10 to15,000 rally across Florida. A staunch conservative joins them.

madfloridian

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Thu Mar-10-11 12:55 AM
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10 to15,000 rally across Florida. A staunch conservative joins them.

Hat tip to the Florida Politics blog for this number. It's a good number for our state, that 10 to 15,000. It's notoriously hard to be activists here.

I was surprised to see a picture of hundreds of protesters in a very conservative city. It was heartwarming.

Pic Courtesy of The Ledger

So good for them.

Also I was rather surprised to see this article at an often right wing news source here.

Pro-union demonstrations swamp tea partiers in rallies across Florida

An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 "Awake the State" demonstrators turned out in 30 cities across Florida on Tuesday to protest Gov. Rick Scott's budget plans. In Fort Lauderdale, more than 1,000 protesters virtually encircled the federal courthouse downtown -- swamping a smaller gathering of tea party activists who were rallying in support of Scott.

"We were inundated," said Danita Kilcullen, a leader of Tea Party Fort Lauderdale. Kilcullen said some of her group's signs were "snatched" when the "Awake the State" crowd spilled over.

Though mounted police were present, Kilcullen said, "There were not enough." No injuries were reported. Franco Ripple, an "Awake the State" organizer at the event, called it a "pretty vocal crowd," with lots of sign-waving and horn-honking by passing motorists.

I love the way the tea party named their protests "Save the State", to contrast with the unions and public workers "Awake the State."

Scott Maxwell at the Orlando Sentinel has a good article up about the rallies. He tells about a conservative teacher who takes part in the protests.

People of all stripes unite, oppose cuts to kids, the vulnerable

Jenny Wojcik is hardly the kind of person you'd expect to find protesting a Republican governor and legislature. She's a staunch conservative who likes poking holes in her liberal friends' arguments.

And yet on Tuesday evening, this proud Republican stood amid a sea of placard-waving protestors who were decrying Gov. Rick Scott's plans to cut funding for everything from schools and veterans to the sick and disabled.

"I had to speak up," said the 38-year-old elementary school teacher.

"With every other round of cuts in this state, I just thought I would close my door, keep my head down and do my job. Well, I can't just do my job anymore. That's the problem.

"They have cut so much of education already — the music, arts, sports. I love what I do and can't imagine doing anything different. But what we are giving them now is not the best anymore. It's just not OK anymore."

There is also another interesting article from the Tampa Tribune about another group of activists.

Lawmakers look to eliminate unions' power, ability to raise money

TBO picture: Florida workers take part in a silent protest at a Senate committee hearing considering bill 830.

TALLAHASSEE - Nearly two hours after workers, students and activists lined up outside a Capitol hearing room with their mouths symbolically taped shut, state lawmakers took up the first of several Republican-sponsored bills aimed at neutering Florida public employee unions.

The three dozen demonstrators outside the meeting of the Senate Community Affairs Committee said the tape represented the potential silencing of workers in the political system under Senate Bill 830. But both opponents and supporters of the measure were silenced on Monday when the committee briefly introduced the bill and abruptly adjourned without testimony or a vote, citing time constraints.

Senate Bill 830 would prohibit the common practice of deducting union dues from public employee's paychecks. The bill would also prohibit the use of those dues for political activity.

Union members "will lose their voice to the legislative process if this bill passes," said Jayne Walker, a supervisor with the Lynx bus system in Orlando and an official of the Amalgamated Transit Workers there.

I was saddened today to learn that the WH had warned the DNC and OFA to stay out of organizing protests over the budget cuts. I think perhaps the time for such "caution" may be over. OFA is the activist wing, how are you going to keep them under the thumb of the WH when the country is under such drastic attacks on workers?

There comes a time when being timid to avoid offending the other side just quits working, and that is the time to take a firm strong non-apologetic stand. I believe now is that time because so many of us who are/were public employees feel like we are fighting the battle mostly alone with no party really firmly standing behind us.