You can check out the almost complete unedited interview of Bob and Mary Meyer of the Suffolk 9/12 Project by looking to the right side of the page.
9/12 Project
The 9/12 Project had national origins. The group was the brainchild organization of popular conservative pundit Glenn Beck. Unlike many grassroots efforts which start locally and hope to grow, this group started big with the hopes of going local. Despite promotion on both Beck's television and radio shows, the 9/12 Project has now become a series of local satellite groups across the country.
The group was initially formed, Beck says, in an attempt to bring Americans together in the same “Spirit that followed 9/11.” Despite citing the 2001 attacks as inspiration for this group, it was not formed until the first half of 2009. Beck used his television program on Fox News Channel to promote the idea and the organization.
The Suffolk County chapter of the 9/12 Project made waves when, in June of 2009, it organized a surprise protest against New York Congressman Tim Bishop at a scheduled Town Hall meeting in Setauket, New York. The protest was in response to Bishop's support of President Obama's proposed healthcare reform. Bishop, a New York Democrat representing the states' 1st Congressional District, is a member of the Congressional Budget Committee.
Videos of the protest were posted to websites such as YouTube, where one such video has more than 400,000 views. Major news networks began to pick up the story, and it was not long until it made its way across the country. After this event, anti-healthcare protests began to pop up all over the country.
Bob and Mary Meyer of the Suffolk County chapter of the 9/12 Project were responsible for sending out their constituency to take part in this protest. This group includes more than 600 total members, though they admit that no more than 100 have appeared at any one given event. The group also has some local sponsors, including Digger's Irish Pub who paid for the group's membership to meetup.com; a fee of 75 dollars per year. The only other sponsor to give a monetary donation, Bob Meyer says, is Sullivan Electric Company. He would not disclose the amount donated.
The husband and wife team act as Director and Co-Director, respectively. Despite having a hand in a newsworthy protest, Bob Meyer says of him and his wife, “We're just regular people.”
Bob Meyer and his wife Mary live in the town of Baiting Hollow in Eastern Suffolk County. They live along the circle of a cul de sac, with two American cars in the driveway next to a finely manicured front lawn. Politics is not his career. Bob has worked as a utility company engineer for 22 years. He has had an eye towards public issues for quite some time, though. He has been a member of the National Rifle Association since he was 18. He describes himself as a “Non-partisan Constitutionalist.” Bob says his mentors were his parents. His father is a former New York City Police Sergeant while his mother is a former nurse. “I am very dedicated to public service and ingraining that sentiment in our children,” Bob says. He has 5 siblings, all being what he describes as “professionals in various fields.” His brother is currently a member of the United States Army and has already done one tour in Afghanistan and, according to Bob, will be headed back for a second tour “soon.” As Director of the Suffolk Chapter of the 9/12 Project, Bob is in charge of all finances and events, and runs the group via Meetup.com, a website that serves to provide like-minded people a place to electronically congregate and organize.
Mary Meyer has been a teacher for the last 22 years. Mary says she has been politically involved from a young age, attending Young Republicans meetings starting in her “late teens.” She says she is no longer a Republican, however. “I became disenchanted when political patronage seemed to be the name of the game,” Mary says. In addition to her professional career, Mary says being a mother is very important to her. Bob and Mary have 5 children together, ranging in ages from 9 to 20. Their oldest daughter is an information technology specialist and will be serving the 101st Airborne Group at Fort Campbell, Kentucky beginning in January. As Co-Director of the Suffolk County 9/12 Project, Mary assists her husband in various ways, and often has equal say in final decision making. She helps with everything from booking venues for group meetings to things as mundane as sign-making and other visual aspects of the meetings like decorations and handouts. “We work as a team. He doesn't act like my boss because he isn't,” Mary says.
The immediate future of this particular 9/12 Project group is clear; they will continue their efforts to actively protest the current proposed healthcare legislation in the Senate. “It is still our number one issue and it will be until the bill is either passed or defeated,” Mary says. But after this issue has passed, the future of the group will become more localized. “We want to promote a constitutional agenda. In 2010 we are making it our number one priority to defeat Tim Bishop,” Bob says. Bob describes a “constitutional agenda” as being a “belief system our forefathers would be proud of.” He also says that such an agenda makes a priority of “limited government, maximum representation, and citizen involvement at all levels.” Meyer also believes that the 9/12 group was instrumental in the recent elections in Riverhead. “With our dedicated constituents we were able to sweep the board,” he says. While there is no empirical evidence to support such a claim, the race between incumbent Democrat Phil Cardinale and Republican challenger Sean Walter was decided by fewer than 300 votes as Walter knocked off Cardinale to complete the Republican takeover of the Riverhead Town Board. The Suffolk 9/12 project actively campaigned against Phil Cardinale.
