By Doug Foote
Working America Main Street
At least two GOP House freshmen, U.S. Reps. Daniel Webster (R-FL) and Tim Griffin (R-AR) are using tactics out of the McCarthy playbook to supposedly keep order at their town halls.
Rep. Webster’s Winter Garden, Florida district office gave out a “Watch List” of six Floridians who had asked questions at Webster’s previous town halls. The list, with the header “For the Media,” included names, photographs, and questions that members of the media should ask them.
The Watch List itself doesn’t contain any information on who wrote it or where it comes from. The memos surfaced in Arkansas in connection to the office of Rep. Tim Griffin, and were traced back to Rep. Webster’s office.
With black and white photos that resemble police surveillance, some of them pulled from the individuals’ Facebook profiles, the memo is clearly meant to intimidate these six people and anyone else who might stand up and ask a question of their elected representative (see more). At a Griffin town hall, staffers were handing out the Watch List to attendees, calling it their “homework.” Griffin staffers were also spotted taking photos and shooting video of attendees, creating an extra layer of intimidation.
In one instance, the memo suggested that members of the media question the military service of a Vietnam veteran named Ron Parsell, a man who questioned Webster at a town hall in Orlando. The memo recommends they ask: “Are you a military veteran who served in Viet Nam? If yes, what branch of the Services, what military unit and where specifically in Viet Nam did you serve.”