Congress Critter Mo Brooks (r.) South Huntsville Civic (sic) Association Town Hall meeting was occupied by members of Occupy Huntsville participants and other skeptics of Mo's brand supply side economic "conservatism."h/t mooncat.
This from the Huntsville Times account of the tense meeting, emphasis mine;
After Brooks finished the Power point presentation he gives at every town hall, Jones and others immediately got in line to ask often challenging questions.
The first woman in line asked why the government does not close corporate tax loopholes, allowing Brooks to make his oft-repeated point that increasing taxes on businesses and the wealthy hurts jobs.
When the woman began to press her point, the crowd grew noisy, with some shouting "Next!" to get her to step away from the microphone. That scene repeated itself several times throughout the evening as some in line challenged Brooks on his answers.
One of the more confrontational moments came when a man asked about the Gula Graham Group's fund-raising efforts on Brooks' behalf. While Brooks said the group had previously worked for him to raise money for the National Republican Committee and other efforts, he is now shopping for another fundraiser.
The man continued to ask Brooks about the organization and the money it raised for him, waving papers while the audience began to loudly object. Brooks at one point asked if there was any way to turn off the man's microphone so he could finish his response.
While some interaction between Brooks and those asking questions grew argumentative, Brooks encouraged the crowd to take the debate in stride.
Then I received this account in an email to a List serve of which I am a member from occupyhuntsville@gmail.com, emphasis mine.
OccupyHuntsville consists of any persons who choose to show solidarity with OccupyWallst in a peaceful manner. OccupyWallst is " fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations." The movement..."aims to expose how the richest 1% of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future."1 This is the reason that brought people together. We all agree on this. OccupyWallst. is a "protest against bank bailouts, corporate greed, and the unchecked power of Wall Street in Washington ."1 OccupyHuntsville did not come together for political reasons but over our outrage of how the 1% has negatively influenced our economic well-being. This we can all agree on.
We must remember why we have come together and ask ourselves, "Does this action that I am about to take show solidarity with the aims of OccupyWallst in a peaceful manner?" OccupyHuntsville has been associated with a person who became disruptive at the Mo Brooks meeting by not allowing the Congressman to answer questions and having to have the microphone yanked from him somehow became associated with the OccupyHuntsville movement. We know that he did not represent OccupyHuntsville, We are a peaceful movement, and we must be careful not to cause disruption in the meetings of others as we do not wish others to cause disruption in our general assembly meetings nor push their political agendas.
We have gotten negative press from the media concerning the Mo Brooks meeting that took place yesterday. Some of the media statements that were made are: Some of the audience members booed the "Occupy" sympathizers, with one protester having his microphone yanked by security after he repeatedly interrupted Brooks and refused to let him speak." and "The small but vocal minority dominated most of the time devoted for questions." It is unfortunate that the media associated this disruptive occurrence with "Occupy" in any way, but we have no control over that.
Those of us who come together have varying political views and we do not try to influence one political view over another. We must be careful to prevent those who have political agendas from co-opting the movement. Many will attempt to use the name of OccupyHuntsville as a platform for promoting their own political agenda. Let's continue to stand in solidarity with OccupyWallst and its cause.
The email was unsigned, and included links to 1. www. occupywllst.org, " Occupations Spread to Over 100 US Cities", Posted Oct. 17, 2011, 8:20 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt, but not a link to OccupyHuntsville.org which leads me to believe the email was not sent by the group, but a defender of Mo Brooks trying to discredit the movement and intimidate participants.
I agree with everything in this response to the email from a List serve member who attended the meeting, emphasis mine;
I was at the meeting last night. It was Mo Brooks who kept interrupting and not allowing “the person” to finish his questions. Mo Brooks loves to talk and talk and talk. It was he who took up all the time, not “the person.”
His questions were legitimate, and he had a right to ask them. Perhaps it is because of Brooks’ shaky answers that the media, egged on by Brooks, I’m sure, is treating “the person” as though he is a criminal of some kind. The Huntsville Times uncovered that he was the ghost writer of letters-to-the-editor in 1992 praising himself as a county prosecutor. Dirty tricks is not new thing with the Congressman.
I hope “the person” returns. FYI, there were several people who asked similar questions. Thank God for those people. The first person to speak was a young lady and she sure held his feet to the fire. Mo was clearly startled by her questions. She even mentioned the occurrence of voter fraud in Madison County. Brooks said that was the first he’d heard about it and told her who to see. She replied that she’d seen every person he mentioned but that no changes had been made ......
These were probably the first clearly educated, informed people, to confront him at a “town hall” meeting. I hope he gets more of the same.
And would you believe he (Brooks) brought up Nancy Pelosi’s name? Will he ever lay off that lady? Remember Parker Griffith did the same thing. I think those two like the way her name rolls off their tongues. Griffith talked about her ALL the time. (By the way, I hear Parker may run for Mayor.) As someone who is supposed to be representing ALL the people, how can Brooks talk about Obama and Pelosi like they’re dogs when if he had any sense, he’d know there were Democrats in the audience?
Brooks told the audience three times that he hoped they kept sending him back to Congress. He’s a career politician. I don’t believe he has ever held down a regular job. I was rebuffed by the long line of questioners, but I was going to ask him as someone who has enjoyed government health care all of his life, he so fervently wants to “bring down” Obama care & prevent others from having the same health care he has.
Occupy Huntsville has a foot-hold now. I hope they don’t turn wimpy and become afraid to stand up to a career politician who believes wholeheartedly in the 1% and doesn’t seem to give a damn about the rest.
Occupy!
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