There was a good turn out at the pro-Milwaukee County rally today which was held by AFSCME and Milwaukee County First.
The vast majority of rally-goers were union people, but there were also disabled and elderly people concerned about losing their services, and subsequently, their ability to live in the community.
For the most part, things were uneventful, with the exception of some heckling between CRG people and the union people.
Staff at Serb Hall had made certain requests of the rally goers, which were readily complied with. The requests were to just keep it on the sidewalk and let cars pass when they needed to. We left two out of three entrances open, and when someone wanted to use the third, the line stopped to let the vehicle(s) through.
Unfortunately, things turned ugly.
There were two men from the CRG crowd that were obviously intent on causing mischief.
One gentleman, in his late thirties or early forties, went around screaming at people, and bumping into them intentionally. One of the people he screamed at was wearing hearing aids. That person had to take the hearing aid out, because the loud yelling shorted it out, and it wouldn’t stop humming.
The other man, more advanced in age, decided to walk down the middle of the two picket lines, throwing his shoulder into anyone he could, including myself. Then he decided to station himself near the sidewalk and yell obscene things at the rally goers. When one of the AFSCME District Counsel officials told him to just go inside, things turned unnecessarily violent, as can be seen in this video from Fox 6 Milwaukee:
As you can see, the Walker supporter was clearly the aggressor. As the news story indicates, the police were called and responded quickly. They looked throughout the building for him, but could not find him.
If you recognize this hooligan, please call the Milwaukee Police Department at (414) 933-4444.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Milwaukee Locksmith and Mke County First. Mke County First said: New blog post: Violence Erupts At Pro-Milwaukee Rally http://tinyurl.com/y8ffwqf [...]
The Pro-Milwaukee group is actually Pro-Raise Taxes group. Better yet, they are the “Doyle and Democrats in Madison haven’t raised enough of our taxes yet” group.
If you listen to the Fox 6 report, she says that the instigator of the violence came from the Pro-Raise Taxes group.
As for “good turn out” for the Pro-Raise Taxes group, from all reports that I have seen and heard (couldn’t read because the JS is AOWL), the numbers work out close to the following:
800+ for lower taxes
80+ for higher taxes
OR 10 to 1 for lower taxes.
Lastly, who puts a capital K in Milwaukee?
If you believe CRG’s numbers. The video tapes and the number of cars in the area would belie those lies too.
And should you really criticize a homemade sign with a typo of your own?
How do you use a video tape of cars to determine crowd numbers for or against something? As far as I know, cars don’t have an opinion.
Typos in typing are not as obvious as that sign.
CRG is more credible that you are.
Your purposely trying to avoid what I said. But since you think a group with business ties to Walker, and several failed recall efforts that just make them look silly, is more credible than us, I am OK with that.
Restate the point in that you made in this thread that I didn’t address. I just know that you have a history of hyper-focusing on a small point of a bigger picture in the attempt to make it the bigger picture.
This post is a prime example. The little shoving match isn’t the story. The real story is that an extreme majority of people at Serb Hall support Scott Walker’s budget. I would also bet that the majority of people in Milwaukee County feel the same way.
I don’t use Beck math, so I realize that the number is much less than what CRG is stating.
But for the sake of argument, if one were to presume those numbers correct, it is not impressive considering how much they spent on radio ads, mailers and robocalls.
I never got any mailers or robocalls. I think I may have heard a few radio ads in the few short days before the CRG Taxpayer Rally. I don’t think there was a peep about the event in the JS. However, none of the ads can force a person to attend. I don’t think the numbers would have been so high if people were not sick of getting taxed in every which way possible. It was the content of the CRG Taxpayer Rally that inspired so many people to show up. You could advertise something 24/7 for a month on every possible media and unless people cared, they wouldn’t show up. Just knowing that this many people cared enough to show up on such short notice is impressive to me. Also knowing that people, like yourself, are trying to divert attention from the message of the CRT Taxpayer Rally says that the rally was a success.
Interestingly, I have seen the flyer today. Whooey! That is all I will say on that until I can get a scanned copy.
Also interesting is the room that they were in is not allowed to hold 800 people. So either CRG is lying or they are accusing Serb Hall of violating safety codes. On top of that, I also learned that about 1/4 to 1/3 of the people weren’t even from Milwaukee County.
It sure is starting to sound more like a campaign event to me.
“Interestingly, I have seen the flyer today. Whooey! That is all I will say on that until I can get a scanned copy.” – But did it force you to go?
“Also interesting is the room that they were in is not allowed to hold 800 people.” WRONG – The Presidents room according to Serb Halls web site says it can handle up to 880 people. Plus, people were standing in the hallway outside the room.
“On top of that, I also learned that about 1/4 to 1/3 of the people weren’t even from Milwaukee County. ” – Did someone check their ID’s to prove this one way or another or is just another fallacy like the room not being able to hold 800 people.
“It sure is starting to sound more like a campaign event to me.” Maybe for someone who just screwed them selves with a couple of bogus statements.
The Presidents room can maybe hold that many if the partition is open. It was closed.
Sorry, the Wisconsin Hall is the one that can be divided.
Yes, violence did errupt. It errupted after one of the union people tried to hit a man with a sign.
The Fox 6 video did not show it, the chanel 58 video did. http://www.cbs58.com/index.php?aid=9418
Funny how this non-partisan report fails to mention union people yelling and screaming at people including elderly women upon trying to gain entry into Serb Hall.
A sign appears to have been swung, but didn’t hit anyone. For that, a woman gets pushed to the ground. That’s fair to you?
The threat with the sign came only after the thug assaulted the man and his wife. Nice that you don’t think that the union couple have any rights.
Thanks for the longer video clip. However, like the one from Fox 6, it doesn’t show events before what we see. The guy in gray shouldn’t have pushed. That is for sure. However, I am sure that the Pro-Raise Taxes group isn’t innocent either.
Jason,
No, it’s not fair. The man in the gray was clearly wrong, but he was also clearly incited. Union members often use their signs to instigate their targets. They may not swing their signs often, but they get really close to people with their signs, which invades personal space. It’s a good way to lose your sign and to start a fight.
If you read my account, you would realize that you are either totally inaccurate or lying. The man assaulted many people before the confrontation.
I would say that your account of things is fabricated to suit your needs.
I would also say that the Pro-Raise Taxes group showed up looking for a fight.
Andy,
Good point with the numbers. A 10-1 majority sends a good message to the county board that now is not the time to raise taxes.
Aaron,
Don’t you ever get tired of being wrong?
Aaron isn’t wrong here. You are just acting like a child who isn’t getting things their way.
What happened to the intelligent debate that you used to do? Resorting to name calling is not conducive to further commentary. Just ask Lee Holloway.
Look at other comments here. Plus, I didn’t call you anything. I’m just describing your actions.
Interesting thing here.
At the AFP Rally a left winger went into the crowd clearly trying to inflame things and this blogger and others completely ignored that side of the story, only focusing on “the angry white mob”
Now they completely change sides and perspective.
I guess the truth varies based on which sign someone is holding.
It’s interesting only to you because you don’t have a grasp of what the truth is…
I have no doubt that the truth consists of the Pro-Raise Taxes group hoping to get a fight started. They easily could have done their own rally for higher taxes at some other place (like as Gus’s Mexican Catina in Franklin). Instead, they targeted this support Milwaukee County 0% Tax increase proposal rally with intent changing the focus of discussion.
Too bad for you that there is new video that show the perpetrator trying to instigate things earlier with other people.
New video or not, it doesn’t change the point I made.
The person who shoved hard enough to push someone to the ground got what he deserved, a citation.