There's some weird stuff happening in the UK -- the paedophile scares of the last few years have, it seems, led to photographers getting hassled in London. It's been reported in Amateur Photographer. It wouldn't surprise me if there were differences between states in the US -- different state level laws on the boundary between private and public places. I understand the basic principles are similar here, but we maybe don't have some of the same exceptions for such things as that politician. And there can be a "public place" which is "private property".