‘Tea party’ protest against proposed land deal mostly actors

[RandiFan1290]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/actors-hired-to-protest-at-water-district-know-lit/nkkkb/

More than 50 actors from a Broward County acting group were paid $75 each to protest outside the South Florida Water Management District on Thursday about a controversial land deal they knew little about.

The protest was called by the Tea Party of Miami and Florida Citizens Against Waste, a recently formed group that has no contact information on its website and is not registered to do business in Florida.

http://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas/threads/u-s-sugar-hires-actors-to-protest-land-deal-not-a-hiaasen-plot.314792/

U.S. Sugar hires actors to "protest" land deal. Not a Hiaasen plot


Presumably because science gives them a migraine, U.S. Sugar, which owns the land, and Governor Rick Scott, whom U.S. Sugar also kinda owns, appear to be not so keen on the purchase.

So, what's the deal's monied opposition to do, in order to persuade the district to nix the purchase?

If we said "hire a bunch of actors to 'protest' outside the meeting to show 'public outrage' over the deal," you'd think we were joking, and understandably so.

But you'd be wrong, because that's what happened.
http://cltampa.com/politicalanimal/...-aimed-at-everglades-restoration#.VR4Hp0u8Fg0

[merrily]

1. There are actors and paid cheerleaders at speeches of politicians

as well as at tea party events and other demonstrations. Paid questioners. Paid posters. Paid twitter followers. Paid marchers. And not only on the Republican side.

George "I cannot tell a lie" Washington* and Honest Abe Lincoln would never make it today, unless they hopped on the bandwagon.



*Yes, I know the cherry tree story is apochcryphal.

[Scuba]

2. "Not a Hiaasen plot." Sure sounds like one.

[surrealAmerican]

3. some commentary from Lewis Carroll:

Yet it was evident that all was being done under orders, for I noticed that all eyes were fixed on the man who stood just under the window, and to whom the Chancellor was continually whispering. This man held his hat in one hand and a little green flag in the other: whenever he waved the flag the procession advanced a little nearer, when he dipped it they sidled a little farther off, and whenever he waved his hat they all raised a hoarse cheer. "Hoo-roah!" they cried, carefully keeping time with the hat as it bobbed up and down. "Hoo-roah! Noo! Consti! Tooshun! Less! Bread! More! Taxes!"

[Bluenorthwest]

4. The term for such people is not 'actors' but 'shills'

Shill: "an accomplice of a hawker, gambler, or swindler who acts as an enthusiastic customer to entice or encourage others."

Actor: "one who represents a character in a dramatic production."

I offer that the people who hired shills did not hire actors, they hired random people and instructed them to pose as protestors. They employed day laborers as shills in a fraudulent protest.