The saga surrounding the arrests of a group of singing protesters in the state Capitol’s rotunda hit a new mark Thursday with the first arrest of an elected official, Ald. Mark Clear, District 19.
Clear attended the day’s gathering, another in a succession of sing-along protests staged by the generally amorphous Solidarity Singers, with three other Madison alders. He was the only alder to be arrested and one of three standing among the singers.
Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said the aldermen, including Ald. Marsha Rummel, District 6, and Ald. Lisa Subeck, District 1, found time in their schedules to show support for the Solidarity Singers and the protesters’ First Amendment rights. He added Madison alders periodically attend the Solidarity Singers’ events.
“This wasn’t the first time I’ve heard the songs,” Resnick said.
According to Resnick, who was watching from the second floor balcony overlooking the rotunda, Clear was arrested after members of the Capitol Police approached him in the crowd and took him into custody. Clear was standing next to the two other alders at the time of his arrest.
“I’m not sure why Alder[person] Clear was singled out and the other two alders were not,” Resnick said.
The ongoing series of arrests inside the state Capitol began after the Solidarity Singers moved the majority of their protests to the rotunda starting July 17 in protest of administrative rules pertaining to demonstration permits that were passed during Gov. Scott Walker’s tenure.
The original permitting rules required groups of four or more to apply for a permit, but a temporary ruling by U.S. District Judge William Conley in a case brought by Michael Kissick, a protester and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, increased the number to 20 or more.
The Solidarity Singers continue to challenge the rule and expose themselves to arrests by choosing not to apply for a demonstration permit.
Another prominent Thursday arrest included Matthew Rothschild, editor-in-chief of The Progressive, a monthly magazine published in Madison that focuses on expressing a progressive, strongly liberal viewpoint. Rothschild detailed his experience, claiming he was arrested for conducting his normal journalistic duties, in a Thursday column.
Clear and the Capitol Police had not returned calls for comment at the time of publishing.
