Connolly, who is also a former candidate for governor, was staging a protest that was attempting to compare terrorism with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights on the November ballot.

A few questions.  Was it at night or during the day?  (From the article, it sounds like it might have been day.) How fast was the traffic going?  How good a look could drivers get at that little orange tip of the gun?  And how big was that gun?

In other words, it actually is possible that people may have been afraid.  After 6 years of "terror all the time" by the Bushies, and the sniper shootings in the DC area, and shootings in schools, and....  Well, you get the idea.

What if he was wearing a Nixon mask?  Would that make his action any more or less worthy of arrest?  Or a Mickey Mouse mask?  The idea here is that if he actually was a nut with a gun who was about ready to shoot at passing cars, would it not be right to arrest him and prosecute him?

I'm no prosecutor, but frankly I don't think it was a very bright thing to do.  And for a lawyer no less.  The mask, the sign - fine.  No problem there.  The fake gun...  yeah, now I think THAT IS a problem.

but wanted to send a message to stop a similar event from happening again.

my bet: he files a suit, in federal court, alleging a violation of his first amendment right of free speech. the "message" they are trying to send is "don't you dare try to actually exercise those pesky constitutional rights in our town!"

nowhere did i see that anyone accused him of actually threatening them, just that they "felt" threatened. some people feel threatened just by getting up out of bed in the morning, it isn't a crime. unless a reasonable person, similarly situated, would reasonably feel threatened, then too bad.

it sounds like they'd have had a more legitimate issue with him maybe posing a potential danger, to himself and others, by virtue of his location next to an interstate exit ramp.

the smart thing to do would have been to just ask him to move, and put the water gun away, if all they were really concerned about was safety. clearly, they weren't.

   Here the charges are ludicrous but I'd wager Connolly couldn't be happier. As a lawyer, I'm sure he realizes he is in little danger of being convicted and by grossly overreacting the police brought what would have been a barely noticed protest huge publicity.

   At most, the cops should, if he was on a public right-of-way told him to move along because he was creating a potential traffic hazard. Then, if he refused slap him with a citation for trespassing on the right-of-way. If he was on private property with permission then they should have done nothing.