article was an attachment of a tear out and mail in coupon requiring the voter’s name, address, a statement warranting they were of voting age and a space to write a comment to their legislator. He included the mailing address and phone number for every member of the House of Representatives. He closed with a phrase meant to exhort the reader to make a change today and tell your friends to do so too.
By noon he was feeling weak and frustrated and needed to lie down for a while. As he closed his eyes he quietly wondered if he was going to wake up again.
Mr. Archie ‘Backspace’ Conner’s next YouTube video went viral faster than the first. It showed a dark haired young woman in a tank top and cut-off blue jeans with a backpack. She stated in a very clear voice, “Hey you, yeah, I’m talking to you; the guy in the suit sitting in Congress. There were over 65 million text messages in response to three political questions. Over 90% of them were ‘yes’ responses. What does that tell you? I’ll tell you. The American people have spoken. We’re here. We’re watching. We’re aware and we will be heard!! If H.R. 2239 dies in committee we will be looking at you!”
It ended with a shot of thousands of people, probably at a rock concert, standing up and cheering. The mail campaign over the next few days resulted in millions of letters and calls to members of the House of Representatives, but still the bill sat stalled in committee.
A second YouTube video went out just as the 30 th day dawned over H.R.2239. It was still not out of Committee. This video was brutally blunt. Eddie Kelley and James Lally had done their jobs well. They had managed to capture video of Sam Whitback conferring with a lobbyist outside the House Finance Committee meeting. They were even able to identify the lobbyist. They did the same for Ray Hutchinson and Nick Cobbings. Archie converted these to still photos and submitted them to major newspapers across the nations. The caption at the top read roughly the same for each photo. “Your House of Representative member Sam Whitback working closely with Buford Birnbaum, a lobbyist from Rogers, Cahalan and Birnbaum, to defeat your future; H.R. 2239.”
Below that followed another photo of Nick Cobbings and a lobbyist, while the third photo showed Ray Haley Hutchinson eating lunch at a posh restaurant with a lobbyist identified as Burt Donaldson. When the photos hit the New York Times on the morning of November 26 th every member of the House on Capitol Hill saw them. Those that were not depicted in the photos breathed a sigh of relief because they knew it could just as easily have been them. The three gentlemen that were shown were in an absolute fit and demanding to find out how this had come to pass.
Letter writing and phone calls to various representatives spiked at 22,000 an hour. The House Finance Committee reported the bill to the floor unchanged, which was a remarkable event, but both the President and Elliott knew it was meaningless until the House Appropriations Committee reported it to the floor as well.
Elliott spoke with the President.
“It’s half the battle won,” Elliott said. “Now all we need to do is get the Appropriations Committee to do the same.”
“It’s a small step, but a move in the right direction,” the President agreed. “What it really means is your newspaper and YouTube approach scared the heck out of Hutchinson.”
“And Hutchinson knows if he reports the bill first it makes him look good. The bill could still die in the Appropriations Committee, so it takes the heat off of him,” Elliott theorized.
“And the Appropriations Committee is where defense firms and military suppliers and all their ancillary suppliers get their bread buttered, so it will be harder to bring it out of that committee. And Sam Whitback, the chair of the Appropriations Committee can be one mean son of a bitch. I’ve seen him in action.”
“All we can do is wait and see what
By noon he was feeling weak and frustrated and needed to lie down for a while. As he closed his eyes he quietly wondered if he was going to wake up again.
Mr. Archie ‘Backspace’ Conner’s next YouTube video went viral faster than the first. It showed a dark haired young woman in a tank top and cut-off blue jeans with a backpack. She stated in a very clear voice, “Hey you, yeah, I’m talking to you; the guy in the suit sitting in Congress. There were over 65 million text messages in response to three political questions. Over 90% of them were ‘yes’ responses. What does that tell you? I’ll tell you. The American people have spoken. We’re here. We’re watching. We’re aware and we will be heard!! If H.R. 2239 dies in committee we will be looking at you!”
It ended with a shot of thousands of people, probably at a rock concert, standing up and cheering. The mail campaign over the next few days resulted in millions of letters and calls to members of the House of Representatives, but still the bill sat stalled in committee.
A second YouTube video went out just as the 30 th day dawned over H.R.2239. It was still not out of Committee. This video was brutally blunt. Eddie Kelley and James Lally had done their jobs well. They had managed to capture video of Sam Whitback conferring with a lobbyist outside the House Finance Committee meeting. They were even able to identify the lobbyist. They did the same for Ray Hutchinson and Nick Cobbings. Archie converted these to still photos and submitted them to major newspapers across the nations. The caption at the top read roughly the same for each photo. “Your House of Representative member Sam Whitback working closely with Buford Birnbaum, a lobbyist from Rogers, Cahalan and Birnbaum, to defeat your future; H.R. 2239.”
Below that followed another photo of Nick Cobbings and a lobbyist, while the third photo showed Ray Haley Hutchinson eating lunch at a posh restaurant with a lobbyist identified as Burt Donaldson. When the photos hit the New York Times on the morning of November 26 th every member of the House on Capitol Hill saw them. Those that were not depicted in the photos breathed a sigh of relief because they knew it could just as easily have been them. The three gentlemen that were shown were in an absolute fit and demanding to find out how this had come to pass.
Letter writing and phone calls to various representatives spiked at 22,000 an hour. The House Finance Committee reported the bill to the floor unchanged, which was a remarkable event, but both the President and Elliott knew it was meaningless until the House Appropriations Committee reported it to the floor as well.
Elliott spoke with the President.
“It’s half the battle won,” Elliott said. “Now all we need to do is get the Appropriations Committee to do the same.”
“It’s a small step, but a move in the right direction,” the President agreed. “What it really means is your newspaper and YouTube approach scared the heck out of Hutchinson.”
“And Hutchinson knows if he reports the bill first it makes him look good. The bill could still die in the Appropriations Committee, so it takes the heat off of him,” Elliott theorized.
“And the Appropriations Committee is where defense firms and military suppliers and all their ancillary suppliers get their bread buttered, so it will be harder to bring it out of that committee. And Sam Whitback, the chair of the Appropriations Committee can be one mean son of a bitch. I’ve seen him in action.”
“All we can do is wait and see what
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