Democratic Activists Urged To Be Aggressive at Rep. Allen West Town Hall Meetings
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Palm Beach County Democratic activists got some coaching last week on getting loud and getting ejected when U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, holds another town hall meeting Thursday in Boca Raton.
“Make your voice heard. Get angry. Get upset – because you are .. .Attend every single town hall and get loud. That’s the only way the media’s going to pick us up,” Craig Borkon of the liberal group Organize Now told the county Democratic Executive Committee.
When one of the roughly 100 partisans mentioned getting tossed out, Borkon said: “Let them throw you out. Finally maybe the media will put something in the paper saying he’s throwing everybody out that disagrees with him.”
Since voting for House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s spending blueprint and its controversial Medicare overhaul plan, West has been confronted by some shouters at each of his town hall meetings. Some were escorted out, and liberal talk radio host Nicole Sandler was arrested after being removed from a meeting in Fort Lauderdale. Charges against Sandler of “trespassing after warning” were later dropped.
County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel characterized Sandler’s behavior as extraordinary “help” that others needn’t replicate.
“If they ask you to leave, you leave,” Siegel counseled. “The one person who was cuffed was cuffed because she continued to dispute into the lobby and was trying to help us make news that day by getting herself arrested. And she did.”
At the same meeting, Boynton Beach Democratic activist Nate Smith reported that he and his wife Harriet saw West and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, at a Memorial Day ceremony at South Florida National Cemetery west of Lake Worth.
“There had to be at least 1,000 people there,” Smith said. “When Allen West got up to speak, they went crazy. The crowd there went absolutely crazy for Allen West. When Ted got up, a half a dozen people including Harriet and I got up and welcomed Ted. But when Allen West got up they went crazy, cheering, yelling, screaming.
“We’ve got a job to do.”
Palm Beach County Republican State Committeeman Peter Feaman wants to become the Florida GOP’s national committeeman. Feaman said he’ll run in January when about 250 state Republican leaders choose a replacement for Committeeman Paul Senft, who isn’t seeking a new term.
Puerto Rican/U.S.A. Hispanic Democratic Club President Mike Rios has retired from his job in the county elections office and says he’ll be a candidate in 2012.
Rios wouldn’t reveal which office he’ll seek, but hinted he might displease party leaders by taking on an incumbent Democrat. That happened in 2004 when Rios challenged Tax Collector John Clark in a Democratic primary and managed only 21 percent.
“It’s going to be a shocker,” Rios said of his 2012 plans. “I’m not going to allow the party to dictate what I do.”
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