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.
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Isn't their loitering laws or anything. Tell them to GTFO if they aren't going to do anything.
Here's some quotes from another article about this.
"Countered South Florida AFL-CIO president Fred Frost: "It was as civil as it gets.'"
"Debra Booth, president of the Central Florida AFL-CIO, described the protest as "peaceful'"
If there are any union members in florida here, you may want to contact these people to let them know what you think.
Debra Booth - Central Florida AFL-CIO (407) 649-8557
Here's an e-mail for Fred Frost's branch
info@sfaflcio.org
And here's an email for journalist Mark Schlueb at the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
mschlueb@orlandosentinel.com.
Well, well. This explains the gunshots into a Bush campaign office earlier today.
Nice people, those leftists....
Democrats are at their best when they can frighten people. Their candidates use the tactic and so do their voters. Scare tactics or intimidation it's all the same to them.
>>The demonstrators did not disrupt business, said Rob Ray, Hillsborough County Democratic Party vice chairman. <<
And how, pray tell, would he know that?
Is this a civic owned building? If not, they were tresspassing.
A DAY IS COMING FOR THESE COMMUNISTS...
Vote Bush Nov. 2!
Lefty Loony Communist Rats...they're real close to biting off just enough to choke dead on.
Ray the pinhead doesn't seem to grasp the concept of unlawful restraint. Preventing campaign workers from leaving is the act of a thug.
A similar mob attacked the Bush-Cheney HQ in Orlando, too:
http://www.local6.com/politics/3785861/detail.html
I agree. It is similar to the harrassment and intimidation that goes on in Latin America.
Linda Chavez has a book out now titled "Betrayal" which catalogues the unions corrupt financing and support of the Democrats. It also details the violent tactics they use. I recommend it highly.
Give these union thugs some brown shirts and swastika armbands and send them back to 1934 Nazi Germany.
Thanks for the recommendation. I will read it!
Come on folks.
Carter reviewed the elections in Venezuela and concluded all was on the up & up.
These break-ins are only the will of the people.
UP, UP, and AwAY!
"Some" heads are cooler than mine,I guess.
It's for the greater good ,I'm sure.
We are just too shallow to grasp their opinions.
Here's a link to contact the national office of the AFL-CIO
http://www.aflcio.org/siteguides/contactus.cfm
John Sweeney, the President of the AFL-CIO needs to make a public statement explaining how it came to be that this was coordinated at multiple bush/cheney offices. He also needs to provide an apology to the campaign workers and President Bush. I hope he is criminally prosecuted, but I'm not holding my breath.
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