Yesterday, Pastor Himes provided powerful, and courageous, witness to the union violence he and his wife saw in St. Louis on August 6th. They provided strong testament to the union attack on Kenneth Gladney. But, his comments only dealt with the events of that day. Evidence is emerging that the events of that day went far beyond St. Louis and may have been part of a nationally orchestrated campaign to intimidate and silence dissent.
When Congress went into its summer recess at the end of July, an organic movement erupted to protest Congressional proposals to inject government deeper into our health care system. The ferocity of citizen’s reactions caught most congressmen off-guard. The citizen’s spontaneous protests against Congress dominated the news coverage. It was only a matter of time until the left struck back,.
On the morning of August 6th, Sam Stein reported at the Huffington Post that labor unions had released a comprehensive memo, detailing tactics to counter what were called “town hall protestors”. That same day, a White House official said to reporters, “If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard.”
Those both happened the morning of the assault on Kenneth Gladney. Is it any surprise that on the specific day that Big Labor and the White House signaled a commitment to ‘punch back’ at the town hall protests, an innocent bystander, Kenneth Gladney, was brutally beaten?
Consider also that the individuals charged with the assault on Kenneth Gladney worked for SEIU. In the first six months of the Obama Administration, Andy Stern, head of SEIU visited the White House 22 times–more than any other private individual. The date stamps for his visits stop at the end of July, so we don’t fully know how much interaction he had with the White House during the ‘summer of discontent.’ We do know that HHS Secretary Katherine Sibelius hosted a conference call with SEIU leadership the day after the Gladney beating.
SEIU attended the August 6th event in force. There are indications the union bused in members from Chicago and St. Louis. But, their presence wasn’t felt solely through their rank-and-file members. The day before the event, Rep. Russ Carnahan hired a new communications director, Sara Howard. Previously, Ms. Howard was a senior official with SEIU.
The Gladney beating happened. As Pastor Himes wrote, it was a vicious attack on a defenseless man. We also know that the police filed charges against the SEIU thugs who perpetrated the attack. The story of how those charges have been covered up for political ends will be told soon. It is a story that reaches deep into St. Louis politics and, ultimately, the Obama administration.
Big Media and partisan hacks like Media Matters have tried to obscure the facts. They have used classic confusion and misdirection to turn the incident into a “he said, SEIU said” dust-up. But, they have relied more on spin than facts. You will soon see the full facts of the incident. You will wonder why the charges have been covered up. SEIU is picking up the legal bills of their members charged with assault. It has even arranged for high-powered, politically connected legal counsel. Yet, the union has denied its members’ workman’s comp claims for injuries they sustained in beating Kenneth Gladney. That’s more than a bit weird. Like they were kind of working for the union when they delivered the beating.
Make no mistake, Gladney was brutally beaten. And, he was beaten in a calculated attempt to intimidate the town hall protesters. Through political connections, the crime has been covered up. But, the truth will out. And, the truth will out here. Stay tuned…
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