SEIU storming the front lawn of a Bank of America lawyer.

@dboman (457)
United States
May 27, 2010 1:01pm CST
So, about a week ago, the SEIU "protested" the housing crisis by having 14 buses full of people show up at Greg Baer, deputy General Counsel for corporate law at BoA. There are videos of them on his front stoop with megaphones and an overall intimidating demeanor about them. Meanwhile, his 14 year old son was hiding inside in the bathroom alone, terrified. Here's a story written by the guy's next door neighbor: http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/19/news/companies/SEIU_Bank_of_America_protest.fortune/index.htm Here's a youtube link of Megyn Kelly interviewing a Union supporter with pictures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YneEJH8_2Q I can't seem to find the video shot by the Huffington Post Reporter, if anyone could do so I would be greatly appreciated. What surprises me about this is: a. how absurd these people are. b. No charges were charged for trespassing. c. This guy is a lawyer! d. The police are lying about what happened. I would say the lack of media coverage surprises me, but that would be a lie. I wonder what would've happened had this been my house and I walked outside toting my 12 gauge. What are your thoughts on this situation?
2 people like this
9 responses
@EvanHunter (4026)
• United States
27 May 10
You left out a couple things. This guy isn't just a lawyer he is a executive and a lobbyist against financial reform of wall street. How many millions has he pushed through to try to keep any accountability off of their backs? What's absurd is people sit around and let corporations buy our government when our government is suppose to represent the people not corporations. There is nothing written in the constitution for corporations its written for the people of this country. I am not surprised there was no charges or any media covering what was going on other than FOX "corporate" news trying to demonize everything but they aren't a real news agency and are so biased they might as well admit it but than ignorant people who can't see it might stop watching. The reason they don't want it publicized is the fact they don't want it catching on and more people organizing against these corporations and individuals that have taken over our country. My thoughts are if he doesn't like the fallout of his actions maybe its time he stops undermining our government and being a corporate lobbyist. How many 14 year old kids (or younger) has his company helped put out in the street that his actions were directly connected to?
• United States
27 May 10
I think its needles to say but me and you will probably only agree to disagree on this subject and FOX news.
• United States
27 May 10
Even if what you say is true...I honestly don't know...they should not be protesting at his home. They should be protesting his place of business. HIs family has nothing to do with the decisions he made...especially his kids. They had not control over what their dad did...so why terorize them? As the old saying goes...two wrongs don't make a right.
@dboman (457)
• United States
27 May 10
Wow. Not sure what to say about this. I didn't leave anything out, I stated exactly what his position was which is deputy General Counsel for corporate law...which would be a lawyer. He is not an executive. Here is the announcement of his hiring: http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/index.php?s=43&item=7561 Looks like you need to start getting your news from different sources. As far as bringing up the Constitution, the government has been ignoring that for a long time now. Your rant about Fox News is inaccurate and insulting. Continue to believe these assumptions though.
• United States
28 May 10
I have heard reports from both sides that they may or may not have been on his property. If they were not on his property than we have this paper called the CONSTITUTION, you might have heard of it. It actually gives people (even UNION MEMBERS) the right to assemble. Do you think we should change the CONSTITUTION to make this illegal?
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
28 May 10
Did you read the article and look at the picture? Try watching footage of it. Clearly they were on his property. If they had assembled on the sidewalk, it wouldn't be trespassing. when you're on someone's doorstep screaming at a house with nothing but a 14 year old inside, that is trespassing and it's also harassment. I've said the same thing every time crap like that has happened even when it was that moron Octomom.
1 person likes this
• United States
28 May 10
Taskr, I saw the photos and listen to the discussion about this on O'Reilly a few days ago. He said that they were still trying to figure out if that was the front of HIS house. There were conflicting accounts about what happened, that is why people are holding off on judging what happened here. I have a hard defending Octomom on anything that idiot does. She isn't even worth talking about, but she still has rights. Good Point Taskr.
@dboman (457)
• United States
28 May 10
Yes. It was the front of HIS house, as well as on the neighbor's lawns. Did you not read the article by the EYEWITNESS? The photos show BAER'S house with people on the lawn and front porch. I don't think the President, or his Union cronies, share your affinity for the Constitution
@laglen (19759)
• United States
28 May 10
I have this cute little .22 marlin, automatic..... I think when people are on your property, you have a right to defend it! I tried to find your video but to no avail.
@dboman (457)
• United States
28 May 10
Agreed. Thanks for trying to find it...I find it very interesting that it's disappeared.
1 person likes this
@laglen (19759)
• United States
28 May 10
interesting but not surprising! I had seen the video before....
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
27 May 10
How can 500 people storm private property and call it a protest? How can police allow this kind of trespassing and intimidation and excuse their inaction by saying they were "afraid" that arrests would cause the protesters to riot? Why would they send only 3 police officers to control 14 buses full of protesters? Why would SEIU target a Bank of America employee? Oh wait, I know the answer to that. SEIU owes Bank of America about $100 million. A lot of that was funneled to Democratic campaigns. And now SEIU wants to unionize the bank tellers and call centers. Well, if being an employee of the bank means you might be subject to intimidation, maybe the employees will think it's better to join them than be their target. Thuggery all around. As if these guys really care about foreclosures or subprime loans.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
27 May 10
Here is one at CNN Money. They say the debt is $4 million http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/19/news/companies/SEIU_Bank_of_America_protest.fortune/index.htm This article puts it at $100 million. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/05/026400.php Documents showing the debt here: http://biggovernment.com/libertychick/2010/05/21/as-seiu-terrorizes-bank-employees-son-huffpo-and-mediamatters-omit-deadbeat-unions-90-million-debt/
@dboman (457)
• United States
28 May 10
WOW. I followed those and did a bit of my own research and found significant support for this. This is unbelievable. I'm always skeptical of "conspiracy theory" type stuff, but I guess I should've expected this. I'm in shock. I've long held unions responsible for the decline of the American coal, steel, and automobile producers, but this is devious. I didn't think it was possible, but I dislike unions even more.
