What I Just Wrote to the Romney Campaign About My Arrest on Monday

by Matt B. on January 11, 2012

I just sent the following email to press@mittromney.com and info@mittromney.com about my arrest on Monday. I’ll update with any responses I receive.

Dear Romney staff,

My name is Matt Bieber, and I’m a divinity school student with a keen interest in politics. On Monday, I was removed from Gov. Romney’s event at the Gilchrist Metal Fabricating Company and then arrested. According to the arresting officer, someone on the campaign had ‘identified’ me as a protester at the governor’s offices in Manchester. This was news to me – I hadn’t even been aware that there’d been protests at his offices!

I hadn’t come to New Hampshire to protest, but to listen and learn (and to share some of my experiences on my blog). In fact, I’d come to your offices on Friday to pick up some literature (where I had a pleasant conversation with a young volunteer). I’d also attended Saturday’s debate watch party and had a great time talking with your supporters and staff. I was hoping Monday’s event might be a nice opportunity to see and hear Governor Romney in person.

I’ve written about Monday’s events, but I wanted to offer you the opportunity to respond. Can you please explain why I was removed from the event, and why no one from the campaign was willing to speak to me? If I try to attend another Romney event in the future, can I expect the same treatment?

Yours sincerely,

Matt Bieber

 

  • hitfan

    I’m certain that getting arrested is an unpleasant experience.

    But… Romney probably wants to keep a tight ship around his campaign events and doesn’t want to provide the Obama campaign with any more “Corporations are people too!” sound gaffes when he gets heckled at his events.

    A case of mistaken identity, or somebody there googled your name, it doesn’t matter.  They wanted you off the premises, and so the security detail they hired (the police, which is done often at events with crowds of people) complied and proceeded to escort you away from there.

    You may be well and right that you weren’t causing any trouble.  I’ve attended political events of political opponents, chatting up with partisans, sometimes even go out for beers and drunken arguments afterwards.

    But the police officer in question decided he didn’t want to get into a debate about civics, threw up his hands, and arrested you then and there.

    You have a court hearing near the end of the month where you can enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.  Maybe the overworked prosecutor will cut you a deal for a reduced fine so that the penalty isn’t as severe.  Or you can fight it all the way.

  • Npotts8588

    I’m sorry, hitfan … a reduced fine? For doing nothing wrong? The city should pay HIM!

  • kbh

    …so now its okay to put people in jail for 4 hours without doing any research as to whether it was right or not? “cut you a deal”? are you kidding me?

  • Jompierce

    Matt, I am an active Christian and an active Democrat in DFW. I am very sorry for what happened to you. It is wrong on a lot of levels. It is also very unfair that you should have to spend time in jail and spend money defending yourself when you did nothing wrong. I am sorry to say that I think a lot of police take advantage of the Patriot Act to be just down right mean.

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Hey Jompiece – thanks so much! This support means quite a lot – it’s hard not to doubt yourself when you’re in that situation.

  • Anonymous

    Your assertion that Matt should just plead it out to keep it nice and tidy) is what is wrong with the way that law enforcement works in our country.

    He did nothing wrong except to question why? And from the cops perspective that was enough to put him into “The System”. That is just thuggish behavior. 

  • timster

    matt, please don’t plead it out.  once you enter any plea other than “not guilty” you cannot sue.  contact the institute for justice.  they often provide free or reduced-cost representation for exactly this kind of disgrace.  do it now.

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Thanks for your concern, jimmersd! 

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Thanks for the advice, timster. I’m not looking to sue, but I do want to be a part of an ongoing conversation about these issues.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Barbara-Rice/100000159775002 Barbara Rice

    What if someone lied and said that you were Justin Bieber’s cousin?  Then this story would go VIRAL, as it should!  For all I know, Rev. Beiber, you’re Justin’s 10th cousin, right?  Seriously,  please walk across the campus to the law school.  I’m sure that any well-known professor or law student will be happy to help you out for free:)

    Thank you for your courage.

  • Al Gore

    Never Surrender

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Ha – thanks so much, Barbara.

  • Mary Laiuppa

    Make sure you have a lawyer. 

    No one from Romney staff will be there. This is between you and police. The charge will be defiance of the orders of the police officer, not anything to do with the meeting, Romney staff or anything else. Expect the officer to show up and lie. He’ll say you were beligerant. He may even say you threatened him either verbally or physically. He will say anything to make you look like a liar and that they let you off easy with the charges that were filed and you should just be grateful, pay a fine and leave.

    Get a lawyer. 

