Those six protesters arrested outside of Mike Turzai's house? Judge hands them fines and fees

[BumRushDaShow]

I found this article this morning. I am glad these dedicated folks protested that guy -

Those six protesters arrested outside of Mike Turzai's house? Judge hands them fines and fees

Julian Routh
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
[email protected]

The six Pennsylvanians who were arrested while protesting on private property outside of state House Speaker Mike Turzai's house in July were ordered to pay $300 in fines plus court costs Wednesday morning.

In a minutes-long preliminary hearing in McCandless, Allegheny County Magisterial District Judge William K. Wagner imposed a penalty — $466.14, in total — on each of the six defendants, who pleaded to summary offenses of disorderly conduct. They were originally charged with trespassing. Afterward, the six — Rebecca Lubold, 66, of Slippery Rock; Susan McAninch, 71, of Skippack; Wilma Oman, 63, of Slippery Rock; Carol Ballance, 64, of Wexford; Carol Cutler, 69, of North Huntingdon; and John Randolph, 52, of Havertown, Pa. — spoke out in relief over not facing a trial. The offense carries a maximum penalty of up to 90 days in jail.

"I stand with what I did," Ms. Owen said, adding that the result "could have gone many ways, but I'm grateful for the outcome." The six, members of the activist group MarchOnHarrisburg, were arrested July 13 outside of Mr. Turzai's house in Marshall, where they protested his lack of action on redistricting reform. A Facebook Live video from that morning shows the six being taken away in police cars, while a woman chants, "Speaker of the House, hiding like a snob, drag them back to Harrisburg and do your job."

The group has been pressuring legislators to end gerrymandering and hold an up-or-down vote on a measure proposed by Democratic Rep. Steve Samuelson that would create an independent redistricting commission, which it says would keep the Legislature at "arms-length" from the process and remove the Supreme Court from selecting maps. According to a statement from MarchOnHarrisburg, the six — referred to as "democracy warriors" — took part in the protest after Mr. Turzai denied their group a meeting with him to discuss redistricting reform. Mr. Turzai could not be immediately reached for comment.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2018/08/08/mike-turzai-protesters-arrested-fines-redistricting-gerrymandering-reform-pennsylvania-house-speaker/stories/201808080151

We definitely got some work cut out to claw back our state.

[FakeNoose]

1. Thanks for posting

I guess this is fair - it sounds like they really were trespassing on private property.

Turd's-eye probably wasn't even listening, but these people deserve an "A" for effort.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Their action got news coverage so that was probably part of the strategy too

I know getting some election and redistricting reform here has been a big issue for Democrats but of course having no control in the legislature means the GOP will resist it every step of the way.

[marble falls]

3. I haven't heard of anything like this in PA since the seventies. The pendulum is swing back our way.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I was glad to see this!

Both my state rep and state Senator are (D)s and the Senator has had telephone town halls where he has tried to update us about the shenanigans in Harrisburg. But he says that the Democrats will keep pushing to move the process along.

[marble falls]

5. I'm in Texas and it seems we might just dump Cruz.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. That would merit a HUGE HUGE celebration!

[marble falls]

7. Isn't it! Its gonna happen, too.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. I would love it!

To see whiny Carnival Cruz begging Drumpf to campaign for him, is quite entertaining!

[DeminPennswoods]

9. Turzai keeps trying to blame Dems

for the citizen's commission redistricting bill failing. But the real story is the bill never even got a hearing in Darryl Metcalfe's government operations committee. And when the bill was brought up, Metcalfe did it with basically no notice, then gutted the bill by substituting text that Dems opposed.

Had Turzai been interested in passing the redistricting bill that had over 1/2 of state house members as co-sponsors, he could have easily ordered Metcalfe to give the bill a hearing and not change it.