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."
Lieberman has accepted $427,644 from insurance companies during the period from 2005-2010.
At 10:00 a.m., a group of protesters entered Lieberman's office in the Hart Office Building on Capitol Hill and demanded to meet with him.
"Whenever the rep is there the door is locked," said Ortiz. "He was probably prepping for his committee hearing."
Lieberman's staff made several counter offers, but could not satisfy the group's demands.
"The demonstrators insisted on disrupting office operations after they rejected repeated offers for meetings with both the Senator's chief of staff and legislative Director to discuss their concerns," said Marshall Wittmann, communications director and spokesman for Lieberman. "After rejecting these meeting offers, refusing to heed warnings from the Capitol Hill police and continuing the disruption, some of the demonstrators were removed by the police."
Nine people, including Florio and Mohrbacher, were arrested. Florio was released six hours later. Mohrbacher and three other arrestees are planning on remaining in jail until their demands are met.
One hundred forty one people have been arrested nationwide while participating in demonstrations sanctioned by Mobilization for Healthcare for All, including 12 who were arrested at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's office in San Francisco on Wednesday.
"Lieberman would rather arrest his constituents then meet with them," said a demonstrator in a video posted on YouTube.
Two videos have been posted online depicting the arrests.
Afterwards several remaining members continued directly to a meeting of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, hoping that Lieberman might listen to their concerns there.
Lieberman opposes a public health care option, and has openly stated that he will participate in a fillibuster of the bill, should it come to a vote.
CORRECTION: The original print version of this article did not properly explain the origin of Aetna's contribution. It also did not clearly state that the $427,644 that Lieberman has accepted from insurance companies is the total amount since 2005. The Daily Campus apologizes for the confusion.
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