    Do not take a plea deal. They’re going to do everything they can to force you to. I’m sure they’ll say if you don’t you’ll be charged with more serious crimes (see above) and then tell you the maximum jail time you’ll get. Remember. You’re not guilty. See if your lawyer can get anything and everything possible expunged from your record on this after you’re exonerated, because they have given you, an innocent person, a police record and an FBI record for no reason. 

    Did I mention you need a lawyer? 

    Oh, and I don’t think you need to bother going to hear Romney speak in person any more. Forget about it. I think you know everything you need to know about the man as of now. Actions speak louder than words. And I think the actions of his staff have screamed loudly what you can expect from him as Commander in Chief and President of the United States. 

  • Mary Laiuppa

    Keep your options open. Sadly a threat of a lawsuit is sometimes the only leverage that has any effect on certain types of people. Unless they fear you might sue, they might not bother to listen to anything you or your lawyer have to say. They just want this to go away quietly. Getting you to plead guilty or take a plea deal (and there will be a gag attached to it) is the fastest most effective way. So don’t sell yourself out. And expect to be pressured and intimidated. 

  • Mary Laiuppa

    Why should he accept having an arrest record for the rest of his life not only with the New Hampshire police but also the FBI?

    He should fight this AND when he wins have as much as possible expunged. 

  • Redcard-2

    You just found out you live in a semi- police state, and that all your beliefs are what you are led to believe. You learned more in one day than several years at Harvard I think.

  • Guest

         This is a shameful thing to have happened in America.  I hope that you will fight this by defending your innocence.  But I also hope that you can somehow take this to another level, whether that is a lawsuit for damages or whatever seems appropriate.  It is not that I think you should make money off of this, but rather that you, who are intelligent, apparently well-connected (Harvard) and very articulate have resources that most people lack who are arrested in similar anti-democratic circumstances.  Your fight would be for our country and our values of freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the freedom to engage in the political process unencumbered by arbitrary authoritarian power.
         BTW, I am impressed that you voiced the feelings you had as the arrest and its publicity were occurring.  We probably all too often discount what people go through when falsely arrested or accused.  Thank you.

  • Talleyrobyn

    Romney’s desire to “keep a tight ship”  is their choice. When it morphs into “A case of mistaken identity… it doesn’t matter” and that’s ok………… who are we as a society?
     And are you really suggesting that hoping that an overworked prosecutor should even have to deal with this is ok?????? 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Guy-Pinestra/100002332275341 Guy Pinestra

    I’m sorry this happened to you, Matt.

    Excuse me for being such a partisan here, but can you name the only candidate who will work to repeal the laws that make this ‘police-state behavior’ possible?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Robyn-Talley/100003096953439 Robyn Talley

    Are you really suggesting that an officer’s decision to not get into a civics debate is justification for an arrest? Reduced fine for a lesser penalty for doing nothing wrong? Really?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Robyn-Talley/100003096953439 Robyn Talley

    How many times am I allowed to “like” this???? But let’s change “as much as possible” to “all” expunged. Remember- he did NOTHING wrong!

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Thanks so much, Mary – I really appreciate your care and concern. It’s deeply heartening – funny how much we need each other that way. 

  • http://twitter.com/Phyxrgon Fennes

    It’s only going to get sadder as the nomination trail moves on. I’m so appalled, but not too terribly surprised, at the behavior of the police… especially framing you like some bad guy in front of those cameras.

    Romney is just going to dig himself a deeper hole if this kind of trend keeps up, and most likely will keep happening. Personally, you were gravely wronged in every way. I wouldn’t take this lying down… whatever to do, as someone stated, don’t give them the win.

    Imagine if he were president, he’d use the military like his own personal bodyguards… who needs the Secret Service? /sarcasm

  • adam

    I like this Barbara woman, Matt – should listen to her:  Experiences like your own happen every single day in this country (like, a thousand times a day), and you should cringe to consider the unjust misconstrual of conduct minorities and the lesser affluent face by the Man in Blue. 

    It’s devastating to consider, and as one (about as white bread as yourself) that has undergone a similar situation (for singing in a park, mind you, after dark), in a neighborhood park I’ve visited for a decade, well, let’s just say I hope your own case at least gets before the very appropriate public eye.  It should, you have the means and the support, and it will help open the eyes of some (potentially many) regards the realities of (mis)use of force in the States at this current time. 

    It’s pervasive, yours is in no way an isolated occurrence, others are flat out lied about on paper and left with no recourse at all, and no one is going to doubt yoUr story.  You  happen to go to Harvard and have all the right background – people might well listen.  You should be speaking on Jon Stewart, or guesting on Colbert – I’m not even joking, they could have a heyday with it, and right at election time.

