Although toxic metal rocker Bradlee Dean likes to denounce anyone attacking him as anti-Christian, anti-conservative and the like, he'll have an interesting time making that claim stick against his latest adversary, 20-year-old Des Moines Community College student and former president of the community college's chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF).
Dagel won a free speech fight this spring.
Nonetheless, none other that Operation Rescue president Troy Newman is attacking Dagel on the young man's Facebook post of a press release debunking Dean.
Young Jake Dagel has reworked his website to reflect the attack on Dean, branding himself as a "social rights activist" who has defended Christians from being attacked by the movie "For The Bible Tells Me So" but "exposed a cult who posses as a Christian ministry and abuses donor money" as well. Dagel is available for bookings:
Dagel is willing to speak at your school, event, conference, or whatever you may be hosting today. Click here for booking information.
At City Pages, Aaron Rupar reports in Bradlee Dean's ministry is a cult and Dean is a crook, ex-employee says:
Today, Jake Dagel, a 20-year-old Iowa college student who worked for Bradlee Dean's "You Can Run But You Cannot Hide" ministry until late last month, went public with allegations the ministry is a cult and that Dean is a crook.
So yeah, you probably shouldn't apply for this job.
In a press release, Dagel alleges Dean's ministry took all his money, barred him from reading the news, and ultimately kicked him out of a vehicle he and other ministry members were riding through Tennessee at 3 a.m. after he couldn't pay for gas.
City Pages will publish an interview with Dagel on Monday. This should prove quite interesting, given Dagel's street cred as a young conservative activist whose social values line up closely to those of Dean. We're not talking Jake Loesch here.
In March, the YAF national website reported in YAF Chapter Exposes School Using Taxpayer Funds to Attack Conservatives, Christians:
A Young Americans for Freedom chapter is demanding its school to pull funding from an upcoming LGBT conference, claiming a bias against conservatives and Christians.Des Moines Community College student Jake Dagel, who chairs the school's Young Americans for Freedom chapter, is opposing the 8th Annual Governor’s Conference on LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning) Youth and is calling for the school to pull its $1,000 sponsorship during a press conference announcing his chapter's position. Dagel claims that conservatives and Christians will be bullied at the event.
“Any conference or event that attacks individuals for their beliefs is not diversity,” Dagel told the Iowa Republican. “We, the DMACC Young Americans for Freedom...believe that he LGBT community has every right to host this conference due to their First Amendment rights. However, as long as the conference hosts workshops that attack individuals, we will demand that DMACC revoke its sponsorship of tuition and taxpayer money from this conference.”
Dagel's concern stems from two different workshops during the conference. One entitled, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Right Wing," which according to the Iowa Safe Schools website (which founded the conference) attendees will "Learn messages and methods to fight back against propaganda from the extreme right wing, from Fox News and Rush Limbaugh to Bob Vander Plaats and Jan Mickelson. Discover resources to get the most up-to-date information available and work toward a more progressive Iowa." The other is a seminar that will have attendees watch the documentary "For the Bible Tells Me So," a documentary that shows how conservatives have "warped" their interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize homosexuals. . . .
"For the Bible Tells Me So" includes the story of Mankato native and Soul Force Ride activist Jacob Reitan and his family. Obviously, the two Jacobs disagee about faith.
The next day, YAF posted UPDATE: YAFer Dagel's Right to Free Speech Violated by Campus Police noting that Dagel and a non-student friend were prevented from distributing fliers objecting to the $1000 sponsorship of the conference. Despite the event's name, it was a private conference started by former Governor Vilsack which did not receive funding from the state, according to Iowa Governor Terry Branstad's office. Branstad was criticized by Hawkeye state social conservatives because the word Governor appeared in the title.
Dagel sued the school for violating his freedom of speech, the Des Moines Register (via another Gannett chain site) reported in Student files suit against DMACC over flier policy:
A Des Moines Area Community College student has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the school's policy on handing out fliers, saying location restrictions and a rule requiring a 10-day notice unfairly impinge on his right to free speech.
Jacob Dagel alleges in federal court papers filed Monday in Des Moines that DMACC's rules prevent him from expressing his political views.
Dagel, a "professing evangelical Christian," says he was blocked by a campus security official when he attempted to hand out fliers March 28 opposing community college officials' decision to subsidize student tickets to an April 3 anti-bullying conference.
The event included discussions that referenced the Bible and the "Big Bad Right Wing."
According to the lawsuit, DMACC's policy is to restrict campus leafleting to a "Speech Zone" - essentially a hallway in the Student Services Center with tables and chairs where organizations who register in advance are allowed to pass information to students.
