It appears so. In fact, at least one disgruntled “federal worker” over at the National World War II Memorial today admitted on camera that he was paid $15 to show up and participate in what appears to be an anti-Republican demonstration. PJ Media caught the exclusive video:
After about an hour, about 20 SEIU protesters arrived on the scene chanting “Boehner, get us back to work” and claiming they were federal employees furloughed because of the shutdown.
In the video ... these protesters were marching towards the press gaggle and I was asking them to show their federal IDs to prove they were in fact federal workers. No one wore their federal ID and none would provide it to prove their claim.
Then, remarkably, a guy carrying a sign passed by wearing a McDonald’s employee shirt, which I noted. I then began asking them how much they had been paid to protest, at which point the guy wearing the McDonald’s shirt came back and admitted he had been paid $15 to attend the protest.
About a minute later a SEIU organizer ran up to me telling me that the man in question is a contractor working at the McDonald’s in a Smithsonian Museum— a claim she made no effort to prove. The same story was told to Jake Tapper at CNN who was on the scene and made the same inquiry.
And yet that doesn’t explain why he was paid $15 to attend a protest targeting our nation’s honored military veterans.
Incredible. So, here we have 20 or so protestors claiming to be furloughed federal workers, none of whom (a) could prove who they were or (b) had any federal identification cards to back up their claims. Interesting. Add to the mix a man who freely admitted he was paid to be there. I mean, one cannot help but question the veracity of the SEIU coordinator's story, right? Notice, too, that those in attendance were not even protesting “Congress” or “Washington politics” or “business as usual” either; they were explicitly protesting House Speaker John Boehner. That’s mighty curious, wouldn’t you say? I think so.