Boswell Creates Jobs at Protest

On Thursday March 18th I attended the health care bill protest held in front of Congressman’s Boswell’s office on Locust street in Des Moines.

The protest began at 12:30 and as people started showing up to line both sides of the street to protest for and against the bill, workers from Organizing for America were there with a clipboard marking off who was there and placing them in different locations. For those of you unaware, Organizing for America is “the successor organization to Obama for America, building on the movement that elected President Obama by empowering communities across the country to bring about an agenda of change.” Taken directly from their site. Volunteers showed up on both sides chanting, holding signs, and answering questions from the media. There were about 100 protestors, but I did not count. What I did notice was that there were more people there against the bill than were there in favor of it.

The most disturbing part of the protest was not what happened during, but what happened immediately after. At exactly 1:30, one hour after the start of the protest, ALL protestors there in favor of the bill left and went to the Organizing for America office where they were all handed an envelope containing what we were told by one of them was a check for an hours worth of work. YES! You got that right! Supporters for the health care bill were paid to be at that location for one hour. I was shocked, I shouldn’t have been, but I was. When asked why they were only there for an hour, their response was that they only got paid to be there for an hour. So my question is to you astroturf Obama supporters, do you only stand up for something if you are getting paid for it? It makes you wonder because those there protesting the bill and Boswell’s support of the bill were there NOT getting paid and most of us were either losing time from work or taking personal time away from our jobs, families, and lives to support something that we feel strongly for. So for those of you that received that large color tri-fold mailer from the office of Loenard Boswell, paid for by the taxpayers of the 3rd district, touting his plan to create jobs, well….. there you have it!

I just don’t buy the fact that these people care as much as they say they do if they are receiving a check from an organization to scream at other people and cause a disturbance for an hour. Then leaving one hour later, on the dot, as quiet as mice to go pick up a paycheck. So where is this money coming from? I am seriously DISGUSTED!!! After the supporters of the bill left to pick up their checks, We went to Boswell’s office to talk to his staffers who of course were polite, but defended Boswell and all of his actions up to this point. What I want to know now is, what Boswell is getting out of all of this? If those there in support of him are getting paid, what is his compensation?