Bill is a real big boy

After everything every political pundit in the state wrote about how what a stand up guy Bill Cassidy is for doing the bare minimum work of listening to the public at public forums, it's pretty funny that he's hiding from constituents behind a building manager and some JP deputies today.

METAIRIE, La. —

Three people were arrested Thursday morning while protesting in the building which houses U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy's office in Metairie, officials said.

Hailey Saucier, 26, Mark Darensbourg, 33, and Laura Welter, 29, were arrested on charges related to violating a state statue for "remaining after forbidden."

For some reason a stupid office park's private property concerns take precedence over constituents wanting to talk to their Senator about health care. 

JPSO deputies booked them for criminal trespassing for "remaining in place after being forbidden," a misdemeanor that can carry up to six months in jail and a maximum fine of $500.

Moments before JPSO prepared to put her in plastic hand ties, Saucier explained she suffers from a polysaccharide immune deficiency, which she calls an "extremely rare, extremely complicated and extremely expensive" condition previously covered through her father's insurance under ACA rules expanding coverage to children up to age 26. She now is covered through Medicaid under Aetna, which Saucier says will likely drop her from coverage because of costly treatment. Saucier says treatment without insurance tops $40,000 a month.

"I don't want to get arrested — I want to be able to live with dignity," she said. "I'm not doing this for fun ... I wouldn't be putting myself in this position if it wasn't life or death ... I'm acting out of desperation and trying to stay alive."

Update: If you get picked up by JPSO for "remaining after forbidden," you end up having to pay $500 plus in bail money. That's after they leave you sitting in jail for nine to ten hours. I'd say this is typical of how millions of Americans interface with the criminal justice system, but in most cases, it's actually more violent than that.