President Barack Obama speaks at the Greater Boston Labor Council Labor Day Breakfast, Monday, Sept. 7, 2015, in Boson. Obama will sign an Executive Order requiring federal contractors to offer their employees up to seven days of paid sick leave per year. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The New England PBA (Police Benevolent Association) boycotted President Barack Obama at the Greater Boston Labor Council Labor Day Breakfast on Monday. The Boston Herald reported on the development first, which the White House has thus far refused to respond to in public. However, privately, administration officials are “furious” over the boycott in large part because it overshadowed the president’s Labor Day executive order demanding federal contractors pay sick leave.
“Our members are enraged at his lack of support of law enforcement,” said Jerry Flynn, a Lowell cop on leave while serving as executive director of the New England Police Benevolent Association. “It’s clear that he has an agenda, and unfortunately the police are not part of his agenda.”
Obama has faced stiff criticism for not supporting police in the wake of events in Ferguson, Missouri. Law enforcement officials and other critics point to the 23 cops who have been gunned down in the line of duty in 2015, and blame the rhetoric from the president and other politicians that helped to foment an anti-police sentiment nationwide.
Vice President Joe Biden, who including two NYPD officers sitting in their patrol car earlier this year.
“Let’s face it, (there have been) eight people killed in a nine-day period, eight police officers, and his silence up until recently has been deafening. And the real sad part of this — and when I went to the White House in the first term with (Vice President) Joe Biden — he said to me that he would be the voice of law enforcement. Well, as much as I love and adore Joe, his voice has been silent as well. So it’s not an Obama problem, it’s an administration problem,” Flynn said. “This is a horror show, this is an epidemic of lawless people trying to kill police officers for no apparent reasons. Case in point is the lieutenant who was pumping gas in Houston. Over 7,000 people were at that church, and where was he (Obama)? Why wasn’t he there instead of a unity breakfast?”
Following the murder of Darren Goforth, 47, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Ron Hickman slammed anti-police rhetoric coming out of Black Lives Matter activists and politicians. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark went even further, saying “President Obama has breathed life into this ugly movement.”
According to a recent survey, as well as a number of surveys PPD has tracked over the past year, the vast majority of voters agree with and support Sheriff Hickman and Sheriff Clark, as well as their fellow law enforcement brethren across the nation. A new Rasmussen Reports survey finds that 58% of likely voters think there is a war on police in America today, while 60% believe comments critical of the police by politicians fan the flames and make it more dangerous for police officers to do their jobs.
“I mean, he had the opportunity to do things then and he didn’t, and all he’s done is escalated and allowed these people that are hellbent on causing problems to do so,” Lowell said in reference to the rioting in Ferguson and Baltimore. “We can’t continue to have people who have no intention to do anything but to be disruptive. These aren’t good citizens. These are thugs who go out and try to cause problems. You can’t continue to have this kind of hatred and animosity and the lawlessness that’s going on in this country at the cost of police officers losing their lives. It’s irresponsible of the president and his administration.”
