Area B
THE PELOSI 13 ....NEWSBREAK...NOV 4TH RALLY SUMMARY, by FD Keith Pace
Today CSEA's delegation of members and staff showed the power of civil disobedience and that we're capable in implementing it strategically. At approximately 11:00 today CSEA members and staff from three CSEA field offices (Sacramento, North Bay and River Delta) descended on San Francisco to rally and protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to allow the removal of the Kucinich Amendment (KA) from the current health care reform legislation. In addition to the rally 13 representatives from other unions and advocacy groups set out to meet with Speaker Pelosi or her representative(s) to demand an explanation as to why she reneged on her commitment to keep the KA in any health care reform legislation.
At approximately noon the "Pelosi 13" marched in pairs into the San Francisco Federal Building that housed Pelosi's office. The "Pelosi 13" were members of organizations such as ActforSinglePayer, AFSCME District Council 57, California Alliance of Retired Americans, Gray Panthers, and Health Care for All-California. Upon arriving the first thing we noticed was that the reception provided by Pelosi's office was markedly different than the reception our delegations had received at Waxman and Miller's offices. In those instances our delegations were treated with dignity and respect and allowed to speak with high level staff. Such was not the case with the Pelosi visit. Dan Bernal, the district director, flatly and rudely refused to make a phone call either to Pelosi herself or Terri McCullough, Pelosi's chief of staff in Washington. The "Pelosi 13" was very clear in our demands which were that the Kucinich amendment be included in the health care bill that will soon be brought to a vote in the House and that the Weiner amendment be voted on by the House, as previously promised by Pelosi.
For more than two hours Bernal refused to meet with any of us and ultimately turned the lights out in the reception area as an indication that we were not welcomed. We began chanting and making noise which resulted in Bernal calling the police who attempted to intimidate us by stating we were creating a fire hazard by blocking doors and clogging entry ways. The police ultimately attempted to broker a meeting between a small delegation (3) of the activists and Bernal. Cindy and I agreed that I would represent CSEA as one of the 3 representatives. Bernal refused to allow us into the interior office and would only meet with us in the reception area. We ultimately agreed to the brokered meeting and the doors between the reception area and the hallway were closed. Two policemen also stayed in the reception area. Instead of working out how a call could be made so that we could discuss our demands, Bernal promptly and rudely stated that he was forced to cancel a meeting with other citizens who had scheduled an appointment so that he could meet with us who had not made an appointment. Bernal stated that he was going to give us 5 minutes and then we had to leave the building. The delegation stated this was an inappropriate way to start our discussion and that it would be appropriate for us to start with introductions and a description of the purpose of our meeting. Bernal stated that he was going to establish the ground rules for the meeting and that after the meeting we had to leave the building. We stated to him unequivocally that we were not leaving the office until such time as we spoke with Speaker Pelosi. Bernal abruptly terminated the meeting and returned to the interior of the office.
The officers advised us that we had a choice to leave or the situation would escalate. The officer on charge directed a junior officer to go retrieve the "arrest kit". The officer returned with a small suitcase and within an hour approximately 10 Homeland Security Department Police were down the hall strategizing on how to process our arrest. The commanding officer advised us that we were being asked to leave and that anyone electing not to leave would be arrested. A couple of advocates left but Cindy and myself remained and volunteered to be the first two arrested. Our volunteerism was gladly accepted.
The police took us from Pelosi's office on the second floor to the basement, where they processed our arrests. We were separated and divided into groups of three. While being processed we were directed to stand facing the cement walls. Because Bernal was too cowardly to file an official complaint, an elaborate charade was worked out by Bernal, building management and the Federal Protection Service. The misdemeanor charged against all of us was based on a technicality: our singing and chanting for single payer was not in accord with the rules and regulations of the federal building. This technicality was then extended to mean that we had "disobeyed" the police officers. We were issued citations and told that we would be summoned to court later. Then we were dismissed from the building. Cindy and I were welcomed like heroes by the delegation of members and staff who had been itching to come inside to take part in the action.
From noon until we emerged from the basement with our citations in hand, there was a spirited rally for single payer taking place across the street. The demonstrators included a large contingent of our own members and staff along with our good friends from the California Nurses Association and Single Payer Now.
I want to give some special thanks to those who were instrumental in making this event a success.
1. The members and staff who traveled from all over northern California who rallied outside in support of those inside. We had Area Director Martha Penry, and Alternate Area Director Melodee Bettman along with Regional Representatives, Retirees, member activists and LRRs from three offices. While I do not have a total count as of yet from where I was in the building it looked like over 50 blue shirts outside with banners and bull horns. I actually saw members from the NBFO that I had never seen at a rally before.
2. FD Roach for relaying text messages and coordinating email blasts and sending general words of support.
3. Carolyn Constantino for handling the public relations and keeping us connected to radio stations and news reporters. I was amazed to see how quickly our efforts were being publicized.
4. Cindy Young. What can be said other than I couldn't ask for a funnier person to be arrested with. Cindy has such credibility in the health reform movement it is truly impressive.
5. Homeland Security Police. The police elected to process us in the building instead of taking us to the county jail. In addition, they were polite and cooperative and as they escorted Cindy and myself out of the building they provided supportive comment in regard to our efforts. They indicated that their health care sucks!
6. The NBFO staff who were assigned to the Garamendi for Congress campaign. We mobilized on two events on the same day. Those who covered Garamendi enabled those who supported our efforts against Pelosi to focus attention on our very important health care agenda.
We will now explore next steps which may included a scheduled visit back to Pelosi's office. I was very pleased to see that our members and staff did not shy away from a civil disobedience activity. From the Area Director to rank and file member everyone was chomping at the bit to get into the fray. Today was a great CSEA day.
Keith Pace
North Bay Field Director
