{"id":5230,"date":"2012-10-16T14:43:06","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T18:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=5230"},"modified":"2012-10-16T14:43:06","modified_gmt":"2012-10-16T18:43:06","slug":"piits-strader-supporters-spar-over-willowdale-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=5230","title":{"rendered":"Piits, Strader supporters spar over Willowdale protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

State Police were called and event was cut short; no arrests<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Democratic congressional candidate Aryana Strader speaks to a protest rally near U.S. Rep. Joe Pitss’ office in Willowdale, Saturday. After State Police were called to the event, if was cut short, organizers say.<\/p><\/div>\n

EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 Supporters of Aryana Strader and Joseph Pitts exchanged barbs this week over a protest near Pitts\u2019 office on Saturday, an event that ended early after State Police were called.<\/p>\n

The protest, an event criticizing the eight-term Congressman for his stance on abortion and other issues, was put on by the Women\u2019s Rights Coalition of Southern Chester County (WRCSCC), which is battling what it terms a \u201cwar on women\u201d primarily by Republican elected officials. It took place at Pitts\u2019 district office, at the corner of Routes 82 and 926 in the Willowdale section of the township.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe held this rally to increase awareness of Congressman Pitts\u2019 ongoing votes and sponsored legislation against women and their rights,\u201d said Cindy Losco, a founder of the group.\u00a0 She referred to a piece of legislation she called the \u201cLet Women Die Act,\u201d the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, Pitts’ vote against the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012 and several other examples of what she said was his role in undermining the rights of women.\"\"<\/p>\n

A Pitts campaign spokesman, Gabe Neville, said that the event and the resulting complaints about it being cut short were nothing more than political theater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a tone-deaf campaign stunt,\u201d Neville said.<\/p>\n

WRCSCC has been supporting Strader, a Democrat from Kennett Square, in her attempt to unseat Pitts in the 16th Congressional District.<\/p>\n

The issue that led to police being called appears to be that at least some of the attendees were on private property \u2014 the building location there not only houses Pitts offices, but a local financial planning business. The pictures supplied by WRCSCC seem to indicate at least some of the participants and attendees were off the highway right of way \u2014 a strip of land that typically surrounds public roads and is a public easement \u2014 and on private property. It is unclear who called police, but a Pitts’ campaign spokesman confirmed it was not anyone from the district office.<\/p>\n

The State Police were able to resolve the matter without arrests and were able to persuade organizers to cut the event short as a compromise. Strader was among a number of current and former candidates were able to address the crowd of some 65 supporters at the abbreviated event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe we\u2019re fighting again for rights we already have,\u201d Strader told the crowd.\u00a0 \u201cWouldn\u2019t all of this time and effort be better spent on creating jobs and bolstering the economy \u2013 the two primary issues Joe Pitts ran on in 2010?\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitts\u2019 campaign, though, suggested Strader is engaging in grandstanding, and hit her for the fact that she lives a number of blocks outside of the 16th District (although under the previous districting plan, she did live in the 16th, and the new plan split Kennett Square between the 7th and 16th districts).<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe Pitts is focused on rebuilding economic security for American families,\u201d Neville said. \u00a0\u201cThe voters want to know what we are going to do to reduce unemployment and balance the federal budget. \u00a0Congressman Pitts has answered these questions with specifics, and has been visiting job centers and food banks to make sure people are getting the help they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmazingly, Ms. Strader\u2014who moved to Chester County a year ago from New York and does not live in the district she is running to represent\u2014has decided that her priority is forcing taxpayers and Catholic institutions to pay for abortion,\u201d Neville continued. \u00a0\u201cAbsolutely amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Strader, event speakers included Lois Herr, who ran against Pitts twice in recent years, Patricia Worrell, the Democrat facing Domenic Pileggi for the 9th District state Senate seat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Police were called and event was cut short; no arrests By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 Supporters of Aryana Strader and Joseph Pitts exchanged barbs this week over a protest near Pitts\u2019 office on Saturday, an event that ended early after State Police were called. The protest, an event criticizing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1281,1282,327,1283,1284],"class_list":["post-5230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-16th-district","tag-aryana-strader","tag-election-2012","tag-joseph-pitts","tag-womens-rigghts-coalition-of-southern-chester-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}