Groups plan Chuck Fleischmann protest in Chattanooga

Friday, January 1, 1904

photo Chattanooga Organized for Action has used this poster to promote today's protest against U.S. Rep Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn.
Arkansas-Tennessee Live Blog

U.S. Rep. Charles J. Fleischmann might regret his nickname today.

Two nonprofit organizations are staging "The Trial of Chucky," playing off the legendary "Child's Play" movie villain of the same name and "charging" the Republican congressman with "murdering jobs, impersonating the working class and endangering the economy."

Demonstrators from Chattanooga Organized for Action and the Service Employees International Union said they'll gather this morning outside the Chattanooga Convention Center, where Fleischmann is expected to attend the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce annual meeting featuring a speech by Gov. Bill Haslam.

A poster promoting the event shows a Photoshopped, red-wigged, "Chucky"-styled Fleischmann wielding a giant pair of scissors over a crank-and-spring apparatus entitled "TN JOBS."

Jordan Powell, the congressman's press secretary, said his boss "knows that this comes with the job."

"It is hard to think of an elected official that has not been protested at some point," Powell said.

Chris Brooks, executive director of Chattanooga Organized for Action, the advocacy group behind the effort to recall Mayor Ron Littlefield, said the "Chucky" poster represents a counterweight to Fleischmann's "Chuck On The Job" initiative.

Fleischmann has pumped gas, worked a hotel desk and pressure-washed a bridge in an effort to "hear what issues are most affecting" small business owners, the congressman has said.

"Chuck Fleischmann has gone around Tennessee and choreographed photo opportunities trying to endear himself to a public image that we don't think matches his voting record," Brooks said.

Update: Find coverage of the protest here.