Bush protesters get $50,000 state settlement

DES MOINES, Iowa - State records show that a $50,000 judgment has been awarded to two retired school teachers who were strip-searched during a 2004 campaign stop by President Bush.

The State Appeal Board recently approved the out-of-court settlement for Alice McCabe and Christine Nelson.

They brought a claim against the Iowa Department of Public Safety after two state troopers arrested them at a rally in Cedar Rapids in September 2004. The charges were later dropped.

In June, a federal jury awarded the women $750,000 on their claim that their constitutional rights were violated.

Authorities have said the women were arrested because they refused to obey reasonable security restrictions at the rally, but the women claimed they were taken into custody because they had a dissenting opinion from the Bush administration. McCabe and Nelson argued successfully that their constitutional rights to free speech, assembly and freedom from unreasonable arrest and search were violated during the 2004 incident.

The settlement payout was included in a State Appeal Board preliminary report that detailed more than $9.1 million in settlements and judgments the panel approved during fiscal 2008.