Disabled protesters arrested at Sen. Cory Gardner's Denver office after
2-day sit-in.. Ten protesters - most with disabilities - were arrested in
U.S. Sen.
Cory Gardner's Denver office Thursday, two days after they began a sit-in to
demand that the Republican lawmaker pledge to oppose the GOP's plan to
repeal
and replace Obamacare. Protesters, some in wheelchairs or lying on the
floor, chanted "Rather go to jail than die without Medicaid! while Denver
police
stood in the doorway of Gardner's downtown office and ordered them to leave.
The demonstrators live-streamed their own arrests on Facebook while the
chanting
continued. Police also used video cameras to record the arrests. "Stop
fighting," a police officer told one of the demonstrators as officers moved
in.
"We're not fighting," one responded as an officer restrained a fellow
demonstrator and began carrying him away. Police picked up some protesters,
restrained
them, forced them into their wheelchairs and wheeled them out of the office.
"You're under arrest," an officer said. "Sen. Gardner, shame on you!
demonstrators
chanted as the first person was removed from the office. Protesters
initially took over Gardner's waiting room Tuesday when the office opened at
9:30 a.m.
Nine protesters stayed the night Tuesday, turning it into what resembled a
dorm room with blankets and food. Eight more spent the night Wednesday. Nine
were intending to spend the night again Thursday. The action was organized
by ADAPT, a Colorado-born organization that works nationally to promote
disability
rights. Protesters said they've been arrested multiple times doing ADAPT
actions. Dawn Howard joined ADAPT in January and said she had been arrested
three
times before Thursday. Protesters said they want Gardner to commit to
protect Medicaid spending, including assisted-living services that help many
with
ability issues live independently. Advocates say those services would be cut
in the proposed Senate health care bill, which the group wants Gardner to
oppose. Before the arrests, Gardner's state director read a statement to the
protesters saying building management informed the office that it was in
violation
of its lease and both staff and the protesters had to leave. Two of the 11 -
a mother and her 16-year-old daughter - left. Police responded to a signed
complaint from a representative at the senator's office that people were
trespassing, said Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson. "The top priority
throughout
this protest has been allowing these individuals to exercise their First
Amendment rights in a safe environment," Casey Contres, a Gardner spokesman,
said
in a statement after the arrests began. "In order to allow this, staff have
slept in the office for two nights and assisted and aided these individuals
with several matters to ensure they were comfortable and safe. Earlier this
evening, Denver police asked the individuals to leave. When they declined to
leave, the police were forced to remove them due to several factors,
including serious concerns for their health and safety. Protesters Lonnie
Smith, Dawn
Russell and Kalyn Heffernan, an MC with the rap group Wheelchair Sports
Camp, were taken by Denver police to a sheriff's van with a wheelchair lift.
The
hands and ankles of all of them were zip-tied by police. The rest of the
protesters were held inside the building's garage and could be heard
chanting
"Free our people" and "Rather go to jail than die without Medicaid. Other
ADAPT protesters chanted outside the entrance and exit to the garage. One of
those protesters, Jordan Sibayan, was arrested while trying to go into the
garage. Late Thursday afternoon, a crowd gathered on grass outside the
private,
downtown office building at 1125 17th St. About a dozen Denver police
officers arrived shortly before 7 p.m. with some SUVs and a black bus.
"We're not
going to go down without a fight," said Carrie Ann Lucas, one of 11
protesters inside the office Thursday before the arrests began. She was
among the final
protesters to be arrested, and she continued to live-stream the event even
as she was taken away. "I'm not resisting, but I'm not cooperating," Lucas
told
officers. She uses a motorized wheelchair and a ventilator. Denver's sit-in
was one of similar actions across the nation. ADAPT national organizer Bruce
Darling said he is no longer keeping track of how many people have been
arrested nationally, saying, "There's enough that it's gotten confusing. The
biggest
so far has been in Rochester, N.Y., where 25 people were arrested. Gardner
staffers said building management told them Thursday that the other tenants
had begun to complain and that the protesters no longer could remain there.
They said they offered to help the protesters with transportation. They also
said they have taken time to listen to their concerns, including at least 16
meetings or phone calls with ADAPT activists since the start of the year.
