MADISON — Days after a shocking reversal in a critical Supreme Court race, liberal activists rallied Saturday at the state Capitol, pointed fingers at the state business lobby and made plans to build on the movement that generated weeks of mass demonstrations and a spate of recall campaigns.

"This is about regrouping for the long haul," said Ben Manski, a Madison lawyer who helped organize events that were to continue Sunday with workshops on political topics from direct action campaigning to building coalitions to taxing the rich.

On Saturday, protesters marched to the offices of the state business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, on West Washington Avenue.

Manski said the action was sparked in part by attention given to Charles and David Koch, billionaire brothers who have sent millions to right wing causes and supported Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

"There has been a lot of publicity about the Koch brothers influencing Wisconsin politics, but the fact is that Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce is the lobby group that's in the Capitol day in and day out working to shift taxes from the wealthy to the rest of us," Manski said.

"What they should be doing is creating jobs, not divisions in the state of Wisconsin," said Ed Garvey, an attorney who spoke during a rally outside the Capitol.

WMC spokesman Jim Pugh said last week he didn't plan to respond to protesters.

Among the speakers at the noon rally was Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette, a key figure in efforts to delay a law that strips most public employees of most of their bargaining rights while erecting obstacles to dues collections and maintaining state certification.

Conservatives 'brainwashed' voters

Conservatives "have brainwashed approximately 50 percent of the voters in our state," La Follette said, referring to Republican election victories in November and the close race for Supreme Court last week.

Walker signed the collective bargaining law, which he says will allow governments to cut costs and fix the $3.6 billion state budget deficit he inherited when he took office this year. The law is currently being held up in Dane County Circuit Court over allegations the Legislature violated the open meetings law when it passed the bill.

The protest followed a roller coaster week in Wisconsin politics.

On Tuesday, state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser appeared at first to narrowly lose a re-election bid. But on Thursday, Waukesha County announced it previously failed to include thousands of votes in the total it announced after the election, and those votes gave Prosser a comfortable lead.

Union supporters are continuing efforts in the electoral arena to recall Republican legislators. Walker supporters also are working to recall Democrat state senators.

Workshops held to strengthen bonds

The weekend workshops, called the Wisconsin People's Assembly, are an effort to strengthen bonds between some of the tens of thousands of people who have protested since Walker announced his agenda.

"It's a way of recognizing that there are many organic efforts out there," Manski said. "A lot of self-started efforts, and we're working on bringing them together in a coordinated way."

More than 100 people attended Saturday night's panel discussions at O'Keefe Middle School, where a poster asked for donations for a recount in the Supreme Court race. Speakers — including a professor, teacher, nurse, student and farmer — laid out how Walker's agenda supports corporations on the backs of middle class workers and the poor.

Yedda Ligoke, a high school social studies teacher from Montello, said Walker's budget is pushing rural schools to the brink of closing.

"For the first time in my life, I saw an angry kindergarten teacher," she said.

"I hope they bit off more than they can chew," Ligoke said. "They picked a pretty big fight and that's evident by the number of people here."

Susan T. Hessel, a writer from La Crosse, attended the event for the same reasons she took buses to three Madison protests on recent Saturdays — her fuse was lit by what she called the "demonizing" of teachers and public sector employees.

"We have been forced into a corner — the devil's bargain of cutting old people or the poor," Hessel said. "That's really not what we should be about as a country."

Sessions Sunday are scheduled to begin with 8:30 a.m. registration at MATC's Downtown campus.

State Journal reporter Matthew DeFour contributed to this report.