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Strange Bedfellows: Unions Protesting For The Right To Target Private Residences Get Tea Party Approval

By: LaborUnionReport (Diary)  |  March 28th, 2012 at 05:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Union thugs protesting outside the homes of their targets has become a weapon more and more unions have added to their already-large arsenal. Now that the State of Georgia may become the first state to outlaw the offensive tactic, oddly enough, unions are getting support from an unlikely source–the Tea Party Patriots.

Last year, when 45,000 union members struck telephone carrier Verizon, IBEW union radicals showed up outside the home of Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam’s House causing a disturbance in McAdam’s neighborhood (see video below). In another incident, up to 3,000 CWA protesters conducted a mock funeral outside the home of Verizon’s chairman.

Though it shouldn’t be necessary for any legislature to even have to consider the protection of private residences from protesters, these incidents (and others like it) have drawn the attention of Georgia’s legislature, which has moved to pass Senate Bill 469 to prohibit the targeting of individuals at their private residences.

Related:

While the original bill was aimed at prohibiting unions from protesting outside private residences, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jim Galloway, the Georgia House altered the bill last night to include all private residences:

The change doesn’t show up on the Internet version of the bill yet, but we’re told that the House Rules Committee last night altered SB 469 so that it would ban demonstrations at or near all private residences in Georgia.

[snip]

Pickets targeted at any home – whether belonging to corporate CEO, union executive, crack dealer, child molester, or even newspaper columnist – would be off-limits under the latest version of the bill. Which, according to one constitutional scholar we talked to, has a much better chance of surviving a court challenge.

As usual, however, union bosses view their collective rights as superior than individual rights and have been protesting the bill with rhetorical fury reminiscent of last year’s Madison madness.

Related:

What makes this issue more interesting is the fact that unions have found an ally in the Tea Party Patriots:

Julianne Thompson, Georgia state director for Tea Party Patriots, told The Huffington Post that she and her fellow organizers don’t see SB 469 as a political issue so much as a free-speech issue. Thompson spoke out against the bill at the state capitol Monday.

“When we’re talking about the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution, we’re not talking about political right-versus-left. We’re talking about right versus wrong,” Thompson said. “If it’s a violation of free speech we’re going to be on the side of the Constitution. I’m happy that we’ve reached across party lines with regard to this issue.”

[snip]

Charlie Flemming, president of the Georgia AFL-CIO, told HuffPost that the state’s unions are happy to see Tea Party activists coming down on the same side as them.

Apparently, the Tea Party Patriots believe, as do their new collectivist union allies, that targeting the homes of their opponents is something that falls under the guise of Constitutionally-protected activity.

By those standards, noise ordinances should be stricken, anti-harassment laws erased, and the ability of municipalities to allow parades, marches or protests by permit only should be done away with.

Then, every American can enjoy this spectacle outside their front doors:

__________________

“Socialism has no place in the hearts of those who would secure the fight for freedom and preserve democracy.” Samuel Gompers, American Federation of Labor, 1918

Cross-posted at LaborUnionReport.com

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COMMENTS

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  • rsjt

    Seems fortunate that the ‘Tea Party’ is not a single voice or a single organization since occasionally you get these well-meaning but misguided opinions. Ironic that if the Tea Party ever elected a single leader then that leader would be the first person the other side would picket outside their home.

    • Seedyrom

      over the 1st Amendment. When other laws conflict including privacy, safety and pursuit of happiness and so on. The law should be on the side of the citizen not a mob of idiots who want to harass someone on either side.

      These idiots no doubt are not speaking on behalf of all TP members. Regardless I hope local TP members protest outside the TP leaders homes to give them a dose of the future they envision. I live in GA and wouldn’t mind expressing my 1st Amendment opinion at 2 AM. I’m sure they’d flip flop after seeing conservatives turning on them but lefties would scare them more.

      I’d love to see Revereand Al Sharktongue outside Julianne Thompson’s home. She’d flip flop faster than the etch a sketch man.