Bob and Mary Meyer have no plans of slowing down. “We will continue our activism because there are scores of issues we have not even addressed yet. People must remember, we are a very new group,” Mary says. “After healthcare there is much to be done. We just want to restore our country to the way our founding fathers imagined it would be,” Bob says.
The 9/12 Project has critics. Despite what Bob Meyer calls “peaceful protest,” others have felt the opposite to be the case. Legislator and Suffolk County Majority Leader Jon Cooper is one of those critics. Cooper, who the Long Island Press named as one of the “50 Most Powerful Long Islanders,” has attended several of the Long Island Town Hall style meetings and was present when Steve Israel hosted one at the Brentwood Campus of Suffolk Community College.
Cooper described the 9/12 Project's presence at the event as “savage.” “The idea was not to foster debate. They had no talking points, just marching orders,” Cooper says of the protesters headed by the 9/12 Project. Cooper does believe the efforts to be grassroots, but feels that it is irrelevant to their behavior. “I absolutely think these people organized in a grassroots effort. It doesn't mean they didn't have direction from high places, but the people themselves are ordinary. Their behavior is not,” Cooper explained. He described the scene inside the auditorium where Congressman Steve Israel hosted the event as “hostile” and “nearly violent.” He added that those member of the 9/12 Project who participated in the shouting down of Congressman Israel “should be ashamed.” “They would have loved for someone to take a swing at them. They were there to rile people up and try to get a popular video on youtube,” Cooper says.
Legislator Cooper also thinks there are little similarities to these protests and protests coming from what he calls “the left.” He specifically mentions a rally held in Mineola over the summer of 2009 by a group called “Yes We Can Long Island.” This group is in favor of Obama's proposed healthcare bill. “About 150 people showed up and I was one of them. Everyone was polite, didn't yell, and had calm discussions with those who disagreed,” Cooper says. “In general, those of a more progressive bent are more polite and thoughtful,” he continued.
Despite his objections to the tactics used by the 9/12 Project, Cooper believes it does work. “It might not have a direct impact on healthcare votes, but it could definitely have an impact on how the process unfolds,” he says.
Chairman of the Suffolk County Democratic Party Rich Shaffer echoes these sentiments. “I'm not too familiar with the group themselves but I know what they did at Congressman Israel's event and I find it disappointing,” Shaffer says. He adds that while shouting down those trying to speak is wrong, he is not sure how many of those people truly represent a group like the 9/12 Project. “Debate is a good thing, and I do believe most people have the right intentions. Those who are rude and disruptive probably don't represent the mission of the group as a whole,” he says.
Joe Vullo, Vice President of the Suffolk County 9/12 Project, says the group does not advocate disruptive behavior. “We have a point to make, but we don't support those who curse and yell and make themselves look ignorant. It can be embarrassing,” Vullo says.
Christine Vecchione, Recording Secretary of the Suffolk 9/12 Project, also does not advocate rowdy tactics to get the group's message across. “We are trying to portray an image of who we really are; dads, moms, students, business owners, working people, retirees; and when people behave poorly on behalf of our agenda it does not serve us well. We do not endorse such behavior,” she says. She adds, “By networking, organizing, and a pro-active stance, we will restore our country to the Constitution.”
Currently, the healthcare bill remains hung up in the Senate, and will likely remain in limbo while newly elected Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown settles in. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that any voting on this bill will wait until Brown is seated. Bob and Mary Meyer vow to continue this fight for as long as the bill is being debated, and according to Bob, true victory would be “complete defeat of the bill and the idea of a public option while a new bill is written from the ground up.” He admits this is a tall order, saying “Even if we can't get everything we want, we hope to keep chipping away at the things about it we don't like. We really feel we can make a difference.”
It will be difficult to ever gauge just how much of an impact a group like the Suffolk 9/12 Project has on an issue so large, but the group will remain engaged so long as people are upset.
Suffolk County 9/12 Project Protest
Look to the right of the page for some video from "Meet the Candidates Night" hosted by the Suffolk 9/12 Project.Scroll down to the bottom of the site for time lapse security footage from the largest 9/12 Project protest to date.
Passionate Conservatives at Long Island Healthcare Protest
As the Obama administration continues to push for healthcare reform, people around the country have responded vocally. Both advocates and opponents of the President's plan have made themselves known via activism that includes both old and new techniques.
The most common form of such protest has come from individuals and groups that are opposed to the current healthcare proposal in Congress. These people tend to congregate outside of town hall style meetings. These meetings have been assembled by local communities across the country to facilitate an old fashioned style debate among the general population. In many instances, these meetings have become heated, and in a few cases have required police attention, including one such meeting in Memphis over the summer.
For a politically diverse area like Long Island, this type of dissent is not uncommon. In fact, Bush actually won Suffolk County in the 2004 election while Obama took the county in 2008. However, dissent coming from this end of the political spectrum in such a vocal manner is rare. Conservatives have long been known as those who wish to maintain the status quo, while protesters, often dealing with things like war and equality, tend to be associated with the the politics of the left.
