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October 19, 2010

GOP Candidate in Alaska Defends Handcuffing of Reporter
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Joe Miller, the Republican Senate nominee in Alaska, has defended a
decision made by his private security guards to detain and handcuff a
reporter at a public meeting on Sunday. Miller accused Tony Hopfinger,
the editor of the website Alaska Dispatch, of harassing him and
following him into a bathroom while trying to get an interview. In an
interview on Fox News, Miller dismissed charges that the guards violated
Hopfinger’s First Amendment rights.

Joe Miller: "Well, I have been the most transparent, most successful
candidate of the three. That town hall meeting was full of people with
questions and we answered them. So, if anybody is going to talk about
the First Amendment, we are huge proponents of it and we like to have
the free exchange of ideas and that is what happened up until this guy
just starting crossing the line."

Private security guards working for the firm Drop Zone handcuffed
Hopfinger, and detained him in a hallway of the school for 25 minutes
until police arrived and ordered his release. Private security guards
also tried to prevent two other reporters from filming the detention but
a reporter from the Anchorage Daily News briefly spoke with Hopfinger.

Tony Hopfinger: At that point they took me down here.

Reporter: Who is they?

Tony Hopfinger: All of these guys and they handcuffed me and then they
called the police.

Reporter: How did they get the handcuffs on? How did you let them
handcuff you? They used force?

Tony Hopfinger: They used force to put me in handcuffs.

The Anchorage Daily News has also revealed that two of the private
security guards who detained the reporter were active-duty soldiers
moonlighting for the security firm.



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