Tresa Baldas

Detroit Free Press

Don't shush me.

That's Warren Mayor Jim Fouts' message to supporters of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, claiming a security officer threatened to kick him out of the Democratic debate in Flint on Sunday if he didn't quiet down his support for Bernie Sanders.

And he wasn't even being loud, said Fouts, claiming he was threatened with eviction for making a few complimentary remarks about Sanders, including "Go Bernie," and saying that it would be nice to have more debates. Fouts, who is politically independent, said a security officer pulled him aside during a commercial break and told him that he had to leave following complaints that he was being disruptive.

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Fouts said, "That's ridiculous" and refused to leave, but then promised to be quiet so that he could stay.

The security officer, Fouts says, gave him a warning: "If you say one more word, I will have to throw you out."

Fouts kept his word, but grumbled inside.

"This is unthinkable," Fouts told the Free Press on Tuesday. "They muzzled me ... this flies in the face of democratic belief. And I was not disruptive in any way, shape or form."

The Democratic National Committee, which organized the debate, was not available for comment. But DNC staffers told BuzzFeed that Fouts was being disruptive.

Hogwash, said Fouts, who claims all he did was speak in a normal tone to the women sitting near him.

Former Michigan Sen. Martha Scott, who was sitting in that row, backed Fouts up.

"I was shocked," Scott said of the threatened eviction. "All he said was, 'We need more debates,' and I said, 'Yes. I would like to see some more debates as well.' He was not loud."

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Fouts said he believes that the culprit was DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was sitting in front of him. He said the security officer admitted it was Schultz who complained. He explained on Facebook and contrasted the Democratic debate with Thursday's Republican debate in Detroit:

"What an experience! There is a great contrast between the Democratic debate and the Republican. In the Republican debate anything goes and the audience is free to speak, shout, boo and say whatever they want to. It's almost pure democracy mixed in with a little anarchy," Fouts wrote in a Monday post. " However the Democratic debate is totally controlled by Hillary's good friend DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. No commentary is allowed by the audience. Particularly if you are cheering Bernie Sanders. Persons who do not adhere to Hillary's rules are threatened with expulsion. That's not very democratic.That borders on totalitarian control."

Schultz could not be reached for comment.