Because we were the only ones who attended this event in garb (even though we told people to show up dressed appropriately!), we got airtime on the WHO-TV13 10 o'clock news and Willa got her photo in Cityview by answering "Which of your vices would you never give up?" But those are articles for another newsletter...

THE PUBLIC FLOGGING OF AN IOWA STATE REPRESENTATIVE
by Willa, ATF Staff Writer

We arrived on the scene just a bit late (mostly because we saw NO ONE ELSE in garb and we weren't sure if we had the guts to be so brave as to be the only ones dressed in normal clothing when everyone else looked so silly). As we walked up to Nollen Plaza in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, we heard the very distinct crack of Sauboo's whip. Immediately, Willa's knees went weak and her four year old son got visibly more excited to see his favourite faire character while her three year old son became one with Willa's skirts in hopes of not bringing attention to himself and therefore having to talk to Sauboo. John-Paul took out his camera and disappeared into the crowd.

CRACK! Another whip lashing and we were suddenly close enough to see that Representative Ed Fallon was firmly encased in the stocks, the back of his shirt ripped dramatically while Sauboo shouted into the crowd to hear more reasons as to why this Democrat was voted "Politician you'd most like to flog" by Cityview.

The crowd that was worked up into as much of a frenzy as they could have been on that day were then confronted by the newly-released politician who then descended upon the masses with baskets for donations. Portions were to be given to the Democratic party and the rest would be used on Rep. Fallon's next campaign. It was then that I found out that his shirt had been ripped previous to the flogging, along with that nicely dramatic red slash of paint just under the rip. Extra points for that!

However, the next step wasn't faked. Rep. Fallon was once again put into the stocks and a hefty piece of duct tape (every Rennie's friend) was placed directly below his belt. Then the real fun began...tomatoes were handed out to the crowd.

First in line to toss the ripened fruit (veggie?) was Rep. Fallon's own wife. Seems that she's still upset about Fallon having voted Nader last year for president (she voted for Gore), and she let him have it! I do believe that just about everyone (including the cute little old ladies present) flung tomatoes at the state representative until he was covered from head to toe in tomato goo.

Afterwards, we did get to have a little chat with Fallon, wherein we expressed our joy in the fact that there is, indeed, a politician out there who still has a sense of humour...and we let him know that he had just gained at least two new supporters.

Huzzah, indeed!