Protesters take to AIG Wilton office

Wilton (WTNH) - Higher numbers are fueling an even deeper anger among protesters who took their message straight to company executives today in Wilton.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said documents appear to show bonuses paid to AIG executives are more like $218-million; not the $165-million previously announced.

But now Blumenthal wants to know if he can expect that number to climb even higher.

"We want to know, what the final number is. We want that money back," said Blumenthal. "That is taxpayer's money. It never should have been paid. Never should have been permitted by the Congress to be paid."

Outside AIG's Wilton, Connecticut office, a small group of community activists, some unemployed, carried colorful signs with colorful slogans protesting AIG employees who are receiving healthy bonuses after a multi-million dollar government bailout.

The organized event crescendoed in Wilton, but before the passionate chants echoed there, a tour bus carried the small group, who were vastly outnumbered by the media, to two homes of AIG employees in Fairfield County. In front of well manicured lawns and cobble stone driveways, Mary Huguley made a plea to AIG executives to give the money back to the taxpayer.

"You can have the finest home, the finest car, everything. But the Bible says, "Love thy self, love thy neighbor as they self. And, when you see your neighbor don't have anything, and you don't want to share with your neighbor, that's, well, you know," said Mary.

A letter was also put into each mailbox; the same letter out-of-work laborer Mark Dzibuek felt the need to read before an ocean of photographers asking AIG employees to come visit his community, his neighborhood and see what life is like outside a guarded cast-iron fence.

"For those us losing our homes, losing our health care, losing our jobs, our life-savings, that amount of money could do us a tremendous amount of good," said Mark Dzibuek, a protester.

No AIG employee ever ventured out of his home or much less visited the office on this Saturday, but many hope the message was heard loud and clear.

One AIG employee, Douglas Polling of Fairfield, agreed to forfeit his bonus. Meanwhile, speaking of a stimulus package, it seems controversy is good for business.

Security companies say the financial crisis is creating brisk business in everything from bomb-sniffing dogs to bodyguards.