Liberal group confronted by Trump supporters outside Vern Buchanan’s Sarasota office

Share
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan from Sarasota
Vern Buchanan. By Seán Kinane / WMNF News (Feb. 2009).

Last week groups of conservatives and liberals faced off outside the Sarasota office of Congress member Vern Buchanan.

The tense, but non-physical, confrontation was first reported by the Herald-Tribune.

To find out what happened, WMNF spoke with Dianne Perry. She is with the liberal group Action Together Suncoast, which is affiliated with the Indivisible movement.

“We were at both his Bradenton and Sarasota [offices] last Monday. We were there to ask for a town hall [meeting]. … We want to talk to him.”

“We arrived [in Sarasota]  and there were maybe – I counted about 15 – people there with red hats on. MAGA hats, Trump supporters, ‘Women for Trump’ shirts and so forth. So they were in the front of the building. We went to the side; we did not want conflict. We were setting up. They came over to the side with a cowbell and bullhorn. For a while we had dueling bullhorns going on.

“We did have a couple people engage and argue with them. At which I interrupted and asked them not to do that. That’s one of the rules of our group is do not engage. It’s dangerous for yourself and the other people who are there. It’s not a good practice. It’s not good for the reputation of the group, either. We had one person that did not listen to me. The Herald-Tribune got a picture of her and they printed it on the first page.”

What was it like to have someone ringing a cowbell right in front of you?

“It was very annoying. It was hurtful to the ears and rude (laughter).”

Have you had any demonstrations since then or are there any planned?

“Not at the moment. We’re discussing doing weekly protests at his office again.”

Have you heard from Congress member Vern Buchanan?

“No.”

Listen:

 

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

Counterspin
Player position: