http://missouri-news.org/midwest-news/iowa/progressive-group-wary-of-plan-to-occupy-obama-campaign-headquarters/10281
Progressive group wary of plan to occupy Obama campaign headquarters
November 2, 2011 | Filed under: Iowa
<http://missouri-news.org/category/midwest-news/iowa> | Posted by: Iowa
Politics <http://missouri-news.org/author/iowa-politics>
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Progressives and union leaders in Iowa had cold feet
Tuesday about joining an “Occupy Wall Street” caucus protest that could
turn up the heat on Democrats in 2012.
Demonstrators with Occupy Des Moines on Monday invited protesters from
around the globe to descend upon Republican and Democratic campaign
headquarters here for a week-long occupation in advance of the Jan. 3
caucus. The group is an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement that
has inspired thousands to camp out in public places to protest corporate
greed and socioeconomic inequality.
“We definitely stand in solidarity with this effort to get the campaigns
to start talking about issues that are important to everyday people in
Iowa,” such as the cost of higher education and trade policies that
encourage companies to expand domestically, said Amy Logsdon,
spokeswoman for Iowa Citizen Actions Network, a progressive political
coalition with more than 6,000 members statewide.
But, Logsdon said no determinations had been made about whether the
group would join the protesters in sit-ins.
“President (Barack) Obama has been talking about jobs and school
affordability,” she said.
The crowd planning the protests disagrees, and plans to shut down
Obama’s campaign offices as well as the headquarters of GOP presidential
contenders, despite the risk of arrest.
“There’s a bipartisan consensus for austerity in this country,” said
David Goodner, of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, or ICCI, a
grassroots group that belongs to the National People’s Action network
and organizes for racial and economic justice. ICCI has been
instrumental in connecting a network of Occupy Iowa protesters since the
anti-Wall Street movement began spreading in early October.
Goodner said activists hope to send a message to the campaign to stop
talking about cutting Social Security and deregulating industry and
start addressing job creation, health care and affordable education “and
making Wall Street pay for those programs instead of regular folks.”
The presidents of two of the nation’s largest unions have endorsed
Occupy Wall Street sentiments, but local leaders declined to commit to
solidarity with the caucus occupation when asked Tuesday by
IowaPolitics.com.
Jim Jacobson, chief of staff for Union Local 199 of the Service
Employees International Union, or SEIU, which represents 2.1 million
workers in health care, government, child care, building cleaning and
security, said he was not ready to comment on whether the union would be
involved in the protests.
Jacobson led Iowa City protesters with a bull horn on Oct. 15, during a
solidarity rally for Occupy Wall Street’s Action on Banks Day.
Some of the 50,000 Iowans in 520 labor unions represented by the Iowa
Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO also have been engaged in Occupy Iowa
protests. President Ken Sagar said the protests represent “an expression
of the lack of action on a jobs bill from this Congress.”
“Until people see job creation as the No. 1 priority of this government,
citizens from across the spectrum will continue to voice their
frustrations in whatever way they think they will be heard,” Sagar
predicted.
For Iowa City protester Jesus Guadalupe, 18, who was part of the group
of 60 that on Monday approved the caucus protest in Des Moines, voicing
frustration means stopping all campaign activity as candidates make
their final push for caucus votes.
“They’re not going to be able to do any work whatsoever,” Guadalupe told
IowaPolitics.com on Tuesday. He said Iowa activists have contacted
protesters in New York and Washington, D.C., to invite them to the state.
Three GOP presidential hopefuls have set up shop in Urbandale, while
Obama has eight campaign offices around the state, including one in Des
Moines.
While Obama has expressed support for the movement, Minnesota U.S. Rep.
Michele Bachmann, former Godfather’s CEO Herman Cain and former U.S.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich have been vocal critics.
Bachmann has claimed occupy activists believe in “government-directed
solutions based on temporary gimmicks.”
Cain called the movement a “coordinated distraction so people wouldn’t
focus on the failed policies of (the Obama) administration,” and said
protesting Wall Street was anti-American.
Gingrich, meanwhile, has referred to the protests as a “natural product
of Obama’s class warfare.”
If GOP campaign staffers call the police on protesters at their Iowa
offices, occupying could result in potential arrests or citations for
criminal trespassing, said Des Moines Police Sgt. Chris Scott, the
public information officer.
It would not be the group’s first clash with law enforcement.
About three dozen Occupy Des Moines protesters were arrested for
trespassing on Oct. 9 after they refused to leave a park west of the
Iowa Capitol when it closed at 11 p.m.
Occupy Iowa City protester Ant Willhide, 25, said he plans to be part of
the caucus protests.
“We have too much campaigning for non-issues,” said Willhide, who has
been camping in College Green Park with dozens of other protesters for
more than three weeks. “I’m tired of government just masking the problem
and not educating on how to really better the community.”
<http://missouri-news.org/midwest-news/iowa/progressive-group-wary-of-plan-to-occupy-obama-campaign-headquarters/10281#><http://missouri-news.org/midwest-news/iowa/progressive-group-wary-of-plan-to-occupy-obama-campaign-headquarters/10281#><http://missouri-news.org/midwest-news/iowa/progressive-group-wary-of-plan-to-occupy-obama-campaign-headquarters/10281#><http://missouri-news.org/midwest-news/iowa/progressive-group-wary-of-plan-to-occupy-obama-campaign-headquarters/10281#>
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