as submitted to the Huffington Post
By Jerry Waxman
Friday the 13th could possibly turn out to be a very unlucky day for Representative Suzanne Kosmas. A large group of activists, each with numbers from 1 to 126, in support of the public option on health care reform assembled for the second time in front of her Orlando office at 122424 Research Parkway on the UCF Campus and for the second time her office staff was not there to meet with them. The number 126 represents the amount of people in Congressional District 24 who will die this year because they lack health insurance. Although no one would speak for the record, there was a consensus among union members at the protest that the Central Florida unions would cut off all future funding for Kosmas due to her no vote on HB3962, The Affordable Health Care for America Act.
First, the assembled, many dressed in black, held a signing ceremony on the 126 sheet. Then the sheet was delivered to the office with the help of the grim reaper, but there was no one in the office to receive it. The office staff had left early again. Someone in the crowd remarked “Do you think we’re getting our money’s worth out of this office?” Community activist Stephanie Porta questioned Rep Kosmas votes not only on health care reform but also on her financial regulation votes, pointing out that Kosmas took considerable sums of money from the banking and credit card industry and has been voting in their favor.
Tony Scelzo from AFSCME lectured the crowd on how Kosmas betrayed the labor unions whose support she eagerly sought during the last election. He also did not accept her published reasons for voting no. The crowd voted to continue to put pressure on her and will return on Nov. 20th.
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