issued” and say the incident is under review.

A group of seven Trump supporters gathered at the Railroad Avenue station to pass out campaign literature to commuters during the evening rush. An MTA police officer cut their operation short after an hour. They had planned to campaign for three.

“I’ve been doing this for years and this never happened before,” Joe Visconti, a former candidate for governor, and organizer of the pro-Trump group, said Friday. “Republicans and Democrats do it. The tea party did it. It happened all the way down the line from Greenwich to New Haven, and there’s never been an issue.”

The officer who stopped them told them they needed to get prior approval to hand out material. He would not speak to media covering the event other than to say he had not received any complaints about the group’s behavior.

No aggressive behavior on the part of campaigners or commuters was observed during the event.

Donovan referred policy questions to the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Department spokesman Judd Everheart said no prior permission is needed to hand out printed material on train platforms in the state, but an officer has the authority to stop campaign activities if he or she believes they are a threat to safety.

Everhardt also said the Greenwich incident is being reviewed.

Working on what the officer told him, Visconti said he tried all day Friday to get an answer about policy or where he needed to go to get permission.

Visconti said his group still plans to hit train stations throughout Fairfield County in advance of Tuesday’s statewide primary to drum up support for Trump.

“We’re going to keep going,” he said. “But we’re going to do this at the exits to the train stations near the streets so we’re not on the platform. We’re going to do Greenwich and Cos Cob and we’re going to keep doing this through Election Day.”

Free speech advocates in the state said the incident raises potential concerns but they needed more information about policy and practice in order to determine whether the Trump group’s rights were violated.

“Handing out campaign leaflets or other material should be protected speech,” said Jim Smith, president of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information. “We would need to know more about what MTA policy is.”

Dan Barrett, legal director for the Connecticut American Civil Liberties Union, also said he needed to see MTA policy and how it’s been enforced before determining if the officer’s actions were legal.

. “We would have concerns if the enforcement was being done inconsistently and any particular group of people were being singled out,” Barrett said

Both political parties have campaigned on Greenwich train platforms for years. Local political leaders on Friday had different accounts of MTA involvement.

“Three years ago out of nowhere we received a letter from the MTA telling us that the platforms are not public property and they are MTA property and we could not campaign there,” said former Greenwich Democratic Town Committee Chairman Frank Farricker. “For the most part, we just ignored it because it’s undemocratic but on a couple of occasions, we were told to leave by MTA employees.”

Greenwich Republican Town Committee Chairman Stephen Walko has been a part of campaigning at Greenwich train stations in the past. He said in those times “not once” did they ever have any problems with MTA police.

For his part, Visconti said he was willing to chalk this incident up to the MTA officer being concerned about safety.

“I’m not looking to have a beef with anyone,” he continued.

kborsuk@scni.com