Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Paul Ryan's staff threatens to call cops on jobless constituents


 
Rally outside last week, protest inside. Photo by Rochester Citizen
Today is Day 4 of the sit-in at premium wine enthusiast Paul Ryan's office, and we hear his staff is threatening to call the police -- again -- to kick out the seven unemployed constituents.
The protesters are sitting quietly in Ryan's Kenosha office because they want to talk to him about jobs. Ryan will only talk to people who fork over $15 to hear him at a Rotary meeting during the August recess.

@MikeUehlein tweets:
Ryan's staff threatening to have Kenosha unemployed arrested if they do not leave. #whereispaulryan #PaulRyanSitIn #wiunion
The Rochester Citizen spoke to Shanon Molina, one of the protesters:
Molina said that a lot of unemployed people around the country are getting in touch with the group after reading about their protest on the Internet. “People are rallying in support and at this point we are encouraging that aren’t from around here, that if they’re unemployed and their Congressmen and their Senators are not working for the people and their areas, take the classifieds, go down to your Congressman’s office and ask for a meeting. If you’re denied, sit down,” Molina said.
Asked whether she would encourage a nationwide movement to conduct sit-ins in Congressional and Senate offices around the country, Molina said, “Absolutely. Absolutely..."
K.C. Dermody opined,
When Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., ran for re-election in 2010, his motto should have been, "Vote for me, and I'll kick you when you're down." Ryan likes to talk about how many town hall meetings he had in 2009, a total of 17, but in 2011, when so many people continue to struggle, his last meeting was held in April.
At that meeting Ryan was booed for his plan that would extend tax breaks to the wealthy but phase out Medicare for our senior citizens. Since then, he has not given the people in his district a chance for an open discussion, and next time, Ryan will charge $15 for the right to ask him a question.
Tomorrow there will be a "Where are the jobs?" rally at Ryan's office in Janesville. And today, WiscJobsNow is suggesting activists call Ryan's office numbers to give them an earful.
#PaulRyanSitIn Kenosha: (262) 654-1901 Racine: (262) 637-0510 Janesville: (608) 752-0450 -- call - show them what democracy looks like.