ADAPT joined more than 80 other Colorado disability services in signing a
statement urging Gardner to vote no on the health care bill. Coloradans with
disabilities make up 7 percent of Medicaid participants but 27 percent of
the program's costs, according to the Colorado Department of Health Care
Policy
and Financing. ADAPT had been talking to Gardner for a year and a half about
creating a national program to mirror Colorado's home and community-based
services that assist people with bathing, using toilets, cooking, cleaning
and more. But with those services now on the cutting block, activists said
the
situation became "critical. Gardner's state director spoke with protesters
Wednesday morning to hear what they had to say. At that time, Russell said
she
was hopeful that more progress would be made. The arrests prompted an outcry
from liberal activists, who echoed the protesters' demand that Gardner
oppose
his party's efforts in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act. "This
isn't a game to the people being dragged out of his office," Alan Franklin,
political
director of ProgressNow Colorado, said in a statement. "Gardner can't spin
his way out of this. It's his choice to make to serve (President Donald)
Trump
over Colorado. Denver Post staff writer Kieran Nicholson contributed to this
report.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, July 04, 2017 6:50 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] A Sit-In Almost Turned Into A Shit-In At Cory
Gardner's Office
A Sit-In Almost Turned Into A Shit-In At Cory Gardner's Office
Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchair Sports Camp is heading into the second day of
a sit-in with the disability rights group ADAPT, at Republican Senator Cory
Gardner's office. Kalyn Heffernan
Resist! Health Care, Senate, Sit-In
For Kyle Harris, www.westword.com
June 29th, 2017
Above Photo: Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchair Sports Camp is heading into the
second day of a sit-in with the disability rights group ADAPT, at Republican
Senator Cory Gardner's office. Kalyn Heffernan
A sit-in almost turned into a shit-in when disability rights activists with
ADAPT started needing to use the restroom - which had been shut down - after
they had spent the night in Republican Senator Cory Gardner's Denver office,
trying to force him to vote against a Republican healthcare proposal that
the Congressional Budget Office says would leave 22 million uninsured by
2026.
"We brought in a makeshift shitter," says activist and musician Kalyn
Heffernan, the MC with Wheelchair Sports Camp, which won Best Hip-Hop Group
at the 2017 Westword Music Awards on Tuesday, June 27, the same night she
was occupying the senator's office.
When the DIY toilet arrived, "I think that's when they they decided to let
us [into the restroom]," she says. "Once that came in, shit got real. We had
so much coffee, someone was bound to shit."
It's not like the activists were holding back their bodily functions. After
they had been denied the restroom on Tuesday, several activists urinated in
the senator's office in cups, bottles, a trash can, diapers and through
catheters.
"We all just peed in his office! Victory," Heffernan texted me on Tuesday.
Gardner's state director narrowly avoided a shitty situation by opening the
bathrooms up today, June 28, ADAPT activists say. The state director has
been accommodating, although he has not responded to the activists' demands,
laid out below.
img_8623
ADAPT is demanding Gardner sign this statement pledging to vote against any
bill that would reduce Medicaid funding for seniors and people with
disabilities. Kalyn Heffernan
Gardner's office, which has yet to say whether the senator will support the
Republican-led bill, has not returned e-mails and phone calls from Westword
about the situation.
Volunteers brought the activists food throughout the night, and the
protesters have no plans to leave until Gardner commits to opposing the bill
or the police drag them out.
"People are spoiling the shit out of us," Heffernan says. "We have so much
food. It was like the most privileged protest we've ever been at - minus
sleeping in here. That was not great."
Most of the activists slept on the floor, others in their chairs. Heffernan
says it was like sleeping at the airport: hard floors, bright lights and
crammed conditions. But as a touring musician, she's more accustomed to
roughing it out than some of her comrades.
The MC has taken to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram throughout the protest;
Wheelchair Sports Camp is trending on Twitter, and a live-stream of the
sit-in has garnered more than 20,000 views.
img_8625
The ADAPT protest at Gardner's Denver office continues for a second day.
Kalyn Heffernan
