Posted on 03/03/2011 6:36:49 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
A judge weighing whether state officials overstepped their bounds by restricting protesters' access to the state Capitol nearly ordered all the demonstrators out on moments' notice Wednesday evening before state and union attorneys talked him out of it.
Dane County Circuit Judge John Albert has been listening to two days of testimony on whether he should make a temporary court order ensuring full public access to the building permanent. He is expected to rule on the matter Thursday.
He told the packed courtroom shortly after 6 p.m. that he wanted to test the state Department of Administration's contention that building access would return to normal quickly if the protesters who have spent the last two weeks sleeping overnight in the rotunda left. He presented a draft order that would have forced anyone who was still in the Capitol after its regular 6 p.m. closing time to be out by 8 p.m. and said he planned to have DOA officials hand one to each protester.
"It's worth a try," a weary-sounding Albert said as he massaged his temples. "They should be out of the Capitol because it's closed to business."
The order would have given the 100 or so protesters still camping out in the Capitol only minutes' notice and potentially set up confrontations with the multiple police agencies that have been guarding the building.
Assistant Attorney General Steven Means, who is representing the DOA, urged Albert not to do it. He said the order wouldn't be fair because the protesters didn't get a chance to be heard. Union attorney Peg Lautenschlager pointed out that the protesters may not take the order seriously because she contends the DOA has ignored the temporary court order to fully open the building.
"If you do the order, I don't know how people in the building will react," she said.
Albert reluctantly relented and decided to resume the hearing Thursday afternoon.
The protesters are among tens of thousands of others who demonstrated in and around the Capitol for two weeks against Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to strip most public workers of nearly all their collective bargaining rights. They've had free run of most of the building and the grounds for days, staging massive rallies, pounding bongo drums and spending the nights on the Capitol's floor on air mattresses and in sleeping bags. They even set up their own makeshift day care center in the building's north wing.
The DOA announced Friday that everyone had to be out by 4 p.m. Sunday so crews could finally clean the building. Agency Secretary Mike Huebsch testified Wednesday that protesters jammed the Capitol at 4 p.m. that day hoping to get arrested, going so far as to write their attorneys' phone numbers in marker on their arms.
Huebsch said he decided not to have police remove the protesters by force because he wanted to avoid confrontations between protesters and police.
[snip]
"Normal people don't sit cross-legged on the floor and bang on drums," he said in court. "It's an uncivil situation."
Huebsch said he believes access could return to normal quickly if the overnight campers would leave.
"These restrictions are meant to be short-term," he said.
Curtailing the demonstrations is the last thing Democrats and unions want. The protests have been one of their most effective weapons against the bill, helping them drawing national attention to the debate.
Three unions won a temporary court order Tuesday to keep the Capitol completely open during normal business hours. The DOA didn't change its policies, however. Agency officials said they believe the building is open.
As to picture number 1, I doubt anyone has voluntarily screwed that before ;)
As for the overall display of ‘loving’ educators depicted in these photographs, please stop telling me that government run schools are a good idea. It’s a fricking joke, and we all know it. All the good people of FR complain about gov’t run health care, but there are those who bitterly cling to defending gov’t education. You can’t have it both ways, people!
What happened to protesting on the sidewalk?
"The Nation: In Wisconsin, It Isn't About The Money"
As the saying goes, "When they say it isn't about the money, you better believe it's about the money." And to them, the money (our taxed money going into their pockets) pays for their political power.
I’m with you.
The protestors certainly did draw national attention to the situation in Wisconsin-—along with similar problems in most other states.
They have proven themselves to be unworthy of the educations they get at the UW & unworthy of the jobs they MIGHT have in Madison-aka Moscow on Monona.
They have3 made their point. Now they need to show a Little bit of adult behavior & let the state continue with it’s business.
Delays in getting debt re-structured is going to cost the state far more than anyone realizes among those who are unwashed & sleeping on air mattresses.
Too bad they didn’t turn the heat down to about 40.
Ya think?!
I think the fastest and simplest way to clear them out “””
set off a couple of smoke bombs & pull all the fire alarms.
Watch them scatter.
Put the protestors in the offices of the 14 Dem Senators who are AWOL.
After all, they are empty and not being used.
Is it me, or does that sound like a thinly veiled threat?
What a stupid name "Department of Administration" is, even without considering the abbreviation.
Thinly-veiled threats of violence from a Union attorney should not govern judicial decisions.
