michigandaily.com
Students affiliated with the College Republicans at the University of Michigan are being offered $200 each to travel to an Abdul El-Sayed town hall in Flint Saturday and target the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate with boos and difficult questions intended to generate negative media coverage, messages seem to show.
Engineering senior Iman Dashti made the offer in the U-M College Republicans’ GroupMe general chat Oct. 1 at 8:42 p.m., claiming to be working on behalf of America Next, the conservative political action committee financing the initiative. Dashti invited interested young conservatives to make the hour-long drive to Flint to disrupt El-Sayed’s rally.
“If you don’t know, I asked Abdul a tough question during his last town hall meeting, and it generated a VERY negative news cycle for him,” Dashti wrote. “We are going to coordinate questions to ask him and spread out to increase the chances we’re called on. We’re gonna boo him. We’re gonna show everyone that ABDUL IS NOT WELCOME IN THE SENATE.”
The previous town hall referenced by Dashti was a Sept. 23 event hosted by More Perfect University, a campus affiliate of the progressive news outlet More Perfect Union. At the event, Dashti, who is Persian American, accused El-Sayed of hurting his community by adopting a foreign policy stance Dashti claimed was too lenient against Iran’s government amid the United States and Israel’s current war against the country.
El-Sayed responded by saying he believes foreign intervention and regime change wars advance corporate interests and harm the civilians they purport to serve. He said he felt solidarity with Iranians who wish to see democracy in their country.
The incident quickly became a national media sensation, with conservative outlets like Fox News and the Jerusalem Post providing highly critical coverage of El-Sayed’s response. Dashti has made multiple media appearances following the incident and said he faced online harassment surrounding the incident.
He is now urging other students to cause more disruption as the elections draw closer — this time, with monetary incentive.
“Bring your friends. Bring your girlfriend,” Dashti wrote. “Take her out somewhere nice with the $400 you two will make in literally 2.5 hours. All u have to do to get paid is COME AND SHOW OUT AGAINST ABDUL.”
These actions would not be illegal under the laws of the United States or the state of Michigan; peaceful oppositional behavior and heckling are protected as free speech under the First Amendment, even when paid. However, some conservatives have historically raised concerns regarding alleged paid protesting that supports opposing political causes.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, Cole Wozniak, El-Sayed’s campaign spokesperson, wrote that El-Sayed’s events do not require monetary incentive to attract community members.
“Mike Rogers has to pay $200 per person to get people to show up at an event?” Wozniak wrote. “Yikes. Hundreds of Michiganders show up to every single Abdul town hall for free.”
The Daily could find no evidence that Rogers’ campaign had any direct involvement with the plan to disrupt El-Sayed’s town hall.
Dashti and America Next did not respond to requests for comment.
_Daily Staff Reporter Glenn Hedin can be reached at _heglenn@umich.edu_._
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