By Randy Furst
Star Tribune
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Amid chants of “Shame, shame!” a legislative hearing in St. Paul adjourned in disarray Tuesday after a House panel passed a bill that would give cities authority to bill protesters for police services if they had been convicted of illegal assembly or a public nuisance.
A large crowd attending the hearing, most of whom appeared to oppose the bill, angrily denounced the lawmakers in the House Civil Law Committee, after it passed 6-3 along party lines. Republicans supported the legislation while DFLers opposed it.
The vote appeared to surprise the crowd because about a dozen witnesses testified against the bill, several DFLers spoke against it, and the only person to speak out in favor of the bill at the hearing was its sponsor, Rep. Nick Zerwas, R-Elk River.
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Zerwas cited several million dollars of public safety expenses involved in protests incurred last last year which included the shutdown of I-94 in St. Paul and I-35W in Minneapolis after a St. Anthony police officer shot and killed a black man, Philando Castile, during a traffic stop.
“The meters are running and the taxpayers are holding the bag,” Zerwas said, arguing why the bill was necessary. He said tougher penalties are needed for marchers and other demonstrators who block freeways or otherwise break the law. The bill would give individual cities the option of suing convicted protesters to reimburse the cities’ expenses.
Among those testifying against the bill was John Thompson of St. Paul, a machinist employed by the St. Paul Schools who said he was a friend of Castile. After he spoke he sat back down in the gallery and wept.
But after the vote, Thompson, still visibly upset, stood up and pointed at the lawmakers.
“My friend’s blood is on the streets of St. Anthony,” shouted Thompson, who is black. “It’s a crime to be a black, to be a black man driving down the street. That’s why we protested....I’m coming for your seats.
The committee chair, Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, looked on and said nothing. The committee was scheduled to consider another bill, but the chants grew louder as others in the crowd lambasted the lawmakers.
“Black Lives Matter” signs were distributed and held up as several law enforcement personnel showed up, but the confrontation did not get physical. Scott and the other legislators left the room without a formal adjournment and the crowd began to file out.
Among those who testified against the bill were Teresa Nelson, legal director of the ACLU of Minnesota, Brad Lehto, legislator director and chief of staff for the Minnesota AFL-CIO, and Cathy Jones, vice president of the Minneapolis NAACP.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, DFL-Minneapolis, a member of the committee, who became the state’s first Somali-American to be elected to the Legislature last fall, expressed opposition to the bill during several interchanges with Zerwas during the hearing.
She posted a memo on her Facebook page on Monday encouraging people to attend and oppose the bill.
After the hearing, as the crowd filed out, she walked up to several of them and said quietly, “Thank you for coming. Keep fighting and come back again.”
The bill now heads to the House Public Safety Committee.
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(c)2017 the Star Tribune (Minneapolis)