    • debbie0040

      This is to correct this posting that clearly did not care enough to check the facts because this blog has a dislike for the tea party.

      To begin with, it was not just the tea party that opposed this bill. Georgia Conservatives in Action , Georgia Right to Life and tea parteis across Georgia. Since when do conservatives believe that you should be able to pick and choose who the Constitution applies to and under what circumstance? There are clearly some that believe they should be able to pick and choose..

      1. We are all opposed to protesting or picketing at private residences. It is ALREADY against the law to protest or picket at private residences. It is called criminal trespassing. We do not need additional laws, penalties, and the right to charge someone with conspiracy when it comes to protesting.

      2. This bill states that protesting at or NEAR any private residence will be a crime. The key word here is NEAR. In downtown Atlanta, most government entities and businesses are NEAR lofts, apartments, and the city if full of mixed use developments (Atlantic Station.) The word NEAR is so subjective, any group protesting say…near an abortion clinic (for example) that is located in a part of the city zoned mixed-use (where some apartments are located along with businesses) would be affected under the language of this bill, if a law enforcement entity decides so. This should only apply to areas zoned STRICTLY RESIDENTIAL. And the verbiage should reflect ONLY that. But again, it is already against the law do that, so why was this bill put forth?

      Read Article 1, Section 1, paragraph 5 of the Georgia Consitution

      http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/GAConstitution.pdf

      Debbie Dooley, Atlanta Tea Party

  • Scope

    I’ve been going on and on about the takeover of the Republican party by the Ron Paul people. Paul used his money bomb leftover monies after the 08 elections to set up the Campaign for Liberty. I’ve also been going on and on about the Tea Party Patriots joining arm in arm with Paul C4L. In many many cases they are vehemently opposed to being “partisan” and say they will support Democrats as well, if they adopt their ideology, including being anti-war, and agree to drop the social issue discussions. These people are what I have called “frugal liberals.”

    I am not surprised one bit that the Tea Party Patriots, as far as GA goes any way, they are more concerned with free speech, than disassociating themselves with the unions. Go back and look at Ron Paul’s positions with the Ground Zero Mosque. He clearly stated that the people who wanted to open a Mosque there had every right to do so, and that Islam is protected by the first amendment. This is what you call so dangerous, and irresponsible it makes ones head spin. I’m not surprised at this at all. Hey we’ve had Ron Paul supporters meeting up with the OWS’ers. We’ve watched the Ron Paul supporters literally shutting down GOP meetings and caucuses, using OWS methods of just shout louder than the rest.

    R3volution ain’t all it was cracked up to be after all, is it?

    • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

      and a smaller, less powerful government is, yes, a good thing. If Tea parties will support me in that effort, then good, if Paulites want to move in that directions then that is OK with me.

      As for our differences on specific policies, plenty of time to hash those out after we have stopped actually becoming a left wing police state.

      • Dave_A

        You need to get out & see the rest of the world, dude – because you have no idea what a police state actually is…

        • aesthete

          Concerns from both people who talk about “creeping socialism” and “creeping police state” cannot be dismissed solely on the basis of scale of same in third world countries.

          Personally, I’m worried about the US becoming New Jersey writ large both on police and state issues…

          • snowshooze

            And I will call this a casual observation.

          • demsaresatanic

            is much greater than most people think, we are only a sufficiently large economic meltdown away from it in my opinion. When you consider how much the New Deal changed this nation in a similar situation you can see how readily people accept a loss of freedom when the s hits the fan.

          • Dave_A

            We have some of the most expansive rights-of-the-accused in the world (generally constantly expanding, too)… And ACLU huffing-and-puffing over PATRIOT & the NDAA doesn’t make any of said huffed-and-puffed accusations true, nor do either of those laws allow for a ‘secret police’ type political-enforcement agency or punishment of individuals for holding ‘unacceptable’ views.

