As Florida teachers and other government workers lay plans for Wisconsin-style protests, a tea party coalition announced it will stage its own rally on March 8 in Tallahassee.
Taxpayer and tea party groups say they will rally under a "Save Our State" banner at the Capitol on the opening day of the 2011 Legislature.
"We're going to be a voice for everyone else," said event organizer Robin Stublen.
Reaching out to 130 tea party and 9/12 groups around the state, Stublen said the consortium supports Gov. Rick Scott's efforts to reform the public pension program and cut state spending by $5 billion.
"Save Our State" activities, which will begin 7 a.m., will include a noon rally at the front steps of the old Capitol building, said Stublen, a tea party leader from Charlotte County.
The tea project arose in response to social-media buzz about an "Awake the State" rally by government employees opposing Scott's plan requiring public-sector workers to contribute to their pensions. Florida is the only state that does not do so.
Though Scott's reforms do not go as far as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's bid to end collective bargaining on benefits, the Florida governor has nonetheless angered public employees with his proposed tax and budget cuts.
"We are trying to coordinate all teachers, parents, firefighters, police, correctional officers and all Floridians negatively affected by Rick Scott's budget for a 10k-plus (10,000-plus people) rally so the House and Senate will hear our voices. Giving corporations a $2 billion tax cut off our backs in a state with one of the lowest already will not work," David Stokes posted on Facebook.
Details of the demonstration remain sketchy, and it's possible plans could fizzle by March 8, but heavy and passionate traffic on Twitter and Facebook suggests that wheels are turning "progressively." A crowd numbering 8,000 to 10,000 is touted.
"Awake the State is new enough that we don't know how big it's going to be at this point. We're getting hundreds of new people expressing interest every day and more and more events are being scheduled around the state all the time," Kenneth Quinnell told Sunshine State News.
Quinnell, who heads the Florida Progressive Coalition, said he will be participating in the Tallahassee rally.
"We have a great opportunity, and it's a no-brainer for Democrats," Paula House Eisenhart, chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Highlands County, said of Awake the State.
Stating that "unions are the only reason we have a decent middle class," Eisenhart said Scott and his fellow Republicans are "leading an all-out assault on our way of life."
Picking up that cue, members of the Pinellas County teachers union plan to rally at three locations around St. Petersburg on March 4.
"We need every educator and friend of public education to join us," declared a union flier. "Wear RED and display a handmade sign calling on the Florida Legislature to Save Our Public Schools and Make Our Schools a Priority!"
On March 24, the Florida PTA will bring some 2,000 teachers, parents and students to Tallahassee to rally for more education funding.
"We already have seven buses of kids lined up from Miami-Dade County," said PTA legislative chair Mindy Gould.
But rallies -- even those sponsored by organizations as seemingly benign as the PTA -- risk a backlash from the public if they are seen as using children as "human shields" to promote a union agenda.
A Tallahassee rally of 8,000 to 10,000 could incur the wrath of parents and taxpayers if too many teachers and government workers go AWOL that day.
Stublen said the "bottom line" in demonstrations that seek to vilify Scott is a demand for an ongoing "subsidy" to benefit union personnel.
"Public employees are in honorable professions, but they are not so important that the workers at McDonald's or Wal-Mart should have to help pay and subsidize their retirements," Stublen said.
"[Government workers] need to sacrifice the way private-sector workers have sacrificed for years," he said.
The state's public-employee unions have kept a low profile thus far. Yet much of the social-media chatter parrots the talking points of organized labor.
Unlike Wisconsin, a strong union state, organized labor has a minimal presence in Florida's private sector. As such, Floridians may have little sympathy for demonstrators marching in support of unionized teachers and government workers whose benefit packages are far more lucrative than those received by the average taxpayer.
A Rasmussen Poll this week showed a majority of independent voters in Wisconsin joined Republicans in supporting Gov. Walker's challenge to the unions.
Scott, who was elected with a mixture of independents and Republicans, is following through on his campaign promise to cut government spending. And since 80 percent of the state budget goes toward personnel, the governor is determined to tackle those expenses though downsizing and employee contributions.
Stublen said he was turned off by the government-worker protests in Wisconsin and by that state's AWOL Democratic legislators. Ironically, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would have shared his concern.
The Democratic Party icon said that government workers, unlike those in the private sector, have a "special obligation to the people."
FDR opposed the concept of collective bargaining in government -- unheard at the time -- and said a walkout by public employees would be "unthinkable and intolerable."
In that context, government unions that bash Scott are actually bashing the public that elected him, tea partiers say.
Before and after their rally, tea party organizers say they intend to "flood the Capitol with grassroots activist discussing one on one with legislators and their aides the issues important to the citizens of Florida, including support for Gov. Scott's decision to reject federal high-speed rail funding and to offer support on the proposed budget."
As for the noon rally, a tea party Facebook posting called it an opportunity to "counter the special-interest union groups that will be lobbying as well."
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.