Dennis Rivera, health care chairman of the Service Employees International Union, denounced “radical fringe right-wingers” this afternoon for using “terrorist tactics” to thwart the discussion of health care reform.
His remarks came one day after SEIU members allegedly assaulted a conservative protestor outside a town hall meeting in St. Louis County, Mo. The end of the attack and its aftermath were caught on tape.
“These are the times to clearly speak out in a civilized way, and tell them we won’t be prevented by these terrorist tactics from participating in these town hall meetings,” Rivera told to thousands of SEIU members on a conference call this afternoon.
Kenneth Gladney, a conservative activist who was distributing Gadsden Flags at the St. Louis town hall meeting, sought medical treatment after the attack, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. David Brown, who wrote on the St. Louis Tea Party blog today that he is Gladney’s attorney and witnessed the incident, identified individuals in SEIU’s purple shirts as assailants. In this video, taken moments after the alleged assault, an SEIU-purple-clad man is arrested by police. Brown has not responded to The Examiner’s inquiries.
There have been no reports so far of violence by town hall attendees protesting against President Obama’s health care plan.
Rivera also encouraged union members on today’s conference call to step up the “purple army” presence at Congressional town hall meetings this month.
Rivera acknowledged that conservatives bloggers had already gotten ahold of the information on the conference call. “They might be listening to us right now,” he said.
Earlier in the conference call, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, had addressed the members. She complained of an event she attended in Philadelphia with Sen. Arlen Specter, in which attendees upset about President Obama’s health care plan asked several pointed questions and booed at one point — “I think with the intent of trying to stop the conversation,” she said.
Lachlan Markay contributed to this report.
