Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) earlier this month found himself in a dispute with police after the Texas tea partier was slapped with a ticket for parking his vehicle in a spot reserved for National Park Service personnel near the Lincoln Memorial, according to a report obtained by Politico and reported Wednesday.
U.S. Park Police officers wrote Gohmert a citation a little after 11 p.m. on March 11 but he immediately cried foul, arguing that his congressional placard entitled him to park in the space. According to the report, he removed the ticket from his windshield and wrote a note on it before placing it, along with his business card, on a nearby police car.
“Oversight of Park Service is my job!” the message reportedly read. “Natural Resources Thus the Congressional Plate in window.”
The police report also quoted Gohmert giving the officers a lecture.
“I was issued a ticket and I am a congressman and parked my vehicle in the NPS parking only because I have a Congress placard, see,” Gohmert told one officer, according to the report. “I am going to a meeting on the Hill and I am the one who oversees the National Park Services Natural Resources.”
Gohmert’s spokeswoman told Politico that it was a misunderstanding, and claimed that the officer “accepted the ticket back and apologized” after being shown the Congressional plates. But the police report, in which Gohmert was described as “rude and irate,” did not mention any such apology. Politico notes that Park Police have yet to provide an update.
Read Politico’s entire report here.
