Scott Walker's Crackdown on Free Speech Backfires

[Scuba]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-gibson/scott-walkers-crackdown_b_3684908.html

I was one of 30 arrested on Tuesday, July 30, the 4th day of mass arrests at the Solidarity Singalong at the Wisconsin State Capitol. According to exhibit 11 of the Kissick vs. Huebsch lawsuit filed by the ACLU, over 90 percent of arrests ordered by Chief David Erwin in the year he's been in charge of the capitol PD have been thrown out in court.

The arrest count is now over 100 since capitol police first started arresting singers on Wednesday, July 24. The SSA is a tradition that came about as part of the 2011 uprising, where Wisconsinites peacefully sing songs of resistance and freedom in the capitol rotunda every weekday for an hour. Whenever a group obtains a permit for the rotunda during that time, the singalong moves outside out of respect for the permitted event, as they did for a Tea Party group calling themselves the "We Got a Permit Singers" on July 29.

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What's most important to know is that the capitol police are not required to enforce the new permitting laws; they're actively choosing to arrest singers and give them citations of $200.50. Capitol police are even threatening passive spectators with arrest. My citation says "no permit" as to why I was arrested. But since not having a permit isn't technically an arrestable offense, the official explanation is an "unlawful assembly." But the specific statute in Wisconsin law only deems an assembly to be unlawful if the assembly is blocking exits or otherwise endangering the safety of those inside. The solidarity singalong makes it a point to keep all pathways into the rotunda open, reminding spectators between songs that the capitol is the people's house, and all are welcome to it.


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But the real reason for Walker suddenly ordering his palace guard to arrest political dissidents could be that he's back in hot water with the release of new John Doe documents. The newly-released emails are from the 2010 Walker campaign, showing that the Milwaukee County executive was actively having his staff take on campaigning duties while working on county time. The emails in question are in regards to the death of a 15-year-old boy after a loose concrete slab in a Milwaukee parking garage fell on his head in the summer of 2010, in the peak of the election season. Five of Walker's former aides have been convicted in the scandal, but so far, Walker himself has remained unscathed. However, it would be easy to interpret this latest move against protesters as a distraction from something that could criminally implicate Gov. Walker.

Correction to the article: I have it on good authority that the fines are $701.00 for "trespassing", which I'm sure Governer (sic) Walker finds more intimidating than $200.50.

More ...

http://m.wkow.com/w/main/story/96926726/

Capitol arrests resume; Sheriff's remarks question enforcement

MADISON (WKOW) -- Arrests of capitol protesters resumed Thursday, as remarks in radio interviews by Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney appeared to question the state capitol police's enforcement approach.

The Associated Press reported twenty-three people were cited for failing to obtain a required permit, and another person received a citation for obstructing justice. A 27 News reporter and photographer observed more than ten people being handcuffed and led away from the capitol rotunda to be cited. Spokespersons for the department of administration have yet to respond to multiple phone calls from 27 News seeking comment.

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Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney Thursday refused to retract remarks made Monday during a radio interview on his apparent condoning of the protest singing in great numbers, despite a federal judge's ruling only assemblies of twenty people or less could be staged without a permit. "I'm here to join alongside the Solidarity Singers. This is an example of freedom of speech," Mahoney told Workers Independent News (WIN) Monday.

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On WIBA, Mahoney was also asked whether he was sanctioning civil disobedience. "I never advise anybody to break the law," Mahoney said.

That's because exercising one's 1st Amendment Rights isn't breaking the law!!!

[midnight]

1. If exercising ones first amendment right is considered disruptive, then the law can and will arrest

people and charge them for disorderly conduct.... Oddly enough this sheriff doesn't think singing in groups of twenty or more disruptive.... I wonder when this first amendment issue will be able to be given the teeth it needs....