It really sickens me to see more and more stories like this. They tend to be more stories of violent acts being committed by the intolerant left towards the GOP. Not exclusively, but most seem to be perpetrated by leftist organizations. Liberal protesters always seem to have the maturity of little children.
First, some shots fired at a GOP headquarters the other day, next a GOP headquarters in Wisconson is stormed and now this...
Labor Activists Invade Bush\'s Campaign Sites
By ELLEN GEDALIUS and WILLIAM MARCH
Oct 6, 2004
The Tampa Tribune
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.
This story can be found at:
http://www.tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGBF1XMUYZD.html