They really do want a confrontation so that they can get more media coverage — slanted in their favor as v-i-c-t-i-m-s by the willing state media.
http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/02/nurses-on-the-road-to-madison
Helen Redmond, a social worker in Chicago, describes the “festival of fighters” she encountered on a trip to Madison, Wis., with a delegation from National Nurses United.
When asked about the solution to the health care crisis, Mona Cetner, an RN on the inpatient general medicine unit at U of C, said without hesitation, “Single-payer. Health care is a right, not a privilege. Our health care is shameful. We should hang our heads in shame. Medicine shouldn’t be for profit. It’s corporate greed.”
......Once in the rotunda, the crowd erupted as the nurses, signs held high, marched in and stood behind the drummers in a semi-circle. Reasheal addressed the crowd and said, “Health care is a human right. We are here from Chicago to support your struggle.” A massive cheer went up. There were dozens of signs in the crowd that spoke to the health care crisis including one that asserted, “Mental health care is a human right.”
Then the firefighters marched into the crowd and through the rotunda in full gear, the piercing red and white lights of their battered, black helmets turned on. They high-fived the nurses. The next group of workers was a huge contingent of sheet metal workers. Who knew there were so many sheetmetal workers and what do they do?
Jimmy Hoffa Jr. of the Teamsters showed up, addressed the crowd and invoked the labor slogan, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” After he left, the woman chairing the ongoing mass meeting in the rotunda held up two fingers that signified for the chanting to stop and for people to listen.
Everyone complied. She stood on a plastic milk crate, took the microphone and read out solidarity greetings from Egypt. When she finished the room exploded into whooping and clapping. A new chant began, “We are one, we are one,” and then morphed into, “One, One, One,” over and over again.
But the chant heard consistently throughout the day was “This is what democracy looks like.” ...............
They need to fine each person $1000 per day they are in the building illegally, along with a subpoena to appear in court the following day. Mommy and daddy aren’t going to be happy spending thousands keeping their darlings out of jail.
They need to fine each person $1000 per day they are in the building illegally, along with a summons to appear in court the following day. Mommy and daddy aren’t going to be happy spending thousands keeping their darlings out of jail.
March 3, 2011: National Nurses United: Jazz Funeral March, Rally Thursday as Protests Step Up Against Walker’s Budget, Attacks on Wisconsin Workers
MADISON, Wis., March 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — A broad coalition of public and private union members and community supporters will take the next step in the battle against Gov. Walker’s cuts on working families and students Thursday with a New Orleans-style jazz funeral procession, rally, and press conference in Madison.
What:
Jazz Funeral Procession, Rally, Press Conference
When:
Thursday, March 3
Where:
Procession Begins, 5 p.m., from the Library Mall to the Capitol
Rally, Press Conference, 5:30 p.m., State Street Side, Capitol
The jazz funeral procession, which will go from the Library Mall up State Street to the Capitol, will symbolize the draconian proposals by Gov. Walker, the effects on working people, education, and safety net programs in Wisconsin, and efforts to blame workers and unions for a crisis created by Wall Street and handouts to big corporations.
Gov. Walker continued that effort with his latest budget proposal, which offers tens of millions in new tax breaks for big corporations, on top of Walker’s $117 million handout to corporations in January, while shredding education and social programs, and continuing his assault on collective bargaining rights.
Speakers at the press conference are expected to say it is time to end the concessions, make Wisconsin corporations pay their fair share, and stop balancing the budget on the backs of Wisconsin working families, students and the poor.
Event endorsers will include Madison Teachers Incorporated, National Nurses United, the Kill the Bill Coalition, and leaders and members of the South Central Federation of Labor, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, American Federation of Teachers, the Building Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin, Sheet Metal Workers, Teamsters, Dane County Courthouse Employees, SEIU 1199WI, IBEW, and others.
“It is time for Wisconsin legislators and officials in other states to stop trying to balance budgets on the backs of working families and the poor, and fix fiscal problems by requiring corporations to pay their fair share in taxes,” said Jean Ross, RN, co-president of the 160,000-member National Nurses United.
SOURCE National Nurses United
If a conservative group pulled this (of course they never do and they always leave a place cleaner than they found it) they would have been pushed out and the media would have said it was the right thing to do because they were (fill in the blank).
(....then a lot of these students go home to their respective states and vote again, oh, yeah).
Anyway,Governor Walker and his doughty band certainly won't get any breaks (or justice) from Judge Albert.
Leni
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