At around noon today, a group of protesters associated with Occupy Sandy arrived at the Women’s National Republican Club on West 51st Street, just in time for a fundraiser ostensibly to benefit the likely presidential campaign of Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).

Bags of garbage slung conspicuously over their backs, clad in yellow and red trash-collectors’ jumpsuits, and joined by survivors of Hurricane Sandy, they demonstrated, pacing back and forth and chanting slogans like “Rand Paul/Come out/We’ve got some trash to talk about.”

The group had gathered in response to remarks Paul recently made about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and federal aid for Hurricane Sandy victims. “They are, ‘Gimme, gimme gimme all my Sandy money,” Paul said of Christie and Representative Peter King (R-NY) at an event last month. “Those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not allowing enough money be left over for national defense.”

ANIMAL asked longtime occupiers Aaron Black and Justin Wedes what they would say to Paul if the senator had come out and spoke to group.

“I would have asked him, ‘Why aren’t you for the people?’,” Black said. “Why are you the corporations stoolie?”

“Sure, he’s not from New York, but his decisions affect what happens here,” he added. “He’s a crook, and that’s why we were there.”
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