There were at this past year's meeting, but they wouldn't have been able to do anything to anyone who wanted to be physically disruptive. Seriously, what would you expect them to do? If enough people decide to physically disrupt a gathering, there's not a lot we could do. It's sort of like a sporting event. If the players refuse to play by the rules and ignore the officials, the game is going to be effectively abandoned.
Many years ago, I was referee in a soccer match. One particular player was being particularly troublesome. I'd previously yellow-carded him for violent play. Later on, on a textbook offsides call (upon whom the person on which it was called immediately realized that he'd screwed up), this same player (who wasn't actually involved in the play) came over and started yelling at me. I gave him his second yellow and thus a red card. He attacked me, knocking me over. To my relief, his fellow players restrained him, took him off the pitch, and in fact threw him off the team for good. But if the players hadn't done that, I would have been done and so would have been the match.
Our Sergeants-at-Arms were there to keep people moving to where they needed to be, to distribute papers, to assist people with disabilities, and otherwise facilitate the meeting. They were not police officers, and had we had to eject anyone for disruptive behavior, it would have been up to the ejected person to decide whether s/he was willing to go on his or her own or if we were going to need to call for Security (and I mean the convention center Security, and ultimately the Spokane Police Department) to eject the person.
Or to put it another way, assume you were the Sergeant-at-Arms. A member gets sufficiently disruptive that the meeting votes to eject him/her. (This is possible but has never happened, and I hope it never does.) I instruct the you as SAA to escort the member from the room. The ejected member refuses to leave and continues to shout about abused rights and Freedom of Speech. What do you do?
no subject
Many years ago, I was referee in a soccer match. One particular player was being particularly troublesome. I'd previously yellow-carded him for violent play. Later on, on a textbook offsides call (upon whom the person on which it was called immediately realized that he'd screwed up), this same player (who wasn't actually involved in the play) came over and started yelling at me. I gave him his second yellow and thus a red card. He attacked me, knocking me over. To my relief, his fellow players restrained him, took him off the pitch, and in fact threw him off the team for good. But if the players hadn't done that, I would have been done and so would have been the match.
Our Sergeants-at-Arms were there to keep people moving to where they needed to be, to distribute papers, to assist people with disabilities, and otherwise facilitate the meeting. They were not police officers, and had we had to eject anyone for disruptive behavior, it would have been up to the ejected person to decide whether s/he was willing to go on his or her own or if we were going to need to call for Security (and I mean the convention center Security, and ultimately the Spokane Police Department) to eject the person.
Or to put it another way, assume you were the Sergeant-at-Arms. A member gets sufficiently disruptive that the meeting votes to eject him/her. (This is possible but has never happened, and I hope it never does.) I instruct the you as SAA to escort the member from the room. The ejected member refuses to leave and continues to shout about abused rights and Freedom of Speech. What do you do?