5,000 Ohioans join D.C. protest

By JONATHAN RISKIND

One central Ohioan said she wants lawmakers and Obama out of her life.

WASHINGTON — Gripping a sign stating, “Government is not the solution; it’s the problem,” central Ohioan Marti Davis said she joined tens of thousands of protesters from across the country to converge on the U.S. Capitol because “we’re really upset about what’s going on.”

Davis, a 66-year-old Delaware, Ohio, real-estate agent, said she hopes President Barack Obama and lawmakers from both parties take notice of demands to limit federal spending, cut taxes and overhaul the health-care system in a way that doesn’t involve a government-run insurance plan.

“We want them to get out of our lives,” Davis said Saturday. “We’re not saying Republicans are better than Democrats. They all need to listen to us.”

Davis and several hundred Ohioans whose participation was organized by conservative groups such as CincinnatiTeaParty.org gathered Saturday morning near the Washington Monument beneath the states’ flags.

The “TEA (Taxed Enough Already) party” movement gained prominence this year when conservative groups had protests across the country against federal tax and fiscal policies, including the $787 billion economic-stimulus package and financial system bailout that many conservatives say was wasteful spending.

Justin Binik-Thomas of CincinnatiTeaParty.org said dozens of buses left Ohio for the protest, carrying about 2,000 to 3,000 people. He estimated 5,000 Ohioans attended the rally.

Wanda Wilson, 64, of Westerville, said this was the “first time I ever protested anything.”

“I’m tired of people telling me what I can and cannot do,” she said. “We’re not children; we don’t need to be taken care of.”

The Ohioans who gathered at the Washington Monument walked as a group to Freedom Plaza a few blocks from the White House, where protest organizers rallied the crowd.