WATERLOO -- A press conference outside the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center held by a Democratic senator from Waterloo was interrupted by a man who identified himself only as one of the convention center's managers today.

The convention center is the site of Cheney's 4 p.m. campaign stop today.

Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, had hardly begun his short speech when the man walked out of the convention center.

The man approached Dotzler as he spoke from behind a podium adorned with a John Kerry/John Edwards campaign sign. He told Dotzler he needed a permit.

"On the private property, yes," the man replied. The man later declined four requests from a reporter to give his name.

The podium and supporters were set up about 20 feet from Fourth Street between some planters on the cement expanse outside the convention center's southwest side.

The Ramada Inn leases the convention center from the city. City and hotel officials on Thursday were uncertain whether the area where Democratic supporters were standing was private property. City Clerk Nancy Eckert said city ordinance allows "peaceful picketing" in public places.

During the press conference, Dotzler criticized Cheney's connections with Halliburton, citing a recent report filed by the U.S. General Accounting Office that found "over $1 billion in waste by companies like Halliburton in Iraq," he said.

"They found money spent on lavish hotel rooms, hundreds of millions in overcharged fees by Halliburton and charging for meals never served. Even a simple flak jacket like this," he said, holding up a camouflage bullet-proof vest, "can save a life. And instead, the money is being wasted, and Dick Cheney's giving his friends no-bid contracts to get rich."

A police officer who arrived by squad car on the scene a short while after Democratic supporters had left said the Bush-Cheney campaign had called police to remove demonstrators from the convention center grounds.

Acting Police Chief John Beckman couldn't comment directly on the incident but speculated, "It's probably just something between the Kerry and Bush people."