Top cops reject the notion that police officers did not respond properly to a protest against Bank of America on a man’s property in a Chevy Chase neighborhood near Washington D.C.
A crowd of about 700 protesters converged outside bank employees’ houses on Sunday afternoon in the Chevy Chase neighborhood of Washington D.C. to demand banks stop lobbying against Wall Street reform. The protesters trespassed on private property — walking up steps to the front porch of the home of Gregory Baer, Bank of America deputy general counsel.
A teenage son was alone inside the Baer home when Gregory Baer and another son arrived home from a youth sporting event.
“Bank of America: bad for America!” shouted community leaders outside the house of .
Bank of America crashed our economy. We bailed them out. Now, they’re back to business as usual raking in huge profits and giving themselves record bonuses.
Furthermore, in 2008 and 2009 Bank of America spent $16 million on lobbying. Bank of America opposed bills like the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, the Foreclosure Prevention Act, the Helping Families Save their Homes Act, and another bill against predatory lending.
Video of protesters at Gregory Baer’s house from May 16, 2010 (YouTube.com/ShowdowninAmerica) …
The Chicago-based grassroots organization National People’s Action, in coordination with the SEIU, bused more than 700 workers from 20 states to Baer’s neighborhood, one of the wealthiest corners of Washington. The action kicks off several days of protests targeting K Street for lobbyists’ role in financial reform.
Nina Easton, a neighbor and Fox News Contributor, was upset at the mob action. As a journalist Easton enjoys a good protest, but only when that protest is a legal protest with a permit. Easton claims police in her town showed up with only three officers that were afraid their action would incite the protesters.
Reaction of people on the streets in Chicago to learning about the protests being carried out at someone’s house …
FoundingBloggers.com hit the streets of Chicago to get ‘Man on the street” reactions to the recent mob action protests organized by National People’s Action (NPA), SEIU, and possibly members of the Obama Administration.
See more reports on the Protest …
What’s really behind SEIU’s Bank of America protests? (FORTUNE/Nina Easton)…
Hit job: What Media Matters and the SEIU got wrong about Fortune’s Nina Easton (The Daily Caller/Mike Riggs) …
Class Warfare: Hundreds Protest Outside Bankers’ Houses In DC (Huffington Post/Arthur Delaney) …
DC Bank Protest: So, SEIU Now Owns the Cops Too? (BIGOVERNMENT/MIke Flynn) …
Nina Easton & the Bank Lobbyists: Too Close for Comfort (SEIU.org/John Vendeventer) …
SEIU Storms Private Residence, Terrorizes Teenage Son of Bank of America Exec (BIGGOVERNMENT/Liberty Chick) …
Chevy Chase is a neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. It borders Chevy Chase, Maryland, a collection of similarly affluent neighborhoods. The neighborhood is generally agreed to be bounded by Rock Creek Park on the east, Western Avenue (which divides D.C. and Maryland) and Tennyson Street on the north, and Reno Road to the west. Opinions differ on the southern boundary, where Chevy Chase meets Forest Hills, but many residents consider it to be Broad Branch Road between 32nd and 27th streets. The main roads leading in and out of Chevy Chase DC are Connecticut Avenue, Nebraska Avenue, Reno Road, Military Road and Western Avenue. The area is served by the M4, L1, L2, L4 E2, E3, E4 and E6 Metrobus lines. Chevy Chase is within walking distance of three Red Line stations: Van Ness-UDC, Tenleytown-AU, and Friendship Heights. The public schools that serve Chevy Chase are Lafayette Elementary, Ben W. Murch Elementary, Alice Deal Middle School, and Woodrow Wilson Senior High.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing about 2.2 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. SEIU is focused on uniting workers in three sectors: health care (over half of the union’s members work in the health care field), including hospital, home care and nursing home workers, public services (local and state government employees), and property services (including janitors, security officers and food service workers).
SEIU has over 150 local branches. It is affiliated with the Change to Win Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress. SEIU is based out of Washington, D.C., and has several internal divisions which include: Communications, Government Affairs, New Media, Organizing, Political, Global Strength, Pension/Benefits, Community Strength, Research, and Legal.
The union states that its top priorities are to stand up for working families to help bring economic relief to millions across the country, fix the nation’s broken health care system, and fight to guarantee workers’ rights on the job. SEIU is sometimes referred to as the “purple ocean” at political events because of the union’s easily recognizable purple shirts. The union is also known for its Justice for Janitors program and strong support for Democratic candidates.
National People’s Action (NPA) is a network of metropolitan, regional, and statewide organizations that build grassroots power. NPA works to build the collective political will to advance racial and economic justice. National People’s Action has over 135 organizers and support staff working in communities across the country. Headquartered in Chicago, NPA was founded by Austin neighborhood activist Gale Cincotta and professional organizer Shel Trapp in 1972 and was originally named “National People’s Action on Housing.”
National People’s Action conducted a series of “Showdown” events starting in October of 2009. The events, dubbed “Showdown In America,” “called for the end of corporate lobbying and too-big-to-fail financial institutions.” According to National People’s Action, it exists as a network to create a society in which “racial and economic justice are realized in all aspects of society, resulting in more equity in work, housing, health, education, finance, and other systems central to people’s well-being.”
K Street is a major thoroughfare in the United States capital of Washington, D.C. known as a center for numerous think tanks, lobbyists, and advocacy groups.
The K Street Project is an effort by the Republican Party (GOP) to pressure Washington lobbying firms to hire Republicans in top positions, and to reward loyal GOP lobbyists with access to influential officials. It was launched in 1995 by Republican strategist Grover Norquist and then-House majority whip Tom DeLay. It has been criticized as being part of a “coziness” between the GOP and large corporations which has allegedly allowed business to rewrite government regulations affecting their own industries in some cases (see Dick Cheney energy task force).
Shortly after the 1994 elections which gave a majority of seats to Republican candidates, DeLay called prominent Washington lobbyists into his office. He had pulled the public records of political contributions that they made to Democrats and Republicans. According to Texans for Public Justice, “he reminded them that Republicans were in charge and their political giving had better reflect that—or else. The “or else” was a threat to cut off access to the Republican House leadership.”
The project is named for K Street in Washington, D.C., where the largest lobbying firms have their headquarters. Lobbyists are, in some circles, referred to as the “fourth branch of government,” as some have great influence in U.S. national politics due to their monetary resources and the “revolving-door” practice of hiring former government officials. It is widely believed to be common practice for politicians to solicit money from lobbying firms in exchange for better access to officials, especially members of the United States Congress, and to buy favoritism in policies.