Posted on 05/30/2002 4:54:18 AM PDT by GailA
Edited on 05/07/2004 9:20:02 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
JOHN PARTIPILO / STAFF Tax protester Roger Cowell, left, exchanges words with tax supporter Brian Miller, center right, near the state Capitol early yesterday. Cowell said someone in the pro-tax group had taken his child's horn. Both groups were later asked by the state Highway Patrol to leave the landing.
(Excerpt) Read more at tennessean.com ...
Judge rejects lawsuit over Capitol fight
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/05/18049494.shtml
By ROB JOHNSON Staff Writer
A U.S. district judge has dismissed an excessive force lawsuit filed in the wake of a tumultuous shoving match during last summer's income-tax protests inside the state Capitol.
On July 12, Steve W. Rogers of Rutherford County was attempting to gain access to the balcony overlooking the state House of Representatives. He was part of a group of protesters who arrived as legislators were poised to adopt a state income tax.
Harold Gooding, a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer, spotted Rogers on the side of ropes that restricts access to the gallery. Gooding ordered him off the restricted stairwell. At the bottom of the steps, Gooding grabbed Rogers and forced him toward another set of stairs.
Gooding, according to court documents, was poised to handcuff Rogers but decided against it as television news cameras moved in.
Later, Rogers returned and Gooding asked him to leave the area near the House chambers' entrance. Rogers refused. A shoving match ensued.
Rogers sued the trooper in federal court, claiming excessive force and asking for $300,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.
U.S. District Judge Robert Echols wrote that Gooding had acted appropriately that day. He said Rogers hadn't proved his excessive force claims:
''As a member of the security team for the state Capitol, defendant had a duty to protect the safety and security of members of the state legislature and others from highly impassioned anti-tax protesters.
''Plaintiff has failed to identify any case demonstrating a clearly established rule prohibiting the officer from acting as he did in removing the protesting Plaintiff from the restricted area or the entrance to the House chambers, nor is the Court aware of any such rule.''
My debate professor in college told me it's a time-tested rhetorical trick to link your opponents' issue to dead children. No matter what the issue, you can always find a way to link it to dead children. Sometimes, like the lady in the picture, you can just surmise that children will die with no plausible explanation whatsoever.
Correction: We will not go down. The income tax had it's best shot last Wednesday, the 22nd. If they couldn't pass it then, it's not going to pass. Nevertheless, we can't be any less vigilant, but personally, I'm pretty confident we've beat this for good.
The legislature is now looking at pulling out some of the $2 billion it has in reserve funds in order to balance the budget by June 30th.
They fought for the tax and they lost. Now it's time to balance the budget and clean House.
Tax demonstrators face off at Tennessee Capitol
By JOHN GEROME Associated Press Writer
May 29, 2002
NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Hundreds of tax opponents seeking to sway legislators' budget deliberations protested for the third Wednesday in a row while sharing space outside the state Capitol with a small band of tax proponents (17) and an unrelated rally for Israel.
The anti-tax throng swelled to more than 600 people by afternoon. But a knot of about 15 income tax supporters got first dibs on a prominent spot in front of the Capitol and several of the 200 people at the Israel rally waved Israeli and American flags on the plaza across the street.
The pro-Israel speakers struggled to be heard over a din of honking from tax protesters' car horns, 18-wheel truck horns, hand-held air horns, even a train horn mounted in the back of a pickup.
"I think of them as shofars blowing for Israel, not car horns honking against an income tax," said Dr. Frank Boehm, president of the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. A shofar is a ram's horn blown in synagogues on Rosh Hashana and at the end of Yom Kippur.
Protesters cheered when the House adjourned about 4 p.m. without passing a tax measure. The legislators will reconvene June 19; the protesters vowed to return.
"We're going to have to win every time," said Jerry Brewington, a small business owner from Hendersonville. "If they win once, we're probably done for."
The state faces a $480 million deficit in the fiscal year ending June 30. It will take about $800 million in new tax revenue to pass essentially the same budget again next year, and $1.4 billion to fully fund Gov. Don Sundquist's proposed $9.6 billion budget.
Lawmakers have attempted several tax plans over the past four years but none has received majority support. A 4.5 percent flat rate income tax drafted by House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh was defeated 49-45 last week, but remains alive.
The tax debates are usually accompanied by protests outside the Capitol.
Steve Gill, a radio talk show host in Nashville who helps organize the demonstrations, said he hopes lawmakers use their break to study income tax alternatives. He cited a combination of sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol, and budget cuts as one possibility.
"They need to stop beating a dead horse," Gill said of the income tax.
Income tax supporters assembled before sunrise to beat the crush of anti-tax protesters and let Naifeh know that "a silent majority" favors his plan. They lined a railing in front of the Capitol and high above the street with yellow and black signs that spelled: "Yes on Naifeh Plan."
"We want basic human rights for all people. That's why we're all here together to tell lawmakers to vote yes," said Shannon Houska of Nashville.
