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by Michael Gillespie
Josh Earnest, Iowa communications director for U.S. Sen. Barak Obama (D-IL), is running scared in the final few days before the Iowa Caucuses. He must be, otherwise he would not have risked the consequences of ejecting half a dozen media workers from Obama’s Iowa campaign headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 2, and barring entry to several more.
Reporters and photojournalists representing news organizations in Japan, Germany, Great Britain, and the USA were hindered in their efforts to report on a bona fide news event when Earnest insisted they work outside in the sub-freezing single digit cold while inside a group of eight antiwar activists from Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV) and the Iowa Occupation Project questioned Obama’s positions on the war in Iraq, military spending, and U.S. Middle East foreign policy.
Though he knew who the protesters represented and why they had come to Obama campaign headquarters (this reporter heard an Obama staffer say, “We knew they were coming and we have a plan to deal with them”), Earnest told one Iowa newspaper, “They basically just sort of came into the front office and were talking loudly and being disruptive.”
In a remarkably short-sighted and unsuccessful bid to minimize news coverage of an event that he perceived to be unflattering to Obama, Earnest did not stop at ejecting reporters and insisting that they conduct their work on the city sidewalk, about 30 feet from the headquarters main entrance. When he decided to have the non-violent peace activists arrested and removed by Des Moines Police Department, Earnest had the officers take the activists out through a side door, away from the gaze of reporters and the cameras of photojournalists.
According to Brian Terrell, executive director of the Catholic
Peace Ministry and one of the eight arrested, VCNV has noted a number
of areas in which Obama’s positions are troubling.
“Not only has
Obama supported sanctions against Iran, he has also stated emphatically
that in dealing with Iran, all options including military ones have to
be on the table,” said Terrell.
“It’s astonishing, too, that he supports an increase in military spending,” said Terrell.
“This
country provoked and waged a war of choice in Iraq,” said Kathy Kelly,
a VCNV coordinator and another of those arrested at Obama’s
headquarters, “a war against people who meant us no harm. We have a
huge responsibility to insert that reality into the discussion whether
the politicians are comfortable with it or not.”
When the
activists entered Obama headquarters at 323 Locust Street in Des
Moines, they informed campaign staffers that VCNV had received no reply
to a letter delivered to the campaign headquarters in October asking
Obama to pledge to completely withdraw from Iraq within 100 days of
assuming office; halt all military actions against Iraq and Iran; fund
the rebuilding of Iraq as well as health, education and infrastructure
needs in the U.S.; and provide “…the highest quality health care,
education and jobs training benefits for veterans of our country’s
Armed Services.”
“We’re going to be here until we get that
answer, until we get that pledge, until the Senator joins the majority
of the American people, the majority of the people of the world, and
agrees to get our country out of this immoral war,” said Terrell.
Shortly
thereafter, Earnest ejected all reporters and photojournalists from the
office and insisted that they wait on the sidewalk.
A few
minutes later, Earnest came out of the office to give a statement to a
local TV news crew in which he told viewers, “This is when it’s really
fun to be involved in politics. This is what democracy is all about.
We’re really excited and feeling good.”
Obama campaign officials
then summoned police to arrest Vicki Andrews, 63, Grand Rapids, MI;
Diane Haugesag, 48, Minneapolis, MN; David Hovde, 37, Evanston, IL;
Kathy Kelly, 55, Chicago, IL; Dan Pearson, 26, Chicago, IL; Tom Roddy,
76, Evanston, IL; Brian Terrell, 50, Maloy, IA; and John Tuzcu, 23, Des
Moines, IA.
All eight were charged with trespassing and
transported to the Polk County Jail to be held overnight for
arraignment on Jan. 3, the Iowa activists having declined the
opportunity to be released immediately in solidarity with activists
from other states who are typically held overnight.
At about
the same time, a similar scene was playing out at the Iowa campaign
headquarters of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 3590 109th
in Urbandale, IA, a Des Moines suburb.
There, four VCNV
activists, Ed Bloomer, 63, Des Moines; Chris Gaunt, 51, Grinnell, IA;
Janice Sevre-Duszynska, 57, Nicholasville, KY; and Suzanne Sheridan,
31, Chicago, IL
were arrested and charged with trespassing by the Urbandale Police
Department. The four were also transported to the Polk County Jail for
arraignment on Jan. 3.
Mauro
Heck, an Iowa City, IA, photographer who provides support services for
the Catholic Worker Community, was present during the occupation of
Romney’s headquarters. Heck, who arrived at Obama headquarters after
all members of the media were ejected, said he was surprised by
Earnest’s actions.
“The Romney people were friendlier than at
Obama’s actually. They received the demonstrators about as warmly as
one could expect,” said Heck.
The occupations are part of a
continuing campaign, Seasons of Discontent – A Presidential Occupation
Project (SODAPOP), coordinated by VCNV and The Iowa Occupation Project,
in cooperation with the Catholic Worker Community of Des Moines and the
Catholic Peace Ministry.
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