Who is the man in the white dress shirt?
That’s the question many people are asking in Columbus, Ohio, in the wake of a health care rally that turned ugly last week when a tea-partier harassed a man with Parkinson’s, throwing dollar bills at him and screaming in his face about “handouts.”
The scene, filmed by the Columbus Dispatch outside the offices of Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), went viral, and one of the men at the center of it — Bob Letcher, the pro-health reform rallier with Parkinson’s — has spoken out.
The tea partier who berated Letcher was dressed in a white shirt and tie, had a cell phone clipped to his belt, and an “I Am AFP!” sign under his arm. AFP stands for Americans for Prosperity, the Washington, DC-based group that organized the event outside Kilroy’s office, as well as many of the famous anti-health bill rallies last August.
AFP Ohio State Director Rebecca Heimlich told the Dispatch that she knows neither the man in the white shirt, nor another protester who yelled at Letcher.
In an email exchange with TPM, Heimlich did not answer a question about whether AFP is looking into who the men are. But she said:
“I have seen the video and found the man’s behavior completely inappropriate. Americans for Prosperity certainly does not encourage or condone harassing behavior. Our goal is to send a message to Rep. Kilroy that we oppose this health care takeover bill. We always encourage our members to be considerate of others in their demonstrations.”
Representatives of Kilroy’s office, as well as ProgressOhio, which organized the pro-health care rally that day, tell TPM they don’t know the identities of the man in the white shirt.
Hundreds of people reportedly attended the dueling events, according to the Dispatch.
Here’s the video of the scene:
Late Update: In response to our question, Heimlich emails to say that AFP has not tried to identify the man.
