Instead, the material distributed by the Winter Garden Republican's office this spring has created a stir of its own because it included a watch list of six Central Floridians — with names and multiple photographs — who spoke at Webster town halls earlier this year. It listed their ties, some accurate and some not, to progressive activist groups, and in one case questioned a speaker's service in Vietnam.
"I think it's pretty weird. Someone asks a legitimate question, and all of the sudden somebody's got a dossier on you," said Orlando resident Ron Parsell, 66, one of the six named. "It's the type of thing they'd do in old Russia."
Webster's documents came to light when staff to U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., circulated them at recent town-hall meetings in his home state, and The Huffington Post posted them online.
The documents include names and pictures of six Central Floridians — including Tamecka Pierce, head of the progressive Florida group Organize Now — as well as an internal document from another liberal organization, MoveOn.org, that spells out how to get attention at town hall meetings.
In an interview, Webster said his office received the MoveOn document from a constituent, whom he would not name, not long after one of his town meetings was disrupted by heated arguments between liberal activists and conservatives in the audience.
He said he forwarded it to other lawmakers only because he thought they should be warned that similar groups might attempt to sabotage their meetings.
"All I wanted to do … is give them [other lawmakers] an example of how you can set the tone for your town-hall meetings," said Webster, who said the advice he gave to eight other lawmakers also included tips on ground rules.
The three-page MoveOn document instructs its members to agree on questions in advance, sit together and name someone to be a "tough, but respectful, heckler" if the congressman is not answering questions. "These halls should be tense but respectfully tense," it adds, saying members could use chants like "Yes or no!" and "Hands off Medicare!" to make points for the media covering.
"Finally, to be very clear, no one can get arrested at this event who is on our side," it concludes. "We are to be respectful — if a bit rowdy — at these events."
Webster said that he personally handed the documents to two other lawmakers — Republicans Phil Gingrey of Georgia and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia — but that packet did not include the watch list of photos Webster said came from the same unnamed constituent.
However, emails sent to about six other lawmakers, including Griffin, accidentally included the watch list, Webster said.
"It definitely was not meant to be passed on," he said.
"If they [the six on the watch list] in any way feel injured in it, I would [apologize] for sure," said Webster, adding that he didn't see it as a big issue.
"Me — I would not need an apology," he said.
That attitude didn't sit well with the half-dozen folks on the list who had their images pulled from Facebook and other online sites. The images were accompanied by a set of "questions of this person … that might have relevance," such as whether they are members of MoveOn, worked on Barack Obama's presidential campaign or had ever been a "union boss."
"It's scary to be put on a watch list," said Pierce of Organize Now, whose photo's questions included, "Were you ever the Florida state director of ACORN?" "I think it will discourage people from speaking out. I don't know what repercussions this will have in my personal life."
Several of those pictured attended a raucous town-hall meeting Webster held in Orlando in April.
The meeting drew national-media attention when it devolved into bedlam, with audience members — including some from Organize Now and MoveOn.org — booing and shouting down the freshman Republican over his support of GOP plans that would transform Medicare into a voucher system. A police officer scolded the crowd and implored them to "act like grown people."
Pierce, though, was more restrained. While others sometimes heckled Webster, Pierce raised her hand and told the congressman she worried about cuts to the Medically Needy program that helped pay for chemotherapy and other treatments for her lupus and kidney disease after she lost her job.
"They're trying to demonize us because we're pushing back on cuts that affect me and others," she said this week.
Parsell, whose picture included a question of whether he was a "union boss," said he doesn't understand how he ended up on the list.
A Vietnam veteran and former Teamster who represented Disney employees until he retired years ago, Parsell said he is not a member of any activist group and doesn't know any of the others whose photographs were included. He attended the town-hall meeting after receiving a mass email invitation from Webster's office.
"I'd never been to one of his meetings before, and I haven't been to one since," Parsell said. "I'm just not an activist like that."
Webster has not yet held a town hall during Congress' August recess and does not plan to hold another until afterLabor Day.
The reason is not because of the tenor of earlier town halls or reports of the watch list, he said, but rather because he is awaiting a new presentation, replacing one he has delivered on the need to reduce government spending.
Griffin said distributing the fliers — notably the part with the MoveOn guide to protesting meetings — was intended to help keep a civil tone and to chill what he called political theater.
"It [the document] demonstrated the types of tactics being used to disrupt town halls where constituents meet with their members of Congress," Griffin said. "I thought it showed how folks were trying to turn constituent conversation into disruptive political theater."
When asked about the watch list, Griffin said: "I didn't know they were real people."
To see the full story at the Orlando Sentinel, please click this link.
mkmatthews@tribune.com or 202-824-8222. mschlueb@tribune.com or 407-420-5417.
mkmatthews@tribune.com or 202-824-8222. mschlueb@tribune.com or 407-420-5417.
6 reactions
