Opinion
Protesters Speak Out Against Boehner, Reichert in Bellevue. Sorta.
Yesterday, a mob of 50 protesters rallied outside the Hyatt in downtown Bellevue against House minority leader John Boehner (R-OH 8 ) and Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA 8 ). The pair hosted a fundraiser for Reichert’s re-election campaign. Signs everywhere indicted the GOP and John Boehner for being out of touch with the district (infamously among liberals, Boehner recently said the Financial Reform Bill is like "killing an ant with a nuclear weapon.")
Reichert has largely been able to play his congressional record as moderate, taking votes for the Climate Change Bill and the Employee Non-Discrimination Act. He also supported FCC rules to limit cross-ownership between media companies, and in 2007, he voted to override President Bush's veto of a low-income children's health care bill (SCHIP). For those of you keeping score at home, that's a vote for the environment, for gay rights, for public health care, and against corporate consolidation of the airwaves.
Suzan DelBene must have been giddy. Here was a chance for her to link Reichert, once and for all, to the Republican establishment—to show that he is, in fact, in lock-step with a GOP leader (literally) like John Boehner, who is incredibly out of touch with the swing 8th Congressional District in the Microsoft suburbs.
Unfortunately, she didn't. DelBene didn't show up. (Her communications director, Scott Whitaker, told us "her schedule was full."
What's more important, we didn't get to hear from any anti-Reichert constituents. The protesters weren't allowed to talk to the press. There were roughly fifty people toting signs and leading chants on the public sidewalk. Everyone we asked for a comment answered, "I'm not supposed to talk to you."
Finally, an organizer offered to give me the phone number of Anne Martens, the Communications Director of the Washington State Democrats. If we had questions, we were supposed to call her.
So I did. “We asked organizers and participants not to talk to the press because they’re representing the party,” Martens said. (All of the fifty-ish protesters were recruited by the state party.) Martens was happy to talk, though. She said Boehner is the face of the out-of-touch GOP, and that Reichert is embracing Boehner. She went so far as to say that “The difference between Wall Street and Main Street is the difference between Republicans and Democrats.”
It’s one thing for the communications director of the State Democratic Party to think that—she is paid to think it! But if you don’t let the protesters you organized talk to the press—have everyday people demonstrate that they think the same thing—then we have no idea if Reichert actually is out of touch with his district. All we know is that he's out of touch with the Washington State Democrats' communications director.
Reichert has largely been able to play his congressional record as moderate, taking votes for the Climate Change Bill and the Employee Non-Discrimination Act. He also supported FCC rules to limit cross-ownership between media companies, and in 2007, he voted to override President Bush's veto of a low-income children's health care bill (SCHIP). For those of you keeping score at home, that's a vote for the environment, for gay rights, for public health care, and against corporate consolidation of the airwaves.
Suzan DelBene must have been giddy. Here was a chance for her to link Reichert, once and for all, to the Republican establishment—to show that he is, in fact, in lock-step with a GOP leader (literally) like John Boehner, who is incredibly out of touch with the swing 8th Congressional District in the Microsoft suburbs.
Unfortunately, she didn't. DelBene didn't show up. (Her communications director, Scott Whitaker, told us "her schedule was full."
What's more important, we didn't get to hear from any anti-Reichert constituents. The protesters weren't allowed to talk to the press. There were roughly fifty people toting signs and leading chants on the public sidewalk. Everyone we asked for a comment answered, "I'm not supposed to talk to you."
Finally, an organizer offered to give me the phone number of Anne Martens, the Communications Director of the Washington State Democrats. If we had questions, we were supposed to call her.
So I did. “We asked organizers and participants not to talk to the press because they’re representing the party,” Martens said. (All of the fifty-ish protesters were recruited by the state party.) Martens was happy to talk, though. She said Boehner is the face of the out-of-touch GOP, and that Reichert is embracing Boehner. She went so far as to say that “The difference between Wall Street and Main Street is the difference between Republicans and Democrats.”
It’s one thing for the communications director of the State Democratic Party to think that—she is paid to think it! But if you don’t let the protesters you organized talk to the press—have everyday people demonstrate that they think the same thing—then we have no idea if Reichert actually is out of touch with his district. All we know is that he's out of touch with the Washington State Democrats' communications director.