            For the US to become a police state would take the instigation of another civil war, or something similarly calamitous. Something so severe, that the people would demand ‘Order at any price’.

            We’re nowhere near that point.

            As for one-party rule, we are so severely & evenly divided, that there is little to no chance of such happening. Every time either party tries to consolidate power, the result is a backlash that boosts the power of the opposition in the next election (be it Dems in 09, or the GOP in 05)….

            That’s not to say it won’t happen – it HAS happened once before, a time called the ‘Era of Good Feeling’ when the Democrats were the only viable party after the collapse of the Federalist Party – but that happened & unraveled on it’s own (when the Democrats became too radical/populist, the Whig party emerged to challenge them), and did so in a rather unique time in our history.

          • snowshooze

            Gosh, I should at least have to double up on them to get where you are.

          • davesinsanantonio

            it is central office bureaucrats determining what the cooks can serve the children for school lunches, what holidays will no longer be supported or even mentioned in the classrooms, etc. And, then sending kids home with nasty notes for the parents packing their kid’s lunch or sending cupcakes for the class on birthdays. Etc.
            It is red light cameras sending tickets in the mail that there is no appeal from.
            It is the FCC deciding what new words can no longer be said on the air, and fining the station when callers-in use them. Etc.
            It is neighborhood associations with the power to fine you excessively for flying the American flag in front of your house. Etc. And that being enforced by the courts.
            It is the government fuel standards forcing you to buy a car smaller than you want because big enough cars are no longer being sold in this country. Etc.
            It is a federal bureaucracy deciding what medicines are too costly to be paid for by Medicare or Medicaid, and which patient classes will be supplied which medical devices under government funding. Etc.
            It is the president deciding which churches have to supply contraceptives to their employees in violation of those church’s doctrines. Etc.

            The jackboots will come AFTER all these things are well entrenched, and the average person is so overwhelmed by all the rules, regulations, and politically correct pettiness that they just give up and give in. Remember, Hitler didn’t start with the Holocaust. That was merely the end step in a long progression of previous little steps that no one argued against.

            That is why it is “creeping”. And, that is why jackboots are not yet in evidence. But, the progression is real nonetheless. And all the pooh-poohing will not make it go away. So, open your eyes and see what is really going on around you. Focus on the reality of what the Left is doing and trying to do more of. Turn off the TV and tune in to reality. What is happening to our country is more frightening than any horror show could ever be.

          • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

            I could not have put it better

          • snowshooze

            All 5′s for this. But you had me ascart for a minute.

          • littlehouse18

            indoctrination of children in schools and the media, eroding the rights of parents and expanding ‘in loco parentis,’ requiring preschool with most going to public preschools under the guise of improving education and ‘giving’ working parents ‘free’ childcare, etc. etc. etc.

          • resilient

            I wish that millions could read what you’ve written and that, as you suggest, they open their eyes and take a look around. They’ll see that they are surrounded by white-gloved bullies.

        • snowshooze

          Explain them.

        • demsaresatanic

          world are worse determine whether or not we are in danger?

    • gswank

      Ron Paul is a politition, which means he is a liar and a crook. In office for over 20 years and got one out of over 100 bills passed. Think maybe hes out in the hills somewhere. Sounds like obumers 126 present votes. Paul doesnt care what kind of skullldugery he has to pull and he still cant get the votes. The people are smarter then Paul or obama think.

  • jstjoan

    While Julianne Thompson is, indeed, a Georgia coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, she is also a coordinator for the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots along with Debbie Dooley, who is also a national coordinator for the TPP.

    Their email objecting to SB469 was sent from their group Atlanta TPP and not from the state organization. The reason I feel compelled to make this clarification is because both Thompson and Dooley have a tendency to make it appear as if they are speaking for all Tea Party groups in Georgia when in fact they do not.

    I am a coordinator with the Henry County, Georgia Tea Party Patriots and neither I nor my fellow coordinators have ever once been consulted by Ms. Thompson or Ms. Dooley when it comes to any legislative issues. I am unclear as to whom their “fellow organizers” are, but I doubt it reaches any further than their inner circle in Atlanta.

