Posted on 10/13/2011 3:00:25 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
DENVER — Southern Colorado lawmaker Wes McKinley has taken up temporary residence with Occupy Denver protesters in a tent city across the street from the Colorado State Capitol.
McKinley, D-Cokedale, served as a conduit on Wednesday to deliver a letter from protesters to Gov. John Hickenlooper.
“Sometimes that’s our role as legislators,” McKinley said. “We’re more familiar with the Capitol and how it works. Sometimes it just helps to have that pipeline to get your message through.”
Occupy Denver is one of many spin-offs nationally from the Occupy Wall Street movement that began last month in New York City to protest corporate influence in federal government.
McKinley pitched his tepee Monday afternoon. It looms conspicuously taller than most of the two-dozen or so dome-style tents that dot Veterans Memorial, just across Broadway Avenue from the Capitol.
McKinley said he sympathizes with the protesters. Even family farms and ranches feel the pinch of monopolies and marvel at a corporate culture that seems to have inverted priorities, he said.
“Look at the big profits of the CEOs, multimillion-dollar salaries and bonuses while workers are getting laid off,” McKinley said. “On the ranch, when things start looking down or the economy gets bad, it’s the boss that takes the first hit. The workers get paid and the owners struggle to get by on less and work a little bit harder.”
But more than the message behind the protest, McKinley said he was inspired to set up camp at the tent city by the protesters who abandoned apathy to speak their minds.
“It’s not the movement as much as the movement of the people that I support,” he said. “It’s so nice to see people getting involved in their government.”
A handful of protesters joined McKinley to present their letter to Hickenlooper’s deputy Chief of Staff Kevin Patterson.
“Our tents are a symbol,” the letter read. “We are here to draw attention to the injustice of corporate sovereignty over modern life.”
The letter asks Hickenlooper to respect protesters’ “constitutional right to peaceable assembly” by allowing them to remain in the park. It asks the governor to communicate with protesters about how they can satisfy any concerns about safety or health at the park, and invites Hickenlooper to attend any of the twice-daily general assemblies of protesters in the park.
Patterson accepted the letter and said the governor’s office had no immediate comment.
“I hope the governor comes down and says, ‘Let’s visit, folks,’ ” McKinley said.
Later Wednesday, Megan Castle, the deputy spokeswoman for Hickenlooper, issued a two-sentence joint statement on behalf of the governor and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock: "The Occupy Denver protesters are on State property.
"The State and City are working together to find a solution that balances Occupy Denver’s First Amendment rights with growing concerns around public safety and public health in violation of city ordinance and state law."
As for McKinley, he is set to return home to Cokedale, where he recently moved from Walsh in anticipation of his campaign for a seat on the Las Animas County Board of Commissioners after he is term-limited in the Colorado House of Representatives next year. He is leaving his tepee behind to be rented at a cost of 50 cents by another protester.
Protesters welcomed McKinley into their camp.
“I don’t know his politics, but I like him,” said Tim Holland, who has taken on an organizational role at the Occupy Denver protest. “Wes set up the meeting (with the governor’s staff). It’s important to get the meeting because (Hickenlooper) controls the grounds. He decides whether he enforces the laws or waives prosecution of us.”
The Colorado State Patrol has taken a hands-off approach at the park, which is under state jurisdiction. Many protesters at the encampment have said even inclement weather won’t chase them away, and they plan to stay indefinitely.
“This can’t last forever,” McKinley said.
When they go, McKinley said he hopes protesters take certain messages from the tent city with them.
“They are Americans, Coloradans; they are ‘We the people,’ ” he said. “We did something about it, and it will continue on.”
>> protesters who abandoned apathy to speak their minds
Hey, let ‘em “speak their minds”. How long could *that* possibly take? You could run ‘em through about a million per hour, speaking their miniscule minds.
Then they could get right back to their apathy.
I think I saw a photo of him crapping on a cop car.
well the libtard mayor and governor said they have to clear out by 2300 and can’t camp overnight. we’ll see. if these were tea party patriots, our brave governor would have thrown them out the first day. bastard.
10 years ago i would have sent in troops nbut now i don’t trust the FFFG (F’ing Fascist Federal Gov’t) any more than i trust establishment republicans or the libtard protestors.
btw i am an amateur military historian (currently studying the sino-japanese war of 1894-95 and russo-japanese war 1904-05) and i have flipped 180 and think ythe south was correct to fight against a suppressive federal government.
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