A Capitol vibrant with protest

By Robby Stern and Will Parry

Beginning Tuesday, April 5, Olympia shook with day after day of dramatic and sustained activism, as the legislature moved toward passage of the 2011 – 2013 state budget.

The Olympia Coalition for a Fair Budget set the tone for the week when several hundred people entered the rotunda, chanting a demand that the legislature and Governor Chris Gregoire put people first and close the corporate tax loopholes that rob the state of urgently needed revenue. Members of the coalition then entered the Governor’s office, demanding a meeting and remaining until they were asked to leave.
On Wednesday, April 6, a beautifully diverse crowd of more than 600 representatives from community groups marched to the Capitol from downtown Olympia. A chanting contingent disrupted a House Ways & Means Committee meeting. Meanwhile, hundreds marched around and through the John O’Brien Building, chanting. “Money for health care and education, not for banks and corporations!”

The demonstrators then poured into the rotunda. A contingent with “Cut Tax Loopholes” printed on their T-shirts appeared in the Senate gallery, chanting: “Put people first!” Ejected from the Senate gallery, the contingent joined the throng occupying the rotunda. Asked to leave, they refused. Seventy-five spent the night on the rotunda’s hard marble floor. The next morning the 75 met the returning legislators. reminding them of the responsibilities they owe to children, the elderly, and the most vulnerable.

On Thursday, April 7, Service Employees Locals 1199 and 775 led a day of activity, including nonviolent civil disobedience, to protest health care cuts. More than 750 marched from downtown Olympia to the Chase Bank where they established a “free clinic” to provide medical services to those who are targeted for cuts. The action dramatized that the tax loopholes enjoyed by Chase Bank translate into the denial of funding for essential medical care.

The crowd then marched to the Capitol and circled around the several floors of the Rotunda, their chants ringing off the marble walls. Some SEIU members who were committed to nonviolent civil disobedience disrupted the House proceeding from the House Gallery. In response, the House recessed and the demonstrators were removed without arrest.

Supportive legislators addressed the crowd in the rotunda, pledging to work for the closure of tax loopholes. The crowd then moved to the Governor’s office demanding a meeting with the Governor. Sixteen demonstrators were arrested for sitting down and refusing to leave until the governor met with them. Later that day, the Governor agreed to meet with a committee of the demonstrators..

On Friday, April 8, thunderous chants of “We Are One!” rocked the capitol grounds in Olympia, as a labor-organized crowd estimated at 8,000 to 10,000 delivered a resounding denunciation of the impending “all-cuts” budget.

Bright spring sunshine gave colorful life to the surging ocean of banners, signs and T-shirts, varied in wording but with a common theme: Protect the rights of workers and the vulnerable, and make corporations and the wealthy pay their share.

Massed on the broad steps of the Capitol Building and spreading in every direction along the adjacent approaches, the crowd swelled as the hour for the speaking program approached, with protesters spilling from a seemingly endless line of chartered buses from every part of the state.

Prominent on the steps were the contingents displaying the banners of the Washington State Alliance for Retired Americans and its Puget Sound chapter.

Speakers addressed the impact of budget cuts on health care, education, public safety, and the urgent needs of communities of color.
The Reverend Leslie Braxton described the budget as a moral document that expresses the values of state government. Wisconsin Democratic State Senator Spencer Coggs drew a rousing ovation when he brought greetings in person from his state’s labor movement.

Led by bagpipers and the thunder of Native American drums, thousands marched around the Capitol, then entered the building and took several turns around the third floor, immediately outside the House and Senate chambers.

Unison shouts of “This is what democracy looks like!” rocked the venerable building, administering an unmistakable civics lesson to the governor and legislators alike.

On Thursday, April 14, a hardy contingent left Auburn for a 50-mile “People’s Walk for Our Future,” Their destination: Olympia. (Pictures and reports on the Walk are at www.psara.org.). In terrible weather relieved by occasional sunshine, twelve people walked the entire distance. More than 100 joined to share part of the journey.

The walkers stopped at institutions slated to experience budget cuts -- at a community mental health clinic; at Western State Hospital, and at Tacoma Community College. They stopped as well as at the Tacoma and Olympia branches of the Bank of America, prime beneficiary of a special-interest tax loophole.

The rigors of the long walk underlined the seriousness of the marchers’ commitment.

People of many faiths were fasting, with the same goal in view.

The mounting popular pressure helped produce the belated introduction of bills to close specific tax loopholes. An uphill fight lies ahead. Far too many legislators lack the stomach to take on corporate interests.

The special session begins as the May Retiree Advocate goes to press. Legislators who ignore April’s overwhelming expressions of popular anger will surely face continued protests and an aroused electorate at the polls in November of 2012.