Katy Scott of the Arizona Republic writes:
Five protesters were arrested Wednesday after staging a sit-in at Sen. Jon Kyl's Phoenix office over Medicare legislation.
The action came after 50 citizens, mostly older citizens, marched in the blazing heat to influence Kyl's actions in Washington and to urge him to hold town meetings to explain proposed Medicare changes.
They say legislation has cleared both houses of Congress that would effectively privatize Medicare, create gaps in coverage, threaten employer-provided benefits while doing nothing to lower prescription drug costs. Kyl is on the conference committee that will combine the House and Senate bills, each longer than 600 pages, into one law.
Kyl's staff told the protesters they wouldn't be able to reach the senator or set up meetings at that moment. They told the protesters they would get back to them, and urged hem to leave because they were "impeding the business of this office."
Replied Ted Murphree, a 54-year-old Phoenix resident, "What we're prepared to do is stay here in this office until we get word from Sen. Kyl that he's willing to come back to central Arizona and hold town hall meetings."
After about 40 minutes, the building manager made a citizen's arrest for trespassing, and police cited all five protesters, who were ordered to appear in court.
Kimberly Wold, Kyl's state director, said the protesters were making unreasonable demands of office staff. "We had no advance notice that they were coming," she said. "It was nothing but a PR stunt."
But she noted it was the building manager, and not Kyl's staff, who had the protesters arrested.
"It's sad that you can get arrested in a public senator's office," said Doug Hart, 57, of Tempe, after he was cited. "It says something about the U.S. senator."
NOTE: Pre-emptive blameshifting note: Operative Wold says that the building manager called the cops. Oh, the manager didn't check with the tenant? That's what the 40 minutes were for....