Here's a great piece from the Cap Times from Steve Elbow about reported problems documented by the police during the month long protests:
Threats to lawmakers during the Capitol collective bargaining standoff made good reading this week … Last week, two months after I requested police reports of arrests, incidents of disorderly conduct or other infractions on the Capitol grounds during the protests … the Department of Administration released about 400 pages of reports … the reports describe bad behavior by participants on each side of the debate. Most of it is small-time stuff …
One involved state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, the Republican Senate majority leader … Sen. Mark Miller's chief of staff, Jamie Kuhn, contacted police to complain that Fitzgerald went off on her. "Fitzgerald told Kuhn that she was stupid and Miller was stupid, amongst other mean and hurtful things," the state Capitol Police report says. "Kuhn was intimidated by Fitzgerald's aggressive and angry nature during the conversation." Kuhn asked the officer to stay near Miller's office until she left the building to avoid any further disturbances.
In another Capitol moment, on Feb. 19 a state trooper responded to a report of an "intoxicated subject" and found a staffer for Rep. Joan Ballweg, R-Markesan, sitting on a bench. When approached, a deeply besotted Jonathan Pollitt informed the cops that he'd locked his "f---ing keys" in Ballweg's office and wanted help retrieving them, the report says. Turns out, Pollitt had the keys, but he was trying to get into the wrong office. The trooper opened Ballweg's door with a key provided by Pollitt, but because Pollitt didn't have any identification, the trooper didn't let him in.
"You are so fired," Pollitt reportedly told the officer. The trooper agreed to take Pollitt to the Capitol Police office so he could be identified. At the office Pollitt continued to berate the officers.
"You think you're exempt from the Senate bill, but I'll have you fired," he told officers, apparently referring to the fact that Walker's proposal to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights didn't apply to public safety employees.
Long story short, Pollitt was given a chance to walk away, he didn't, and was eventually handcuffed and taken to detox. Pollitt, who wasn't charged with anything, declined comment.
One of the most detailed incidents concerned two young men who illegally put up a tent on the Capitol's third floor then went inside and lit a joint. "Upon opening the tent flap I noticed a great amount of smoke coming from the interior of the tent," the police report reads.
There was one protester -- the report doesn't say on which side of the debate -- who repeatedly called another protester a "n----r" while making shooting motions with his hands, which a police supervisor apparently didn't think was worth the trouble to pursue. There were a couple of kicked-in doors and other damage, including a spray-painted fist on an entrance portico, and ink from a marker that soaked through a bedsheet on which protesters were writing onto marble.
Here's a particularly articulate example that was emailed to Gov. Scott Walker:
"Go f--- yourself. Please. Just f---ing die already. The greatest thing anyone could do for our proud state of Wisconsin is accidentally slip some cyanide into your morning coffee or accidentally push you down the stairs of our great state capitol. You are the worst thing that has ever happened to Wisconsin … You really dropped the ball on the whole high-speed rail situation too. But really, what can I expect? A 2.6 at Marquette. You are a moron, aren't you? "Yours truly and full of scorn."
Whaddaya think? Threat or political commentary? Police determined it to be a mere statement of opinion. Case closed.
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