Court papers contend the policy, which requires an advance review of any information to be distributed, is too broad and gives too much power in limiting the time, place and manner of speech. Documents argue that by "restricting (Dagel's) desired speech to 10 business days' advance notice and a cramped table in a lobby, the college is violating his constitutional rights."
"Mr. Dagel requires the ability, like all college students, to speak spontaneously in reaction to news," the lawsuit argues.
"And yet, the college's Solicitation and Recruitment Policy prohibits such spontaneous speech because it forces Mr. Dagel to obtain a permit prior to speaking," the lawsuit also states.
DMACC President Rob Denson said he was unaware of the lawsuit and that Dagel, a leader in the DMACC chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, never raised concerns about speaking rules in several emails the two have exchanged as part of planning an upcoming Young Americans event on the Ankeny campus.
Denson said he's confident the campus is not impinging on constitutional freedoms - although campus officials had been pondering ways to shorten the 10-day notice requirement.
"Had he asked, we would have ameliorated that requirement anyway," Denson said.
Dagel declined to comment and referred questions to an attorney.
The lawsuit, while providing no specifics, also contends that DMACC leaders "have applied the Solicitation and Recruitment Policy and associated practices to plaintiff in a discriminatory and unequal manner, allowing other students to speak freely and distribute literature when defendants say plaintiff cannot do the same, in violation of plaintiff's right to equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment." . . .
Bluestem wonders if the YAF event onthe Ankeny campus that Dagel and Denson were discussing in emails was Bradlee Dean's April 25 event. It does seem to be the only event sponsored by the group during the time frame that's posted on the club's Facebook page.
Despite the controversy about the governor's conference, the club applied for and received student organization status during the semester, as well as hosting the controversial Dean. Bluestem previewed the event in our mid-April post, While Bachmann draws scrutiny of IA ethics committee, YAF touts her Dean endorsement.
The Des Moines Register posted the complaint here.
The school and Dagel settled, earning a rose from the Register editorial board in a May 12, 2013 editorial:
A rose to a student and the administration at Des Moines Area Community College for reaching the right conclusion on a disputed free-speech policy. Jacob Dagel, a student at the DMACC Ankeny campus, alleged in a lawsuit filed in federal court that the college's "free-speech zone" policy that limited leafleting to a specific hallway and only after getting advance permission in writing violated the First Amendment. It's hard to figure why a suit was necessary in the first place, since it should be obvious that every part of a public college campus is a free-speech zone, without prior approval. That was readily acknowledged by DMACC President Rob Denson, however, and the Ankeny campus policy is no longer in force. Dagel, who identified himself as a "professed evangelical Christian," wanted to distribute leaflets protesting the use of public money on a conference for students dealing with homosexuality. We don't agree with his complaint, but it clearly deserved to be heard.
The Associated Press reported on May 29:
An Iowa community college will pay nearly $14,000 to settle a free-speech lawsuit filed by a student who was barred from distributing fliers criticizing a conference on gay youth.Des Moines Area Community College had already pledged to no longer enforce a policy that required students to distribute literature at a table in the student center and to get permission 10 days in advance.
In documents filed Tuesday, the college agreed to pay Jacob Dagel $100 and cover attorneys’ fees of $13,700 to end the case without admitting wrongdoing. Dagel was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative group. . . .
No wonder Dagel didn't have gas money for the ministry gas tank.
While Dagel is disillusioned now by Dean, he wasn't at the time. Here's his video testimonial, posted on the Sons of Liberty Facebook page:
An text version of the testimonial is here.
Dagel is no stranger to politics. In January, he was appointed as a legislative secretary in the Iowa State House (page 3), after service to the Iowa Republican Party, doing such things as taking RSVPs for the Sioux Center Victory Office Party with Steve King.
It's a good thing that Dagel made his bones with the campus quarrel. On his Facebook page announcement of the release, Dagel is being attacked by no less than Troy Newman of Wichita, Kansas.
Name ring a bell? Newman is the current president of Operation Rescue and he's accusing Dagel of owing a number of people money and more in his comments. Here's one Newman comment on the post:
Troy Newman No, Jake Dagel is a liar. And not just any liar, he is a vindictive kid who wants to smear the good name of good Christians while trying to making himself look better. He owes countless people money, he is misrepresenting the truth. It is with great sadness that I say this. Jake it is you who need to repent for your back biting. slander and division among brothers. Jake, God is not mocked, you will reap what you sow.
The CP interview on Monday should prove fascinating, and as for the right-wing rumble? Pop some corn.
Images: Jacob Dagel (above); the Bradlee Dean event he hosted in April (above). Bluestem previewed it in an April post.
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