The most recent local instance of political unrest surround the healthcare issue was a town hall style meeting that was held at the Brentwood campus of Suffolk County Community College. The meeting was open only to residents of the townships of Huntington, Smithtown, and Babylon. Steve Israel organized this meeting and led the way from the stage inside the Van Nostrand Theater. The theater, which only holds 450 people according to the fire code, was easily filled, with hundreds denied entry left outside. The size of the crowd was surprising given the lack of coverage this event received. The event never appeared on the "Events" section of both the News 12 or Suffolk Community College websites.
The crowd left outside was not entirely made up of people trying to get inside, however. There were a number of people- over 100- that were there to protest the proposed healthcare legislation from the lawn and walkway outside of the event. Some of this crowd were indivduals who just wanted to be heard, while others were part of grassroots organizations. The organization with the most presence is called the "Consevrative Society for Action (CSA)." They are a group of right-thinking volunteers who seek to promote their self described conservative agenda. Upon visiting their website, you are greeted with amateurish web design and a slew of conservative talking points. The group's official message appears as follows: "The Conservative Society for Action is intended to become the "Action" arm of the Conservative movement in America. This organization firmly believes that Conservative values are what made this country great. We need start taking Action in order to Preserve our way of life."
Those donning Conservative Society for Action buttons all held up signs relevant to their protest. Some of these signs hit hard at the legislation itself, while others named names. There were several signs that personally attacked the organizer of the event, Congressman Steve Israel. One such sign read "STEVE ISRAEL USES UNION THUGS TO SILENCE CITIZENS." Next to this declaration was a picture of Steve Israel, mouth agape as if to be depicted as a vintriliquist's dummy.
Another group present at the protest was the Suffolk chapter of the 9/12 Group. This group was started initially to represent the united efforts of Americans in the post 9/11 world. It was created by pundit Glenn Beck but has since spawned into many local variations throughout the country. The local Suffolk Chapter is headed by husband and wife team Bob and Mary Meyer of Baiting Hollow. Director Bob Meyer insists that this group is a grassroots effort despite the initial link to Glenn beck. "We are just a bunch of regular people from the local area interested in a common cause. A constitutional cause." Recently, the group made healthcare its number one priority. "Healthcare is our current hot button issue, and we have been organizing locally at the various town hall style meetings. We began by organizing the surprise protest of Tim Bishop over the summer and most recently appeared at the Suffolk Community College town hall meeting hosted by Israel," Meyer says. His wife Mary, sitting beside him, added that the notion of these efforts being anything but grassroots is "lunacy." She says, "We get no money from any corporations of government agencies. We have never received a donation over 75 dollars from any one person."
Fred Gorman, a member of CSA, was among those protesting. "These protests are a great thing. I mean, when the left does it, they claim it is the greatest form of patriotism, and this is no different," Gorman says. He is very passionate about his cause. He pulled me close, as if to let me in on the meaning of life, and said to me, "Education failed as a result of unionization. Why wouldn't the same thing happen with healthcare?" He had a clipboard of points, this being near the top of his list. Right or wrong, he came prepared.
While this was going on, tensions were high inside. Steve Israel pleaded with the crowd to quiet down so that he could respond to points made by audience members. Not all the shouting was done by the opposition, though. As those opposed shouted Steve Israel, those in favor of the proposed healthcare reform shouted back. "What the [expletive deleted] am I supposed to do when my kid gets sick?" shouted one woman from the back of the theater.
Despite all this, the event was not widely covered. The only news van present at the meeting was CBS2 New York. Later that night, CBS was the only network station to cover the event at all on their evening news program. Newsday covered the event with an article that ran the next day, though it was sub-500 words.
With the actual healthcare bill now being available to the public, it is likely that there will be more activity like this leading up to the eventual congressional vote. Other organizations, such as the Tax Day Coalition and Tea Part Express tour have expressed that the protests will not end. Both are utilizing online forums and social networking sites to spread their word and attempt to gain as much support as possible.
The 9/12 group of both Suffolk and Nassau counties have been active recently. On Saturday, November 21st, the Suffolk chapter held an anti-healthcare bill rally in Center Moriches. The Nassau County chapter has a similar rally planned for Rockville Center on Tuesday, Novemeber 24th. This protest will take place outside Rockville Center Village Hall. The protest will also include opposition to a proposed water tax hike in the town and will be joined by the Massapequa branch of the Long Island Tea Party group; a like-minded group of individuals active in the local consevrative special interest arena.
If you would like to read the current healthcare bill as it appears in the senate, follow the link below:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s1796/text
opencongress.org is a great resource to read bills as they appear in the United States Congress. A neat feature is the ability to highlight and comment on specific portions of text within a bill.
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