@dboman (457)
• United States
27 May 10
I agree about the police. I'm very interested in what you're saying about the relationship between SEIU and Bank of America, though. I would like to know more about this, do you have a link to the source of this info?
1 person likes this
• United States
27 May 10
Completely uncalled for. If they want to protest..fine. But protest at the business..not their private homes. It surprises me no one ended up in jail over it. As for coverage...CNN was all over it the day it happened. I heard about it all day. But with the oil spill...well lets just say the story fell off the radar of the press pretty fast.
@dboman (457)
• United States
27 May 10
I didn't catch the coverage, thanks for letting me know though. I must've been doing something. Do you know the date this happened?
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
27 May 10
Fox News was on it too and the anchors, can't remember who right now, were talking about how cowardly the police were for not doing anything about it. To me the most disgusting thing is the way Huffington Post cheered for this crap even claiming: "Passersby and dogwalkers smiled at the sight of people gathered all over Baer's lawn and blocking the road. Baer's neighbor from across the street won little sympathy when he angrily yelled at protesters for waking up his two-year-old daughter." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/16/class-warfare-hundreds-pr_n_578015.html
@dboman (457)
• United States
27 May 10
Wow, what horrible and biased reporting. The reporter blatantly LIED about Baer being there, as if the Huffington Post had any credibility in the first place. These people are thugs.
@TTCCWW (579)
• United States
28 May 10
You should see what these people have really accomplished by doing this. They have set up refi comferences all over the nation and forced these banks into refinancing homes with sensible and honest loan rates. They came to our town and spent three days doing refi's. I don't remember how many thousand people they helped keep their homes but it was amazing. One of the bankers at this event had had his house picketed and it had brought him a reality check on just what their bank had been doing to people. These were not give me refi's these were people who could afford to pay a sensible mortage but could not afford the insane ballons....
• United States
28 May 10
I guess those lazy good for nothing union people may actually be doing something positive after all!
@dboman (457)
• United States
28 May 10
So, you think that Bank of America did this because of protestors and not because of the fact that it makes more sense financially to help people refinance instead of foreclosing? Most mortgages are inflated from the housing bubble and are worth more than the house, so what financial gain would the banks get by foreclosing instead of lowering interest rates? If the banks had to put up with protestors and still make a profit, they would.
@TTCCWW (579)
• United States
28 May 10
PBS has done a couple of in depth stories on this group and yes it is, from the interviews, many of the banks would not have cooprerated had it not been for the protest. To the other part of this question... It is way more profitable for the banks to repo then to re finance. This is in congressional testimony. They can write off all the losses when they repo, from resale to legal cost so it does not effect their balance sheet in the same way as a refi does. They can also go back and collect legal fees if they can get them.. There are mebers of congress that have suggested that there be a system in place that stops the write offs for the banks until they can prove that they attempted to refi the current owner. Some/mosthese ouses are upside down but many could still stay in them if their interest rates did not go up year after year. This is a short range solution for the banks because it will effect them in the long run. In the eighty's we had many banks that swallowed hard and started refinancing and the all came out ahead in the long term but this group is only worried about next week not five years from now.
@nzinky (822)
• United States
28 May 10
Those Protesters should have been arrested and thrown under the jail.......They knew that is the day time the Lawyers weren't going to be home and I understand a 11 year old was in the house when this happened and he was scared....To tramatize a child like that they needed to be arrested.....the Lawyer should sue them for everything he can...... If they want to protest at his office go ahead but they had no right to go to his home and protest unless they knew he was going to be home......But they had no right to be on his properity.......Where I come from that's called "TRESPASSING"
@dboman (457)
• United States
28 May 10
I agree with you. The kid was 14, though. The police chief cited the fact that they weren't asked to leave as being the reason for no arrests for trespassing. I think it's a bogus reason, that he's just afraid of the union...but I'm not a police officer.
@bestboy19 (5478)
• United States
27 May 10
I thought it was interesting how Erica Payne tried to turn the focus away from the hundreds of SEIU thugs at Greg Baer's home to the gas line vandalism at Rep. Tom Perriello's (D-Va.) brother's home. There is a difference though, Mike Troxel of the Lynchburg Tea Party wrote a blog post telling activists to add a "personal touch" to their anger at Periello by going to his house. SEIU didn't just suggest people protest at Baer's home, they hired 14 school buses, loaded them with 500 angry protesters and stormed on to of Baer's porch. Troxel never organized a protest to Perriello's home, he only suggested a visit there. It's one thing to suggest an action, it's another to actually commit an act. I did like how Megyn Kelly chided Erica Payne for dismissing the SEIU action. That's a union for you. They never have been able to behave as anything other than thugs.
@Rysonia (310)
• United States
28 May 10
My heart goes out to that poor child who must have thought these people were deranged and might harm him. It is horrific to think that these people can not differentiate the difference between the man's office and the home where his wife and children live. While they have every right to gather in protest, doing so at a private home shows an utter lack of human compassion or intelligence on their part. It says a lot for the man that understanding the difficulties these people are going through that he did not add insult to injury by having them tossed in jail like they so richly deserve. I can only pray the young child caught in the middle of this fiasco is able to feel safe and secure in his own home soon.
@dboman (457)
• United States
28 May 10
Exactly. I doubt he will be able to feel safe. Once these type of people put you on their "list", it's hard to get off of it.