My City Council Member Dan Halloran, (R-Whitestone) was spotted at the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zucotti Park according to a report in The New York Observer and it wasn’t exactly a warm welcome.

Outnumbered and outgunned, D.H is the man for sticking to his libertarian beliefs in a very liberal protest. I’m sure it wasn’t easy. At least this is the impression I got from the article.

According to the report,

The best Councilman Halloran could do was invoke Ron Paul and hope there were some Libertarians in the audience… -NY Observer We’re sure that went over really well: Councilman Halloran is lucky to have made it back to the office without being pelted with rotten produce Chicken McNuggets. -NY Observer

The Observer article gave readers the impression that Dan was unwelcome and yelling I don’t believe in anything you people are doing here. We are not exactly sure why the Observer invoked Chicken McNuggets as the reference, Dan has assured me that he was just sticking up for his beliefs in a policy discussion.

Me encanta, Dan.

Dan responds to the Observer:

Dear Editors: Maybe you should try and get the facts straight once in a while. Your commentary in the article, “City Councilmen Break Out In Spontaneous Debate in Liberty Plaza”, that I was “lucky to have made it out without getting pelted” belies the bias sensationalistic reporting you routinely engage in. I spent over three and a half hours at Zuccattti Park, talking with dozens of people individually, without incident. Then I gave three impromptu press scrums and engaged dialogues with people and press, including one that included almost 50 of the young folks there. I had a lively and friendly banter with CM’s Rodriguez and Williams, and we had a good time engaging people. Not only was I warmly received but had a series of constructive dialogues. Maybe you should do a better job of fact checking- or look at the dozen or so YouTube and news reel videos where it even shows *gasp* I got applause and cheers.. Liberty doesn’t require us to agree, simply to debate civilly and discuss the issues as rational human beings. That we did and more- many agreed that corporatism is a looming problem, banking deregulation has caused severe damage to the stability of our nation, that government should not be subsidizing private companies and conglomerates, and the Federal Reserve is fundamentally flawed- even discussing Madison and Jefferson’s debates on a National Bank…. so there, liberty republicans and libertarians found common ground with the angst over Wall Street. I discussed Teddy Roosevelt and Trust/Monopoly busting and the similarity in the modern era created by the big-bank mergers. We also talked about Campaign Finance reform, and voter participation and election involvement as tools to repair some of the damage done in this current disenfranchised age. Next you took a cheap shot at Ron Paul, who at least has the courage of his convictions and isn’t owned by any corporation or union or other special interest. Over 2000 young people came to Webster Hall last week to listen to him – he is reaching out to the future of our Nation. Does that bother you? As a matter of fact there are dozens of libertarians camped out in the occupy wall street movement – NOT that you bother to report that fact. In sum, the left-bias you betray in the framing of your last line in the story shows your are less interested in fostering true discussion and dialogue and instead would rather whip up controversy to perpetuate division and the problem of talking past each other – rather than search for solutions. If no Council Members went there, you’d ask “where were they?” and if a Republican didn’t go you’d say, “see they dont care”…. but a Republican Council member went- one of the first politicians to show up there- so of course, you have to find fault… because, heck, that’s all you can do… Good job! Council Member Dan Halloran (R-Queens)