Posted on 10/05/2004 10:14:56 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather
Labor Activists Invade Bush's Campaign Sites By ELLEN GEDALIUS and WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune Published: Oct 6, 2004
TAMPA - Labor activists stormed President Bush's campaign headquarters in Tampa on Tuesday, part of an orchestrated event nationwide involving thousands of people protesting his policies on overtime pay. No one was injured or arrested in Tampa, police said. Miami and Orlando also were among the 17 cities in swing- voting states where the AFL-CIO organized such events.
Protesters, including construction and hospital workers, were armed with postcards and petitions expressing their disapproval of Bush's overtime policies. Some held signs reading: ``Don't Take Away Our Overtime.''
Activists put at least one sign on a wall of the headquarters at 800 W. Platt St., pleading with Bush to ``keep his hands off overtime pay,'' said Eddie Acosta, an AFL-CIO member who organized the Tampa rally.
The Bush administration issued new overtime pay rules in August. Proponents say the changes could make about 1 million more workers eligible for overtime. Critics contend 6 million could be reclassified as exempt from overtime pay.
Bush ``knows we're frustrated with this,'' said John Cox, an AFL-CIO member based in Orlando. ``We thought this is the best way we can get our message heard.''
Stan Fields, a Bush campaign coordinator in Tampa, said the message was lost in the tactic as dozens of demonstrators rushed into the headquarters about 1 p.m.
``They were stamping. They were chanting,'' Fields said. ``Literally, you couldn't hear inside this building. This place was rocking.''
Al Higginbotham, Hillsborough County Republican Party chairman, said he arrived late to the scene and was told demonstrators, although not making physical contact with campaign workers, had moved within a few inches of them to impede them from leaving.
Joseph Agostini, spokesman for the state GOP, complained that just hours before Tuesday night's vice presidential debate, ``a forum for civil discussion of issues, we have these organized labor thugs using terror tactics in America.''
The demonstrators did not disrupt business, said Rob Ray, Hillsborough County Democratic Party vice chairman.
``That's what they always try to say about working people - that when you demonstrate together for a cause, you're being a mob or a thug,'' Ray said. ``No one was hurt. We abided by what the police officers asked us to do.''
Protesters stayed in the public area of the headquarters or on the street, and they left when asked, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.
``They might have been boisterous or somewhat intimidating, but they didn't threaten anybody,'' McElroy said.
Still, Republicans were alarmed.
``It's a shame that the campaign has gone to the point that they'd use strong-arm tactics against volunteers,'' Higginbotham said. ``It's unsettling to people who are volunteering to a cause they believe in, and I can assure you that folks I'm associated with will never be involved in an effort like that.''
Reporter Valerie Kalfrin contributed to this report. Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7562. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thugs, force, fear and intimidation...the usual dems strategy in their whole policy of being.
Laura McElroy is an IDIOT.
Read the article again....
Protesters stayed in the public area of the headquarters or on the street, and they left when asked, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.
``They might have been boisterous or somewhat intimidating, but they didn't threaten anybody,'' McElroy said.
This is the face of the DemocRATic Party of nowadays.
Agreed. There were THREE incidents just yesterday, and not a peep from the MSM. What will it take to get these incidents recognized, a bomb?
This stuff is starting to smell organized. I believe the John-John Campaign has some questions to answer. I will be looking for an interview with someone from their main HQ today and let y'all know how it comes out.
I'm going to start a small grass roots effort to get folks to bring their still and video cameras to the polls on Nov 2 (since I can't call for arms). I am working on a name and slogan. Please FReepmail me with ideas, pledges of help, and critiques. Although I would appreciate the humor some will provide, please keep it to serious inquiries.
Don't forget this thuggery was "civil" while voting machines "intimidate" voters in the same state. Hmmm, seems a bit out of this world to admit to being frightened by an inanimate object while physically intimidating other people.
But, I'm not really surprised, Demonrats are out of this world.
Isn't the issue of overtime pay a fluke?
Yet these people call us Nazi's....
this also happened in Milwaukee yesterday. f'n thugs.
paid hooligans? Otherwise, they weren't working, just in the way.
Ping....I just ran across this story in the Tampa Trib. Had to believe or caring Dim friends would stoop to this low level.
Had to believe or
Should read:
Hard to believe our....
No it is not a fluke. This was passed onto the American people by the Department of Labor without a vote in congress. Many people have reason to be angry about this.
The Democrat party and its supporters are looking more and more like a criminal enterprise. This incident is but the latest evidence of that.
That's an opinion. But that's neither here nor there.
They learned that this works. With no arrests, they learned that they can enter campaign sites and intimidate the workers there and there will be NO consequences.
So look for a LOT more of this in the future!
Union Goons and Thugs.
Criminals. democrat party "shock troops" Painters Union again?
Kerry deserves to loose, Just because of this.
We The People of the United States of America call
upon the Governors of all 50 states to station
National Guard troops to protect all political party
headquarters in each state's major metropolitan areas.
For headquarters in smaller areas, and headquarters
which are more limited facilities, we call upon the
governors to station highway patrol, state police, or
state troopers. We call upon the Mayor of the District
of Columbia to coordinate with the applicable
protective agencies as well. All parties on the
ballot should receive the appropriate protection based
on the size of the metro area they are in and the size
of the facility. If warranted, similar measures should
be put in place to protect the polling places on
Election Day.
Orders to guardsmen and law enforcement officers to
shoot-to-kill upon any mob attack should be issued.
Failure to take such actions should be considered
gross incompetence.
In order to address the possibility that the recent
attacks on headquarters of political parties are a
diversion in advance of acts of terrorism or war, we
also call upon the governors to activate their state
militias and if need be to deputize selected citizens
as special reserve state law enforcement officers.
Where state militias and deputation statutes do not
yet exist, we call upon the affected governors to
sponsor such legislation as is needed in order to
instate the applicable mechanisms.
In God We Trust.
More brownshirt tactics from the donkeyhaddeen
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.