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This article was taken from the January 19, 2000 edition of the Miami Herald and helps to justify the need for each and every one of us to vote & make our opinions & voices be heard.
Sit-in at Fla. Capitol spreads as lawmakers protest affirmative action order
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- (AP) -- Agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement physically removed reporters today from a sit-in staged through the night by two black lawmakers.
Two agents per reporter were used to remove the nine reporters from Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan's office. They were not arrested.
The reporters were covering the sit-in that began Tuesday in protest of Gov. Jeb Bush's decision to end affirmative action for state contracts and university admissions.
The lawmakers were joined by 20 more lawmakers and about 200 other protesters this morning at the Capitol.
Bush, Brogan and their staffs returned to work, but the door to the reception area, which normally opens at 8 a.m., remained closed except for people with appointments.
``We're not going to open the doors for the time being ... to maintain the order and security of the governor's office,'' said Bush press secretary Liz Hirst. ``We've got work to do.''
In a surreal scene early today, Sen. Kendrick Meek of Miami and Rep. Tony Hill of Jacksonville dozed in Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan's office inside the governor's suite. They were joined by nine reporters who were told if they left they wouldn't be let back in. An agent from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement sat at Brogan's desk throughout the night.
Rep. James Bush, D-Miami, who is black, tried to enter the governor's office to see his colleagues in the morning but wasn't allowed inside.
He sat down in front of the door and said he would wait to be admitted. Gradually others, black and white, joined him, also sitting on the floor. All of the legislators participating in the protest are Democrats. Bush and Brogan are Republicans.
``The governor has always said his door is open to all of us,'' James Bush said. ``Tell the governor we are very disappointed.''
The protest of Bush's executive order ending racial preferences in hiring and university admissions overshadowed the unveiling of the governor's proposed budget for the next year. It went on as scheduled.
Bush denounced the sit-in and said it would not change his position on affirmative action.
``It would be as if I sent Frank Brogan over to Senator Meek's office and said 'Until you change your position on a particular subject and support me, we're not going to leave the office,''' Bush said.
The governor said the lawmakers did not present ``constructive alternatives'' to his plan.
``The governor spoke to us as if we were children today,'' Meek said. ``And we're grown men. This is America. And it's a shame in the year 2000 that we have to fight the battles of the '50s and '60s.''
Meek and Hill began their protest late Tuesday, saying they would remain ``as long as it takes.''
The governor, infuriated about reporters staking out Brogan's office, was caught on video late Tuesday angrily telling a staffer to ``kick their asses out.''
Bush later apologized for making the remark, which he said was directed in anger at the media gathered in his office after hours.
The sit-in began after an afternoon meeting with Brogan. Meek and Hill had asked that Bush reconsider his November executive order, which wipes out race and ethnicity as factors in university admissions and bars racial set-asides and quotas in contracting decisions.
Brogan told them Bush wouldn't change his mind and the lawmakers started their sit-in.
``This morning we are witnessing the art of barricade politics in Florida for the first time. It's an embarrassment and a humiliation,'' said Steven Effman, D-Sunrise.
Sen. Daryl Jones, D-Miami, the chairman of the legislative Black Caucus, said Bush had listened only to blacks who supported him. Jones said black leaders of the caucus were upset that he would make a move affecting so many blacks without consulting all of their elected leaders in the Legislature. He said Bush had met with him shortly before announcing the plan, and never mentioned it.
``In a 2-1/2 hour briefing I did not hear about that executive order? That's a minor oversight,'' Jones said, sarcastically.
Jones had been part of the sit-in. But he left to talk with other caucus members and couldn't get back into the Capitol because it had closed for the day.
When Jones returned this morning, he was denied access to the governor's suite. He said the governor told him that the protesters would have to leave Brogan's office by noon.
Initially, the governor's office said food would not be allowed in, but Meek's staff managed to deliver chicken and salmon for the lawmakers.
The Associated Press asked a restaurant to deliver muffins, bagels and pastries to the reporters inside Brogan's office, but the delivery man was turned away twice.
``They can leave if they want to eat,'' said Cory Tilley, a deputy chief of staff.
Later FDLE agents gave bagels to reporters and legislators.
Bush poked his head in for a moment and said: ``There are ways to resolve this issue. You could go out like other people. You could go to a restaurant or go home.''
The protest comes days before the state Board of Regents, which oversees the State University System, is expected to approve the university system aspects of the plan.
Bush's plan guarantees admission to some state universities to the top 20 percent of the state's high school seniors, adds $20 million to the state's financial aid budget and makes it easier for minority businesses to be certified to work across the state.
Jones said black lawmakers would be at the Regents' meeting, which starts Friday in Tampa. He wouldn't say whether a protest was planned there, but said: ``We plan to let them know it's a major issue to us.''
