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Bizarre, Almost Comic, Way Ugly

06.29.09 -- 3:12PM
By Josh Marshall

Not sure we've got a good general heading to put this under. But over the weekend Francine Busby was holding a fundraiser in an upper-income neighborhood in San Diego, prepping to run again in the fairly Republican CA-50 district. Remember, that's Duke Cunningham's old district, now represented by Brian Bilbray. So Busby's holding her fundraiser. Some neighbor calls the cops complaining of noise. And before you know it, the sheriff's department is there with eight squad cars and a helicopter, dousing multiple attendees with pepper spray and arresting one of the hostesses. (Click here for our TPMDC interview with Francine Busby discussing the incident.)

Only it gets better, or worse, depending on your perspective.

There's evidence the noise complaint was bogus. Busby did use a microphone to communicate with the crowd for a period of time -- a crowd she described as "middle aged and above." But no other neighbors heard any noise to speak of, according to reports. And there is this. The fundraiser was hosted by a lesbian couple. And not long before the sheriff's deputies showed up, someone was heard outside screaming anti-lesbian epithets.

As you can see, a lot of unanswered questions. Here's our initial report. We've got an interview with Francine Busby coming shortly.

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