Tea Partiers and Unions Face Off in Madison

Tea Partiers who headed to Madison to back Gov. Scott Walker quickly found themselves outnumbered by pro-union protesters.

FrumForum Madison correspondent "Anaea Lay" sends the following dispatches from the front lines of the union protests in Madison. The dispatches were compiled over emails received on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

Friday:

I got to the protests around 9:30pm.  Wound up jogging up State Street from Five Guys to the Capitol because there were rumors that if more people didn't sign up to testify, they were going to close the Capitol.  When we got there they were saying that no, they didn't want more people to sign up to testify.  Either they already had enough signed up to get us through the night, they wanted the testimony to end so reps could go home and talk to constituents, or something else entirely was going on which didn't hit the rumor mill.  I don't know what the straight story was, but as of 2am, the capitol wasn't closed and people were setting up camp.

The ground floor of the rotunda was full of the "core protest" by which I mean the guy with the megaphone (ho was impossible to understand from anywhere other than right near him) along with people on drums, the majority of the people chanting, and a periodic chain of conga-style protesters.

The rotunda is ringed by balconies up to the third floor (there's a ground floor, and then the first floor).  Signs were hanging from just about all of the balconies, but most of the people who weren't hanging out with the main protests congregated around the balconies on the first and second floors.  Sleeping bags started showing up around 11pm.  The noisemaking wrapped up a bit after midnight and people got serious about spreading their sleeping bags.

We set up on the East wing of the 3rd floor.  There were many utterances of "You blocked my train, like Scott Walker!"

Here were also some select slogans on signs at the rally:

(Picture of Han Solo on left side) "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Use your tow cables to defeat the Walker"

(Guy wearing skirt and sash made of plastic beads...and nothing else) "Scott Walker looks even more ridiculous than me."

(Hard Core Goth Guy) "Stop Walker's attacks on Wisconsin families."

(Leaning against the wall by a sleeping bag camp site) "Future Teacher, UW student, former Union Employee:  I'm a triple threat"

(On a banner suspended between two Thomas the Tank Engine balloons, later augmented by a cluster of star-shaped balloons printed with American flag patterns) "High Speed Fail.  Recall Walker, petition starts November 4th 2011."

"Welcome to Tahrir Square"

On the way out of the capitol, three guys were walking up the steps with an orange sign and chanting the words on its header: "No Parking". It was 2am and people still had a sense of humor.

Saturday:

I got to the protest just a little before noon.  All but one of the entrances to the Capitol were closed, and the line to get in through the open one went all the way to the street.  People weren't tramping on the grass, but every paved surface had people.

Since the Tea Party rally was supposed to start then, I was looking for it.  Walking up the East side of the Capitol, I saw one guy carrying a counter-protest/pro-bill/Tea Party sign.  He was walking clockwise around the Capitol while everybody else was walking counter--clockwise.  (Traffic is one-way counter-clockwise around the Capitol.  Foot traffic follows the same pattern when the square is closed off for the farmer's market.  Marching clockwise is unnatural, and a sign that he wasn't from "around here.")

While looking for the Tea Party protest, many people were chanting "Tell me what Democracy Looks Like: This is what Democracy looks like," and "1, 2, 3, 4 send Scott Walker out the door."

The Tea Party rally was set up on the southwest corner of the square.  There were some Tea Party folk mixing in with the pro-union crowd marching along the street.  For the most part, the rally was contained to the paved area leading up to the Capitol entrance, with a few of them hanging out on the square's inner sidewalk.  The wittiest sign I spotted read, "Wash Your Hands."  There were a lot of generic "Scott Walker for Governor" signs along with poster-board and sharpie "Scott Walker for President" signs.  There were also many which read "Sorry we're late, Scott.  We had to work."

There was a guy with a pro-Tea Party sign (this guy, I think) who kept surging from the sidelines toward the people marching.  A friend of mine chatted to him while I was distracted with picture taking.

Friend: Hi, I'm from Madison.  What state are you from?

Guy: I'm from Waukesha county. (Southern Wisconsin)

I worked my way around to the Northern side of the protest where there was a guy with one of the "Sorry I'm late," signs. I had a brief conversation with him:

Me: Hi, can I ask you a couple questions?

Guy: Sure, I guess.

Me: Where are you from?

Guy: Whitewater.

Me: What do you do?

Guy: I'm a plumber.

Me: How much do you normally work in a week?

Guy: Well, 50-55 hours I guess.

Me: And do you normally work on weekends.

Guy: Some.  I took the day off to come here today.

Me: Do you know why there are weekends where you can find the time to come out and protest.

Guy: I suppose you're going to tell me something about unions in the 20s and 30s?

Me: It is a matter of historical record.

Guy's daughter (?): Yeah, because you had anything to do with that.  You look good for your age.

The first genuinely surprising thing the whole day was the presence of "Cops Support Unions" signs.  Everybody has been giddy about the firefighters coming out to support the protests, but considered it a given that the police would not.  I wouldn't say they were out in force today, but there was a significant and noticeable presence.

The cabbie union was demonstrating, too.  They had several cabs driving around the outer square and honking.  They were driving at the speed limit and otherwise meticulously obeyed traffic laws.

I then waited in the line to get back inside the Capitol again.  They weren't allowing signs with sticks, so there were trash cans outside to deposit and retrieve signs.  It was a long line; the police were only letting people in as others were leaving.

Inside was a lot like outside.  I didn't see a single counter-protester in there.  I went around the square three or four times, and spotted a counter-protester in the line to go into the Capitol just once.  Everything on the inside was a lot like last night, except with more people, a few new signs, no sleeping bags and no balloons.

Today, the group on the ground floor of the rotunda included a stilt walker dressed up as the Statue of Liberty.  On the first floor there was a second megaphone which people were taking turns using to testify.  At one point a high schooler took it and shouted, "Can we take a moment to recognize that this is awesome?  Look at this!"  There was lots of cheering in response.  Later, a nurse on the ground-floor megaphone was calling for people to support healthcare workers.

The Tea Party rally had deflated by 3pm.  There were still people there, but not nearly as many as there had been.  The anti-bill side still had more events scheduled for the day.

On the northwest corner of the square there were people running out from a tent set-up on the outer sidewalk.  They were telling people they had doctors ready to sign permission slips for anybody who needed them to get out of work.  I wonder if protest fever is going to be part of the ICD-10?

(Here is a video of the doctors handing out permission slips, courtesy of Ann Althouse http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/02/so-youre-really-providing-real-doctors.html)

I left the square heading toward the Overture Center's parking garage.  There, I overheard a clutch of cops talking to each other: "It would be nice to have one day off this week."

More pictures from Anaea Lay's Picasa album of the protests in Madison can be viewed here.

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