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.