People from across the state gathered at the Capitol Saturday morning to participate in a Moving Wisconsin Forward Rally, with some speakers using the opportunity to respond to recent conservative Tea Party rallies.

While speakers at the rally did not expressly endorse any candidate for the upcoming election, most spoke on issues of funding for education, health care, and public services.

Brian Maloney, a Madison area talk show host, was among the speakers and talked about the importance of increased funding for education.

“We are never going to give up and we are never going to surrender to the rapacious forces of evil that are trying to destroy our schools,” Maloney said.

Echoing this sentiment was Leah Luke, who was voted Wisconsin High School Teacher of the Year, who described the current school funding system as “broken”.

Luke described one example of funding cuts in her district where one band instructor was expected to teach over 100 children.

During the swine flu scare, each teacher was distributed one box of tissues that was expected to last their class of over 30 students for four months, Luke said.

Luke said despite these tough times, Wisconsin should still be providing for the education of the children of Wisconsin.

Speaker Mahlon Mitchell, a Madison firefighter, talked about how budget cuts have been affecting all publicly funded employees.

Firefighters have experienced funding cuts through the closings of selected stations for 24-hour periods, leaving citizens without reliable service, Mitchell said.

Mitchell said these cuts inhibit firefighter’s ability to do their jobs and provide a support system for people during the worst times of their lives.

The budgets for such services need to be maintained and people have to let the government know that they are tired of such services receiving cuts, Mitchell said.

“I believe that we are defined by what we do in a crisis or in a tragedy, and that’s what we’re in right now,” Mitchell said.

In addition to education funding, speakers also touched on the subject of funding for health care.

Capital Times writer John Nichols said the brother of an event organizer died as a result of improper treatment stemming from insufficient health care coverage. Nichols said the organizer told him to mention her brother in his speech as an example of why Wisconsin needs such services.

“When bad social policies deny people health care coverage, when bad politics deny people health care coverage, they get sick and they die,” Nichols said.

Throughout the event, speakers like Nichols and Maloney were also highly critical of the recent trend in Tea Party activism, saying the group did not capture the message of the original Boston Tea Party.

“They didn’t throw government tea into the water, they threw corporate tea,” Nichols said.

Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, said time will tell if this rally was effective in combating the influence of tea party activism at the polls.

“The messages of the rally are intended to remind Democrats about what is at stake and why they need to participate,” Burden said in an email. “It will have an effect if it can get more Democrats to the polls.”