    Last week my state representative emailed me after receiving word that the TPP opposed this legislation. After reading the bill and hearing his explanation, is was clear to me that Thompson had it wrong by claiming this bill would prohibit protests on “private property” when in fact the legislation clearly states it only prohibits protesting at “private residences”. I emailed Ms. Thompson asking her to retract her opposition and she summarily blew me off.

    Thompson and Dooley have taken it upon themselves to make it appear that they speak for all TPP groups in Georgia. That is hardly the case. They do not confer with county groups throughout the state and, in my opinion, act as a dictatorship by emailing out action items without conferring with anyone but themselves.. I am unfamiliar with any monthly meetings they have ever held and as far as I can tell, their “membership” consists solely of an email distribution list.

    Julianne Thompson and Debbie Dooley certainly do not speak for me in this matter and I have told them as much.

    • http://www.laborunionreport.com LaborUnionReport

      …

    • snowshooze

      I am very pleased you did this because you are in the middle of it.
      All those who claim to speak for the Tea Party, are dreaming.
      We do not march in straight lines and wear red coats.
      We are as likely to turn on each other as anyone else.
      The first idiot that claims to be the leader won’t last 5 seconds.
      But generally, we are on the same side fighting for freedom and liberty.

    • debbie0040

      We have a Google group we email asking what stance we should take on issues. Georgia Tea Party of Cobb County was among other tea party activists urged us to lobby against this bill..

      We consulted an attorney about the bill and he said it was dangerous. Georgia Right To Life and Georgia Conservatives in Action also opposed this bill because of the implications.

      You either beleive in upholding the Constitution or you don’t. If the bill had passed targeting the unions, then what would stop areas that are lilberal to pass legislation or ordinances that single out tea parties? They can use this bill as precedence to do that. It also was not just directed at private residences as it made it clear “at or near” private residences. Near is the key word here as Congressional offices are near apartment complexes.. It also would have changed code sections dealing with trespassing and made it an elevated misdemeanor and added conspiracy charges as well.. This would apply to all activity. It i s already against the law to protests at private residences so why the need to pass a new law?

  • swamphermit

    Won’t end outside the doors of a home either…

  • briteness

    It is, to me, astounding that Americans think that limiting the assembly of people for political reasons should be considered acceptable. Mind you, trespassing on private property is illegal, violence against persons or property is illegal, and threats of violence are also illegal. These, of course, should be enforced, when necessary. But to limit the congregation of citizens to only things the government expressly likes and permits? It is an outrage, and it hardly takes being a creature of the left, or of the right, to see that. All it takes is an American.

    • Scope

      Showers complete with soap and shampoo, and barber shops are > that way.

      • briteness

        Making fun of the left for not bathing or cutting their hair.

        Good one!

        …

    • falconrap

      So when you end up on some lefty hate list and a mob of them come and “protest” at your house, you’re going to be OK with that? If this is the case, then these idiots can just protest any private citizen at any time for any reason, no matter the disruption, and no matter how it impacts the emotional health of the individuals being targeted (especially the impact on young children that might be present at these homes).

      Sorry, but the right to assembly doesn’t included the right to harass people at their home. Public property and place of business, sure. But not one’s home.

      • briteness

        As I say, trespassing and attacks on persons or property, as well as threats to attack persons or property, are all illegal, and these laws should be enforced, vigorously when necessary. But Americans can congregate.

        I know a guy who used to be high up in the administration of a big-city school system in the NE. During union negotiations, his car was set on fire. Two different times. There is little doubt it was the union goons. I am passionately opposed to that kind of tactic, trust me. Laws absolutely must be respected. However, the laws permitting the congregation of citizens must be respected too. I see no reason to cordon off the powerful and their families from legitimate demonstrations by those whose interests they may well be attacking. That is part of the game, until we give up entirely our self-definition as a democratic republic with rights for the citizens.

