Spring Break
Student arrested in DC Lieberman protest
Joseph Adinolfi
Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: News
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (DI-CT) refused to meet with demonstrators staging an impromptu sit-in at his office on Capitol Hill Thursday that ended with the arrest of nine individuals, one of whom was a UConn student.
"When Lieberman came out against the [health care] bill, we thought 'okay it's time to step it up,'" said Jason Ortiz, a 6th-semester communications major, president of the UConn ACLU and member of the Daily Campus editorial board. "He decided to pick profits over people and we decided to let him know what the people think about that."
Ortiz received a call Tuesday night from a member of Mobilization for Health care for All, a national movement of protesters who stage non-violent sit-ins at the offices of healthcare executives and elected officials.
A sit-in at Lieberman's office was being organized and Ortiz was asked if he and several of Lieberman's other constituents would join in the protest. Ortiz recruited two other UConn students, Brittany Florio and Danielle Nachowitz, and UConn alumnus John Mohrbacher. The four left UConn on Wednesday around 3:30 p.m., immediately after the conclusion of Wednesday's rally for health care reform on Fairfield Way.
Lieberman recently accepted a $65,200 campaign contribution from the health insurance company Aetna and its employees. Federal law prohibits corporate political action committees from giving more than $9,000 in campaign contributions to any individual candidate and from requiring that employees donate. Of the Aetna contribution, the remaining $56,200 came from company employees. The demonstrators wanted Lieberman to return the money as a gesture to show that he is not beholden to corporate interests.
Aetna has spent more than 2 million dollars lobbying against health care reform since 1989.
"All that money is coming from people getting denied claims, they're profiting off of denying people health care," said Florio, a 9th-semester agriculture and natural resources major. Florio was one of two Connecticut residents arrested at Lieberman's office. "Obviously he's going to continue to listen to insurance companies over us if they pay him to do so."
"When Lieberman came out against the [health care] bill, we thought 'okay it's time to step it up,'" said Jason Ortiz, a 6th-semester communications major, president of the UConn ACLU and member of the Daily Campus editorial board. "He decided to pick profits over people and we decided to let him know what the people think about that."
Ortiz received a call Tuesday night from a member of Mobilization for Health care for All, a national movement of protesters who stage non-violent sit-ins at the offices of healthcare executives and elected officials.
A sit-in at Lieberman's office was being organized and Ortiz was asked if he and several of Lieberman's other constituents would join in the protest. Ortiz recruited two other UConn students, Brittany Florio and Danielle Nachowitz, and UConn alumnus John Mohrbacher. The four left UConn on Wednesday around 3:30 p.m., immediately after the conclusion of Wednesday's rally for health care reform on Fairfield Way.
Lieberman recently accepted a $65,200 campaign contribution from the health insurance company Aetna and its employees. Federal law prohibits corporate political action committees from giving more than $9,000 in campaign contributions to any individual candidate and from requiring that employees donate. Of the Aetna contribution, the remaining $56,200 came from company employees. The demonstrators wanted Lieberman to return the money as a gesture to show that he is not beholden to corporate interests.
Aetna has spent more than 2 million dollars lobbying against health care reform since 1989.
"All that money is coming from people getting denied claims, they're profiting off of denying people health care," said Florio, a 9th-semester agriculture and natural resources major. Florio was one of two Connecticut residents arrested at Lieberman's office. "Obviously he's going to continue to listen to insurance companies over us if they pay him to do so."
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 11
Frank
posted 11/06/09 @ 7:59 AM EST
this is sooo funny.
I saw an article about this in my local home paper..and there was a picture of a girl getting arrested. And I said...wow shes looks very familiar. (Continued…)
joseph
posted 11/06/09 @ 8:17 AM EST
Lieberman is the most corrupt senator, just find out about the association he has with the insurance company, the last time he ran for office and lost as a democrat ,he asked the insurance companies to finance him as an independent, thats the reason he won
Danny
posted 11/06/09 @ 8:41 AM EST
Go Lieberman! The public option will be horrible and you guys will realize it when you can't get an appointment for your mono because the doctors are overbooked. (Continued…)
Lido Shuffler
posted 11/06/09 @ 9:26 AM EST
News flash: Aetna would not be in business if they relied on turning down claims as a business model. They aren't the bad guys from a John Grisham novel just because they make money. (Continued…)
R. J.
posted 11/06/09 @ 1:07 PM EST
Hey Ignoramus (so aptly named), where do you go when the government runs the whole show (as they are certain to do and we even have democrats saying so on youtube)and they turn you down? NOWHERE! You libs are stupid or nuts or you are true believers in these Utopian fantasies. (Continued…)
Lydia
posted 11/06/09 @ 3:48 PM EST
There is a misspelling in the above article: the correct name is Jon Mohrbacher, not John Morbacker.
msfreeh
posted 11/07/09 @ 12:41 AM EST
to view a partial list of crimes committed by FBI agents over 1500 pages long see
forums.signonsandiego. com/showthread.php?t=59139
to view a partial list of FBI agents arrested for pedophilia see
dallasnews. (Continued…)
Vincent Giordano
posted 11/10/09 @ 5:48 PM EST
There is a major flaw / conflict engineered into our healthcare system. The US system is built on "for profit" entities which collect money for premiums, but are beholden to shareholders. (Continued…)
Post a Comment