Democrat Staffers Escort Reporters to Restrooms at Party Retreat

At the Democratic Party’s political retreat last week, Party officials were so worried about rumors and leaks and so devoted to security that staffers were required to accompany reporters to and from the bathroom.

According to a report in Politico, reporters were also barred from entering the event hotel during times when open panels and open meetings were not being held, even if invited by a member.

“During Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks at the retreat Friday, reporters were required to have a staff member, usually a junior member of the press team, escort them when going to the bathroom or to the lobby,” Politico reported.

Democrats also set the media filing center at a completely separate hotel so that members of the media would be far from the event hotel for as much time as possible.

“It was a police state. It was absurd how heavy handed the capitol police and Democratic staff were in trying to control everywhere the press went,” New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters said.

This treatment is reminiscent of how reporters were treated at a Hillary Clinton event in September of last year.

In September The New York Times’ Amy Chozick revealed that reporters were required to have staffers shadow them to restrooms then as well.

“But, for me, perhaps the person who stands out is the friendly 20-something press aide who the Clinton Global Initiative tasked with escorting me to the restroom,” Chozick wrote. “She waited outside the stall in the ladies’ room at the Sheraton Hotel, where the conference is held each year.”

Bathroom-escorting duty appears to be an important part of being a Democratic staffer.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter: @warnerthuston, Email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.