As protesters lined up a hundred deep at the south wing entrance to the Capitol building a group of Democratic representatives in the north wing, upset at the lack of access granted to citizens, decided to literally throw Democracy out the window.
Some democratic representatives with offices on the ground floor decided over lunch their proximity to the people protesting outside provided an opportunity for them to hear the peoples’ concerns.
The lawmakers opened their windows around 2:20 p.m., and 10 minutes later, four representatives had moved their desk, chairs and the Wisconsin and United States’ flags onto the lawn.
“If this governor isn’t going to let us meet with the citizens in the Capitol, we would literally open our windows and take our desks outside to talk to citizens directly,” Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, said. “A lot of citizens came from all over the state to be heard today, and we wanted to make sure they had an opportunity to talk with legislators.”
Mason said some of his constituents were discouraged by the restrictions at the Capitol and decided to turn around and go back home. His district is over two hours of driving time away.
It took four people to get the desk outside of Mason’s office – two who lifted from the inside and two who received and gently let the furniture down on the outside, Mason said.
The representatives did not take their actual desks out but chose smaller and lighter ones around the office, Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo, said.
“Small desk, big window. We didn’t put the big desk out there. We had a number of helping hands that took us all of about 10 minutes, and then we were ready to go to work,” Clark said.
People outside the Capitol were thrilled the representatives decided to move their offices outside on the lawn.
Representatives Josh Zepnick, D-Milwaukee, and Nick Milroy, D-South Range, also brought their desks outside.
Ken Anderson, a 65-year-old retired teacher from Genoa City, saw the desks outside the building around 4:30 p.m. and was happy to get a chance to speak with the representatives. He said that seeing the lawmakers’ outside reminded him what democracy looks like.
