Remember those ’80’s commercials with the tagline, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen”? It turns out that when 20,000 Washingtonians talk, the same is true in Olympia.

In the Hutton ads, a whole bunch of people would be merrily shopping, dining or walking through the airport when someone would say, “Well my broker is with E.F. Hutton, and E.F. Hutton says…” — at which point everyone around would stop what they were doing to listen, like this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX7ZEotoFh0]

Earlier this week, citizens from Rebuilding Our Economic Future went to Olympia, carrying over 20,000 petitions calling for fair and humane budget that includes not just targeted cuts and reforms to make government more efficient, but a full discussion of potential revenue options as well. (Full disclosure: the Economic Opportunity is a coalition partner in Rebuilding Our Economic Future.)

And it turns out that when 20,000 citizens talk, Olympia listens too [UPDATED]:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWuET7OrwDw]

(A previous version of the video is here.)