  • thefrogprince

    One member of a Tea Party faction does not imply that The Tea Party Movement at large condemns this bill. Your wording could use some improvement. I just wrote an article myself about the union thug’s tactics of invading people’s persoanl, or business, property.

    It shouldn’t take a new law to prohibit this sort of conduct, just the enforcement of the present laws on the books.

    • wumingren

      The police were there watching but did nothing to stop people from sitting out the windows of a moving vehicle, driving with the side doors of a van open, driving while encumbered with a bullhorn, driving while holding placards out of the window, etc. The police were not there to stop infractions of the law; they were there to discourage violence. Had they stopped any of those drivers for moving violations, there would likely have been violence. Mob rule trumps civil order.

      The foundation of this protest rest squarely in the politics of envy. One driver summed it up nicely by shouting, “Wish I had a house that nice.” All these people demanding publicly funded healthcare, as if they can’t provide for themselves, and yet did you see all the nice cars and trucks they were driving? I guess they’ve got their priorities straight: nice ride, no health care policy.

      All this shows is the covetous nature of those on the Left, who fail to prioritize their lives. They could afford to buy medical insurance if they wanted to. I have never been without it, and I’ve never made more than $26,000 a year in the 40+ years I worked. I’m unemployed at the moment, but my wife is working and we’re paying for family health coverage through her employer.

      We drive an older model used car. We own a modest home in the suburbs and did not leverage loans on its inflated value, so now that the housing bubble has popped, we are still comfortable with our payments and still have equity. We live within our means and we are happy. We are happy also for those who own new cars and big houses, not envious of them.

      If the Left wants the rest of us to pay for their health care, and if the Left wants to get into my lifestyle choices, then maybe those goons would be happy it the government came to help them prioritize their lives. In exchange for free health care, they will have to be audited. All the money they spend on entertainment, cigarettes, booze, junk food, designer clothing, makeup, etc., should be assessed and terminated in exchange for free health care.

      In most of the Third World countries I lived in for 20 years, all those things were considered to be luxury items. They were heavily taxed are available only to certain classes of people — the connected classes. The masses in the People’s Republic of China wore lumpy gray cotton Mao jackets, had their hair cut short and wore no makeup, had little food and no junk food, watched neighborhood shadow puppet shows for entertainment. It was all good, because everyone received the same healthcare, well, everyone but the party functionaries and those with connections, because everyone is equal except some are more equal than others.

      Be of good cheer, you union goons, because when you take over and subdivide all those rich people’s houses, you can grow your own vegetables in those big yards. And you won’t need to parade past anyone’s house to protest, because protesting will be outlawed. After all, the only people left with power will be your communist masters, and if you honk your bicycle horn at them, the police surrounding their homes will shoot you.

  • kenchely

    There might be a silver lining to all this. One of the great voter shifts that, at a time when it looked like there might be a long-term Republican voter majority building, suddenly changed the equation in the Democrats’ favor was a shift in the voting of wealthy women. Historically, wealthy women had been a firmly Republican voting bloc, but in 1992 they shifted, taking Westchester County, the Main Line, the North Shores of both Boston and Chicago, and similar communities across the nation from the Republican into the Democratic column.

    Let these liberal ladies, who play with the instruments of their own destruction, take a good look at the goons out in front of their neighbors’ houses. This is the company they’ve chosen. Maybe Democratic politics will look a little less attractive.

  • jonintx

    First amendment guarantees the government cannot abridge your right to free speech. On the surface, it would appear that prohibiting assemblage/protesting in certain locations might diminish your right. However, so long as you have other places where you can peaceably assemble and have your free speech, has it really been diminished? A reasonable person would say it has not. What about the right to peaceably assemble? Well, if you are disturbing the peace, and protesting in a neighborhood in front of someone’s house would likely be disturbing the peace, then I would also argue that you aren’t peaceably assemblying. Non-peaceful doesn’t have to mean violent.

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