PELOSI 12 ARRESTED IN SIT-IN

Was saddened and infuriated at EMail I received from Dan Hodges detailing the Health Care Sit-In that took place in Nancy Pelosi's SF Office this afternoon. Here it is:

Around 3PM this afternoon I was one of 12 single payer activists who were
escorted from the reception area of Nancy Pelosi's office in the San
Francisco Federal Building and arrested by members of the Federal Protection
Service of U.S. Homeland Security.

Just before noon we went to Pelosi's office to ask Dan Bernal, the district
director, make a phone call either to Pelosi herself or Terri McCullough,
Pelosi's chief of staff in Washington. We wanted to directly communicate two
demands: that the Kucinich amendment be included in the health care bill
that will soon be brought to a vote in the House and that the Weiner
amendment be voted on by the House, as previously promised by Pelosi.

For two hours Bernal refused to meet with any of us. Then he called in the
police and had them arrange for a meeting with himself and three of us in
the reception area. The doors between the reception area and the hallway
were closed. Two policemen stayed in the room. The other activists and other
police stood outside the closed doors in the hallway. Instead of working out
how a call could be made so that we could discuss our demands, Bernal
promptly and brusquely said he'd just listen to what we wanted and then all
of us had to leave the building. As soon as we said that wasn't why we had
agreed to the police's conditions to meet with him, Bernal broke off the
meeting, left the reception area and went back inside the locked doors to
his office.

Then the police took us from Pelosi's office on the second floor to the
basement, where they processed our arrests. Because Bernal was too cowardly
to file an official complaint, an elaborate charade was worked out by
Bernal, building management and the Federal Protection Service. The
misdemeanor charged against all of us was based on a technicality: our
singing and chanting for single payer was not in accord with the rules and
regulations of the federal building. This technicality was then extended to
mean that we had "disobeyed" the police officers. We were issued citations
and told that we would be summoned to court later. Then we were dismissed
from the building.

From noon until we emerged from the basement with our citations in hand,
there was a spirited rally for single payer taking place across the street.
The demonstrators included a large contingent of members of the California
School Employees Association, some of whom had come from Sacramento and
Stockton. The rally also included members of California Nurses Association
and Single Payer Now.

The "Pelosi Twelve" are members of organizations such as ActforSinglePayer,
AFSCME District Council 57, California Alliance of Retired Americans,
California School Employees Association, Gray Panthers, and Health Care for
All-California.

All of us today, those who were arrested and those who rallied in support of
us, will keep fighting to get the Kucinich amendment in the House health
care bill. And we'll keep fighting to win single payer in California and the
nation. Republicans, Blue Dog Democrats or sell-out Democrats, like Nancy
Pelosi, will not prevent us from succeeding.

Dan Hodges
Chair
Health Care for All-California