On Friday FCAN (the Florida Consumer Action Network) organized a press conference in conjunction with Pinellas County residents Pepe Kovanis and Bill Hurley.
The chosen locale for the press conference was on the sidewalk directly in front of the new Sam's Club construction site on 34th street in Saint Petersburg. There seemed to have been more press reporters in attendance than organizers or protesters. Perhaps the role of social media and the internet in general provides a “stay at home” avenue for political engagement. This may also be due in part to last week's digital tempest which U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young stirred up on the Internet with his remarks about minimum wage increases. When Konvanis had the opportunity to ask Congressman Young whether he would support a bill in congress which would increase the minimum wage to $10 the following terse exchange was had:
Young: "Probably not.”
Kovanis: "It's 10 bucks an hour. It would give us a living wage."
Young: "How about getting a job. Why do you want that benefit? Get a job."
Kovanis: "I have a job, but it's not enough to get by on…”
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–>”>video of this conversation between Young and Kovanis went “viral” on the Internet.
Friday's press conference was kicked off with a written statement from Bill Hurley, a Pinellas County resident who says has continuously been rebuffed by Congressman Young for a meeting to discuss minimum wage improvements. The thread which ran through Hurley's prepared speech was the inequities experienced by the low wager earners and the middle class. He invoked the Occupy Movements vernacular of the 99 percent versus the 1 percent to illustrate how out of touch some politician are with their constituents.
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2012.