Naifeh has said he would not call for another vote on the tax unless he has the 50 votes needed to pass it. A different revenue proposal to expand the 6 percent sales tax to many exempt items and professional services failed in an afternoon House vote.
Houska said 60 percent of Tennesseans would pay less tax under Naifeh's plan. One of the bill's provisions would remove the sales tax from food, clothing and nonprescription drugs.
As the anti-tax crowd made noise, Houska and other tax supporters stood quietly with signs that read: "No more cuts to education" and "Support Naifeh Plan, Support Tennessee."
Nell Levin, a lobbyist with the Tennessee Network for Community Economic Development, said tax supporters have had a strong presence in the debate with a barrage of e-mails and letters instead of horn-honking.
"We're tired of the opposition being represented as the majority opinion in Tennessee," she said. "Many people support tax reform."
As the crowd grew during the morning, anti-tax demonstrators got into a shoving match with tax supporters over the prime spot in front of the Capitol. State police cleared the balcony before the confrontation escalated.
"We were afraid somebody would get hurt," said Department of Safety spokeswoman Beth Womack. "We decided to move everybody off the balcony before somebody went over the rail. That's the last thing we need."
Jason Bell has yet to work and pay taxes. What does a college kid's opinion matter in this debate? Let him work and pay taxes for a few years before he is given any kind of credence.
Then, why don't you let the people VOTE on whether then want to give 4.5% of their income to the state?
Why is a vote of the people such a difficult concept for these tax fanatics?
The people who want an income tax already have the option to just send the state a check for 4.5% of their income---why don't they do that?
Totally agree !!! It's always those that RECEIVE the taxes you and I pay, that should not be allowed to vote on ANY issue involving taxes, PERIOD !!
Very clever.
... and permanent resident of Ithaca New York I'd bet.
Why would ANYONE be so stupid as to vote for a tax? Perhaps they are not really stupid they're just evil (or democrats but that's redundant isn't it)
GSA(P)
Tax protest now moves to state's ballot boxes
By Time Chavez The Tennessean 5/30/02
Of state income tax protests this year, yesterday's was by far the largest.
That didn't count all the vehicles. More than 70 circled the block in front of the state Capitol and around Legislative Plaza. Another 30 vehicles were backed up on Charlotte Avenue west to James Robertson Parkway, waiting to get into horn-honking range.
Most vehicles had more than one occupant. One, an old Army truck, had a bunch of people, including a fella dressed as a gorilla. His sign read, ''Jimmy Naifeh is using guerrilla tactics.''
No one ever said conservatives were kings of comedy, but they're great in organizing.
Sequels usually don't do as well as the original. Another call this week to protest could have easily been ignored by many. But the cause is uncannily growing stronger, and it is attracting new recruits like June Williams of Henrietta in Cheatham County.
A few hundred yards from protest epicenter, Williams was watching her 3-year-old grandson, Lucas Bagwell. He had a piece of paper attached to the back of his T-shirt with the message, ''Even I know what 'no' means.''
It referred to a majority of Tennesseans opposing an income tax.
''He does'' know what no means, she said. ''I take care of him during the day.''
Lucas' mom and aunt are Cheatham County schoolteachers. Williams pointed to the mass of protesters for their location. It was the first protest for all of them.
Didn't Williams see a contradiction in her teacher daughters' protesting an income tax when supporters say it will greatly boost funding for education? Williams says that's not necessarily true. She's right. Spending per student (adjusted for regional cost differences) is $7,079 for states with an income tax vs. $6,820 for non-income tax states, according to the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.
Despite success yesterday, many protesters stressed that defeating an income tax is only a first step. They are stressing the ballot box, so they won't have to turn out consecutive weeks to defeat legislation most Tennesseans oppose. They spoke of Republicans' taking control of the House, thanks to Speaker Naifeh putting some Democratic incumbents on record of supporting the income tax last week.
Protesters like retired Army Maj. Bob Ousley of Mt. Juliet were collecting money for state Rep. Mae Beavers in her campaign against Democratic Sen. Bob Rochelle. By 2 p.m., protesters had filled a water cooler jug with cash. Ousley was fuming over the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe of Beavers.
''Anyone who didn't believe Tennessee has a Mafia knows now,'' Ousley said.
The investigation is to show other lawmakers not to cross Naifeh, Ousley said.
Early in the day, a squabble broke out between a few protesters and about a dozen income tax supporters who had seized the protest high ground.
They were first to the overlook in front of the Capitol. It's the prime spot for media picture-taking. Their large signs spelled, ''Yes on Naifeh Plan.'' Some anti-tax protesters tried to squeeze in through tiny openings to let their signs be seen. Tempers flared. State troopers cleared the overlook. Both sides probably could have agreed on the unfairness of the sales tax on food. But protests aren't that conducive to consensus.
The next battlefield, unless there's another tax vote, will be at the polls. From statements yesterday, that's where protesters plan their biggest turnout and victory.
I came to an epiphany a few years ago... Since the Revolution, "no taxation without representation" has been a maxim in this country. I think it's also common sense that there should be no representation without taxation!
As Thomas Sowell put it: "It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.