    And Barbara – why are you inferring that our good man Matt here isN’T related to the Bieb?  my sources in the mormon genealogical branch say he certainly iS – but you better act fast Matt, before Romney has his hires expunge the record !  it’s politics, brother, it’s a nasty, bloody, power hungry mess – I bet the Mitt’s already made his move: Hit up your local Mormon church to verify ; P

    wish you mad press, and a happy journey. 

  • adam again . .

    This is true – all the system heads really care about is limiting exposure to financial liability and egg on their faces (hurts future career moves and give rise to embarrassing jokes by colleagues).  It’s the reality of the system, good man:  Hold . Your . Cards.  So long as you hold your hand, you hold your voice – show your hand, lay it down, lose your voice.  Be well 

  • Brauneyz

    Matt, your story is the kind of stuff Radley Balko lives for.  Write him at HuffPo or theagitator.com blog and let him turn the dogs loose.  Goes without saying this is beyond shameful.

    Wasn’t crazy about Mittens anyway, but you’ve firmly cemented my vote for Ron Paul.  Let freedom ring!

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Just wrote to Radley, Brauneyz. Thanks!

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Thanks very much, Fennes.

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    I think I know where you’re headed, Guy :)

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    It certainly was eye-opening in a more personal way than I’ve ever experienced before.

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Thanks so much, Adam.

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    You’re absolutely right, Adam. Others face much greater difficulties than I did – no question. That’s why I don’t want this to be about me – I want it to be about a much bigger problem. 

  • Samiam22

    Get a lawyer, quit blogging about it. now

  • Pundarika7

    America is becoming a police state, and hacks like the GOP crazies will make this the law of the land. Obama is also succeeding at this with the Wikileaks issue, looking the other way while Bradley Manning is tortured, (..”he broke the law”..). This country has become a difficult place because of politicians. If I we;re you, I’d take it easy, these politicians give a rat’s ass about you or me. Good luck with everything.

  • Choppam

    We should remember the Democrat Convention in 1968 and Mayor Daley’s violent response to it. This kind of thing hasn’t popped up out of nowhere. It’s not exceptional. It’s par for the course. It’s not par for discourse, however – the searchlight is trained on our eyes to blind us, not on events to enlighten us.

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Thanks for your support, Pundarika. I guess I’ve got a bit more faith in this country than that – because this country is made up of us, and there are lots of and lots of us who don’t think events like mine should take place. Now it’s a matter of raising our voices! 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stretch-Ledford/100000207548944 Stretch Ledford

    Justin… I mean, Matt –  It’s not just the Romney campaign, not just the cops who arrested you.  The mindset and mindlessness of “the system” is geared toward control and order much more than toward protecting your rights, or my rights, or the ideals that we were both brought up to believe this country was founded upon.

    Check out this story from a couple of summers ago, when I was a journalism graduate student at the University of Miami, and was “banned for life” from the Miami-Dade Metro system for daring to try to photograph in one of the stations.  

    http://stretchphotography.com/blog/2010.07.01/banned-from-metro/

    The legit cops did the bidding of the rent-a-cops who did the bidding of their corporate masters.  Not unlike the chain of command you experienced.

  • http://thewheatandchaff.com Matt Bieber

    Wow. That is a mind-blowing story. Thanks so much for sharing it, Stretch. And thanks for documenting so much of it!

  • Vandoctor78

    I completely agree. The governing law of what you can do in a public space is clear. He should file a lawsuit and will undoubtedly win.

  • Vandoctor78

    Yes, I would. Does your online willingness to discuss this issue constitute an invitation to come into your private place of work or home for others to debate it further? And if so, and a cop is asked to come in and adjudicate, how many questions should he allow? Apparently, in this case, for that officer it was between 7 and 8 (count them up in the article, you will see that is the total), and one question was a repeat.

    Think that through…What questions and how many are allowed? How does the officer choose between Matt’s stated right to observe and a private property owners rights? And what if the Romney accusation evolved because they read Matt’s post about Santorum which appeared on this blog the day before the event, didn’t like its tone, and so didn’t want the risk of him producing anything similar as seen in the Gingrich piece that came later. Maybe in their distorted view, they consider that the act of a protester. Doesn’t matter, its a moot point for the question you raised about the proper role of a cop.

    If this happened at a Ralph Nader event, can you say a similar thing wouldn’t happen? Yes, you could. But it’s not impossible. And I’d like Nader to have the right to toss an individual from a private event for whatever reason he wants.

    The only thing I can say about this whole situation is that it started with mistaken identity. Somebody at Romney’s campaign made an error. They should apologize for the inconvenience.

  • Dottiehnj

    It is up to us to make it GO viral people.

  • Seneca627

    Were you arrested for your presence there?  Or were you arrested because the police asked you to leave and you refused?

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