Press removed from Plains candidate forum

It is not unusual these days amid the bickering and name-calling of politics to have a controversy at a candidate gathering.

But the twist in a recent Plains candidate forum for aspiring local office holders was not generated by those seeking office or their supporters. This controversy was the stir caused when an unidentified man walked through the VFW meeting hall with a stack of video equipment and lights attached to a one-legged pole.

Most assumed the man was a member of the media. However, when asked by event staff who he was and for whom was he videoing the event, the man refused to give his name or disclose who he was working for.

“The guy apparently didn’t want to state his name or what he was doing when we asked him,” said Stacy Kandel, President of the Sanders County Republican Women’s club, sponsor of the forum which attracted 15 candidates vying for three elected posts.

“When I approached him along with our sergeant at arms, he seemed very uncomfortable, wouldn’t tell us who he was, who he was working for or anything and started getting very aggressive with me. He put the camera microphone right in my face and almost hit me with it,” Kandel added.

The man was asked to leave the hall, along with at least two other local reporters, including one from the Valley Press, who were there to cover the event for their respective publications.

“If he would have had any kind of press credentials it would have been OK,” Kandel said. “He left the hall but came back a short time later after calling the police”.

Kandel and others say the man called police to report his rights were being violated as soon as he left the building. Police then called the Plains City Attorney to get clarification on the matter and were told he did have the right to be in the building for the event, which was advertised as “open to the public”.

Kandel said she and others observed the man walking around the building and pausing to video tape or take pictures of cars parked outside for the gathering.

“We’ve never had anything like that happen before,” she said, adding that the country’s volatile political state means asking those who seem out of place to simply identify themselves.

Plains Mayor Dan Rowan, who was there as a candidate for Sanders County Commissioner District One, said neither he or any other candidate there had anything to do with the unnamed videographer being removed from the building.

Valley Press reporter Tracy Scott, who was at the function until being asked to leave, said he was told to leave by the Sargent at Arms because he was a member of the press.

“I was told that the sponsor of the debate ... said no media was allowed and that I would have to leave,” Scott said. “The gentleman told me he asked three other press people including me to leave. I was speaking with Dan (Rowan) just before he approached”.

Kandel said her group would speak with the sergeant at arms to make sure the situation does not happen again, but said he [the sergeant] was not aggressive toward the video guy and that he possibly misunderstood when he asked what he should do.

“We put these forums on purely as an educational device,” said Kandel. “We are doing these meetings as a service to the public and we do not endorse any candidate based on party or anything. We try to encourage people to get out and vote”.

Most of the candidates running for office are required to do so on a non-partisan basis, especially those running for local offices as per legislation passed by the state of Montana several years ago that calls for local offices to be non-partisan in terms of campaigning.

Kandel said she and her group would do all they can to make sure the situation does not happen again and that the media is always welcome.

“We would just ask that media identify themselves and show some kind of credentials at the events,” she said.