Over the last 6 months, the Scott Walker administration and the Republicans who control the Wisconsin legislature have attempted to gradually shut Wisconsin citizens out of the state capitol building. It looks like Democratic State Representatives have had enough of the police-state atmosphere.
Peaceful activists have continuously challenged the illegal restrictions, culminating in their arrests for things like quietly sitting in the Assembly gallery and filming the proceedings on hand-held devices or holding small sheets of paper with excerpts of the Wisconsin constitution printed on them.
Wisconsin has a bicameral legislature. The upper house is called the Senate, the lower is called the Assembly. When 14 Democratic State Senators left the state to block Governor Walker's union-busting bill earlier this year, they gave a huge boost to the Capitol protests. The Senators took a huge risk, and they are now properly regarded as heroes In Madison and in their home districts. Now it's time for the Democrats in the Assembly to step up.
Twelve more arrests were made last night. You can see them on the video below. I have shown videos edited by Arthur Kohl-Riggs all week here on Daily Kos. Your promotion of them is helping shine a light on the police state tactics being perpetrated by Walker, so please keep watching, liking, and sharing. People outside the blogosphere who don't usually pay attention are taking notice!
The video Arthur released today is a bit longer than the others, but it's perhaps the best yet. It's not a video that stuns you, but as you watch person after person being handcuffed, you begin to realize how frightening this is in terms of preserving freedom and democracy. The arrests are shown while audio of Democratic Assembly Representatives making reasoned, passionate arguments for allowing peaceful observers to be left alone is played. The Democrats all wore buttons with the same words from the Wisconsin constitution that gallery observers had previously printed on their "illegal" signs.
Most significantly, Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan made a specific threat.
The Wisconsin constitution requires that the doors of the capitol be open to the public whenever the legislature is conducting business. The building usually closes at 6 p.m., but last night's Assembly session lasted until after 10:00. When Rep. Pocan went out to grab a bite to eat and returned shortly after 6, he found that most of the doors had been locked, with no signage directing people to the one open door. Apparently he was even delayed by security staff when he finally found an open door. Here's what he said about it last night (10:40 on the video)...
The fact that this building was in lockdown...I'll tell you one thing Mr. Speaker, just so you know. If in the future after 6 p.m....if the doors are all locked and there's not signage saying what doors are open - that's against the statutes - I'm going to go to caucus, we're going to go to caucus, and we are going to stay in caucus until the doors are opened ... because I'm not going to be told I can't come to my workplace, after 13 years, again.
In other words, no public business will take place in the Assembly unless the public is provided access, as is their right under the Wisconsin constitution. Small threat? Maybe. But just like when the Senators began to follow the lead of the citizenry last February, Assembly representatives are realizing they must get on the right side of history and do something. Peaceful activists are now setting the agenda.
http://youtu.be/...
Three of the activists remain in jail and they might be there until December, for the "crime" of quietly filming their public officials doing the public's business in the most public of places.