By:Shana Ortman
Stop One: Greenwich, CT. Our first stop was to the ESL investments office, where Edward Lampert and William Crowley work. We were let right in to the outer office by a very friendly gentlemen. We told him our business there, and asked if we could give our ad and packages to Mr. Lampert and Mr. Crowley. He said that we’d probably be able to speak with an assistant, and took the package for Mr. Lampert to her. She almost came out, but saw our camera and got a little shy. They went behind a cubicle and talked for about 5 minutes, and then the gentleman came back out. He informed us that they generally don’t take unexpected visitors without appointments, and he unfortunately couldn’t bend the rules for us. But he took the package for Crowley and said that he would pass them along. We chatted for another minute, shook hands, and left. Meanwhile a small crew was outside passing out fliers and talking with some of the locals.
Stop Two: 767 5th Ave, NYC, GM building where Richard Perry’s office is. We had to check in with the front desk of this skyscraper. The security guard was reluctant to even call up to the office, since we weren’t in the computer system – but he eventually called up to the receptionist at Perry Capital, who told the security guard that we couldn’t come up. Meanwhile our crew outside (3 people) were surrounded by 7 security guards in the public plaza in front of the building. We asked to speak with a head of security to find out why we couldn’t flier on the plaza. We spoke with the head of security for a minute, who asked us not to show signs or flier in the Plaza (however, we were on the sidewalk by that point), which was just fine because we had to move on to the next delivery.
Stop Three (arguably the most interesting and powerful of the stops): 623 5th Ave, Cohen Building where Steven Mnuchin’s office is. We signed in at the front desk and went up to the 30th floor, and went into the Dune Capital Management office. After a minute someone came up to help us, and we told him we were here to give something to Mr. Mnuchin, so he said he would get an assistant, Lisa. We were in the outer offices of Dune Capitol, where most of the office could see us from their desks or when they went to the bathroom. Within the next 5-10 minutes another person asked to help us, and she also went to get Lisa. A few minutes later, we were invited to sit down to wait for Lisa, but before we could sit, we were asked by someone else to wait outside at the elevators. When we got outside, the head of security and a guard met us and asked us to come with him. So I said “oh, well we’re actually waiting to speak with someone” -- he said, “oh really?” And just then Lisa came out, I handed her the package and told her what it was about, and she gave the package back to me and she and the head of security went out of site and earshot to discuss the situation. The head of security came back and escorted us out of the building. We told him all about the campaign, and he wished us goodluck, but said that we couldn’t come in without an appointment and that they can’t accept packages. We’re confident that we were the talk of the office for the rest of the day and that Lisa has probably been in touch with some of the other board member’s assistants by now.