Tea Party Members Protest Fundraiser in Woodbury

Bumper stickers a quarter-mile away let motorists know who was protesting outside the The Inn at Fox Hollow in Woodbury Monday night.

Tea Party members brought signs and flags to express their displeasure for a Working Families Party fundraiser featuring U.S. Representatives Steve Israel, Gary Ackerman, Tim Bishop and Carolyn McCarthy.  

Grace Colucci, a member of the executive committee for the Suffolk County-based Conservative Society for Action, said the protest was scheduled on short notice and featured different conservative organizations from throughout Long Island and Queens.

"They have voted for 99 percent of whatever [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi tells them to do," Colucci said. "Cap and trade, stimulus, the bailout. Sixty-five percent of voters keep calling them and telling them to vote no for things and they keep voting yes." 

Protesters lined the sidewalk next to Fox Hollow and across the street at the entrance to Syosset-Woodbury Community Park. 

The dominant emblems Monday were yellow flags featuring a rattlesnake and the saying "Don't Tread on Me" under it.

A pair of men taking turns holding one flag were talking football when a Syosset Patch reporter approached them. When asked what the flag meant, they struggled to offer an explanation.

Glen Cove's Steve Frese, who was nearby and also had a flag, chimed in.

"Benjamin Franklin said that this should be the [United States] flag," Frese said. "Like a rattlesnake, we just want to be left alone. If you don't you get one warning."

Multiple protestors next to Fox Hollow used megaphones and speakers to get their message out. One woman chanted, "Vote the bums out!" almost constantly for a half-hour. She offered only a "No comment" to a reporter. 

One man chanted, "Throw the trash out!" and used his microphone to chide police officers controlling rubbernecking, saying that their taxes funded Monday's fundraiser.   

He had a two-sided sign that featured the members of Congress dumped in trash cans on one side. The other side featured President Barack Obama in "Joker face." He wanted a picture taken of the Congress members, but kept turning the sign to try to prevent a picture of the president being taken–even as he displayed it to oncoming motorists.

"I don't want to be made out to be a racist," he said. 

Syosset Patch has reached out to assistants for Representatives Israel and Bishop for comment. A spokesperson for Rep. Bishop said he may offer a response Tuesday.