SWAIM: Police gave pro-Walker protester a lesson in irony

By   /   June 4, 2012  /   5 Comments

By Will Swaim| Special to Wisconsin Reporter

Will Swaim

Wisconsin Reporter journalist Dustin Hurst’s powerful video of police arresting a pro-Walker demonstrator has gone viral. And with good reason: There’s something powerfully symbolic about the arrest by unionized police of a man peacefully protesting the impact on Wisconsin’s budget of public-sector pay and benefits.

Today, Examiner.com identifies the man as David Willoughby, son of Florida Tea Party founder Barry Willoughby.

“Without being told what I had done, I was handcuffed and escorted off premise. Placed in a squad car and taken to a police station,” Willoughby reportedly wrote in an email obtained by Examiner.com.

“I asked if I should have my rights read to me and was told, ‘You’re not being arrested.’ My personal property was taken from me, I was fingerprinted, mug shot taken and locked in a dark jail cell, lights off, still handcuffed,” Willoughby reportedly said.

According to PJ Media, the arrest report says, “subject raised a protest sign above his head in a manner that created danger to the public. Subject’s actions caused a disturbance during a political rally.”

PJ Media says the citation carries a $185 fine. Willoughby reportedly has a July court date.

Hurst’s video of Willoughby’s non-arrest is painful to watch for its multiple ironies. It came at a rally hosted by former President Bill Clinton and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Gov. Scott Walker’s opponent in Tuesday’s recall vote. Both men have made civility — and Walker’s supposed lack of it — a centerpiece of the recall. And, sure, the video makes clear, anti-Walker demonstrators make the peace sign — even as they chant, yell at and attempt to provoke Willoughby.

But most ironic is the very fact of Willoughby’s detention by Milwaukee police, whose luxury pay and benefits are — or ought to be — at the heart of the controversy that led to the recall. Another irony: though their benefits are inarguably among the most luxurious among public-sector workers, Milwaukee police are exempt from provisions of Act 10.

Shortly before his arrest, Willoughby challenges the anti-Walker hecklers — says collective bargaining is “a privilege not a right,” but it’s “a privilege that’s bankrupting Wisconsin.”

And then, of course, he gets a lesson in irony — is taken into custody by two men whose privilege has earned them the right to retire at age 50, men who will collect nearly 100 percent of their annual salary and health benefits each year for the rest of their lives.

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  • Wisconsinite

    With what happened in the capital for months, this is so ridiculous. The leftists can hand it out (protesting) but they sure can’t take it. This man was doing nothing wrong at all. He had a sign, he was trying to talk to those who were talking to him and that’s about it. Shame shame shame.

  • Webber

    Interesting. Hundreds upon hundreds of people are arrested in the Occupy movement, no connection drawn to “unionized” police then. Suddenly a single Walker protester gets a bit of the same medicine and it’s some sort of liberal conspiracy… got those tin foils hats on a bit tight today I see.

    @Wisconsinite
    The only “shame shame shame” here is that you’re clearly trying to politicize the issue. I really wish you would’ve stood up for a clear injustice that affects both sides rather than trying to play the blame game yet again. The “leftists” as you put it have gotten much more severe treatment by the police than this single individual. Remember this the next time you’re gloating about another “leftist” being sprayed point blank with pepper spray, rounded up into pens and beaten. If you stood by silently when the injustice was happening to the majority of Americans who disagree with your personal political views, don’t expect much concern when these injustices spread to conservatives. Abuse of power and injustice affect all Americans, it’s not simply a shame because a conservative was finally among the victims.

  • willswaim

    Actually, I condemned the pepper-spraying of students at the University of California Davis for precisely the same reason — that people who protest the high pay and benefits of public-sector workers are sometimes arrested by the highest-paid public-sector workers: police. Hence, the “irony” I mention.

    Far from seeing this as a left-right issue, I see this as an issue of Americans vs. the public-sector employees who control state politics around the country. Though liberals and progressives tend to misunderstand the issue of pension reform (take a look at Wisconsin for the evidence), the fact is that the pension-rich public-sector undermines every other social service progressives say they want to save. In fact, far from being engines of progress and democracy, public-sector union leaders are pragmatic in their approach to politics: they often see themselves as single-issue organizations — that issue being pay. See my colleague Steve Greenhut’s explanation on this subject here.

  • Armando

    @Webber – Police arresting criminals such as the Occupy protestors is good. Police arresting someone for using their First Amendment rights is not.

  • evil roy

    @Webber,

    “Interesting. Hundreds upon hundreds of people are arrested in the Occupy movement, no connection drawn to “unionized” police then. Suddenly a single Walker protester gets a bit of the same medicine and it’s some sort of liberal conspiracy… got those tin foils hats on a bit tight today I see”

    Of course no one would raise a hue and cry over “unionized” police harassing Occupiers–the Occupy folks are FOR unions. Also,not only were there hundreds of incidents of police using (admittedly and deplorably) unnecessary force, but there were also hundreds of instances where the Occupiers were charged, arraigned, tried and convicted of legal offences. IOW, unlike the man at the protest, many Occupiers were actually breaking the law.