From Andrew Grossman of the Wall Street Journal
Once a rag-tag group that relied on donated pizzas for sustenance, the protesters camped out in a Lower Manhattan park are grappling with a new problem: how to manage and spend the nearly $500,000 they’ve raised in five weeks.
Donors have showered the Occupy Wall Street protesters with more cash than many expected, and that has prompted a flurry of requests for spending. It has also spurred members of a movement that has thus far prided itself on its decentralized structure to consider steps that would require the formation of a real organization, with officers and a board of directors.
Members of the group’s finance committee are meeting with lawyers and accountants to get a handle on its spending and consider next steps, like whether Occupy Wall Street should incorporate and apply for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Such a move would require doing something that’s so far been anathema to the protesters: naming leaders.
At the moment, Occupy Wall Street protesters say they don’t have leaders. The only way big decisions can be made and money can be spent is if the General Assembly—a daily meeting at which everyone who shows up has equal standing—reaches a consensus.
That setup can lead to gridlock reminiscent of Congress. Meeting minutes show long, tortured debates over spending proposals. On Friday evening, a representative of a group planning to occupy Central Park on Nov. 11 showed up to ask for $2,000 to have 92,000 promotional stickers printed.
The crowd peppered the representative with questions, according to the minutes. What form would the Central Park occupation take? Why do you need so many stickers? Why can’t you just use email? What will the stickers be made of? Isn’t it wasteful to stick stickers all over the place? Would you consider using wheatepaste, an adhesive made from vegetable starch?