Shaun Kenney | Politics and Religion in Virginia's Public Square


Wednesday, November 10, 2004 The reality of intimidation Eric Wang's experience with Philadelphia Democrats Now this is one of the more interesting, on the ground accounts of voter intimidation I have read: At the end of the day, I was cornered in a parking lot by roughly 10 large men, whom the police later identified as 'union goons.' After trying to tip over the minivan I was sharing with another attorney, punching it relentlessly, breaking parts off and failing to drag us out, they chased us in and out of the dense urban traffic in their high-powered SUVs. Only after a frantic 911 call and a police roadblock were our assailants apprehended. Even then, a growing mob surrounded us and we had to be secreted out of town to safety by a police escort. Our experience was not unique; several other 'Lawyers for Bush' teams in Philadelphia reported similar violence. While I could not tell for sure whom the 'union goons' were working for, the police revealed their SUVs were rental vehicles, which were used primarily by the parties that day for transporting voters and election monitors. Suspiciously enough, our attackers were also aided by the prompt appearance of a slick-looking lawyer from the state Democratic Party. Who intimidated whom? You decide. Indeed. Wang's experience isn't alone in the caricature of Democratic harassment being painted through personal accounts: While Democrats portrayed our ballot protection efforts as suppressing and intimidating minority voters, the real violence was directed against us -- the election monitors. In fact, for the most part, we got along fine in the black neighborhoods until an all-white mob tried to beat us up. Thankfully, in Spotsylvania and the surrounding localities we did not experience the same voter intimidation, and for the civility area politicos deserve praise. That having been said, it's unfortunate the media at large doesn't feel as if this sort of misbehavior is newsworthy. posted by Shaun Kenney \| 11/10/2004 12:02:00 PM \| 0 comments 0 Comments: Post a Comment Home
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