--Portland

If you are not familiar with the shenanigans and brutality of Chicago politics, fear not, the violent politics of the Windy City have finally blown into Portland. Welcome, Portlanders, to the era of thug politics.

At an open-invitation public meet and greet which included Oregon gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber on Thursday, a local activist with a camera met that violent reality face to face. Or fist to face, as it turned out.

The activist, whose name is being withheld from this report due to fear of further reprisal, showed up for the event at Immanuel Temple Church in N.E. Portland on Thursday ready to film the event and post it on the internet as he had done at multiple political events this Summer. The event, which was billed as “open to the public”, was to host certain Portland politicians and political hopefuls in a “meet and greet” atmosphere. The goal of the event as stated by Marcus Mundy, Urban League of Portland president and CEO , was to: “…open doors to our on-going, constructive relationships between our community and incoming political leadership…”

It didn’t turn out that way.

The event started with an hour long meet and greet followed by a Q & A session where the guests were to answer pre-formulated questions posed to them by a pre-selected panel. During the meet and greet segment many people were walking around freely with video recording devices. But, about ten minutes into the Q &A, an announcement was made by the event moderator that video recording was not allowed—even though the event was being streamed live by KOIN-6 News.

The activist was then asked by two different men to cease his recording. The activist refused to desist, stating that he had a First Amendment right to record the event due to the public nature of the proceedings.

“It was an open-to-the-public event. There were public figures speaking there and they had no restrictions on taping in any way, written or otherwise until that point” the activist stated in a telephone interview on Friday.

The first man to try to forcibly take the camera was Charles McGee, one of the event’s planners. After some discussion, McGee told the activist “You’re going to stop filming and you’re going to leave.” Soon after, McGee reaches out, grabs the camera but fails to get it from the activist. McGee efforts were joined by James Posey, a 2004 candidate for Portland Mayor, and the two men flanked the videographer on opposite sides. At some point, Posey reaches up swiftly and smashes the camera into the activist’s face.

You can view the video of the altercation here.

After the assault, the activist removed himself from the church building and called the police, who are, as of Friday, investigating the incident.

Posey did take our call but declined to comment on the specifics of the incident saying that there may be “legal ramifications in doing so”. He did, however, insist that the atmosphere of the event was not tensive and stated that “Some folks got rowdy and refused to comply with the rules of forum”. He did not comment on whether or where the rules of the forum were posted before the event.

Posey, who garnered about 5% of the vote in Portland’s 2004 primary race for Mayor, has been outspoken in the past about violence, theft and intimidation tactics. The following is an excerpt from his 2004 voter pamphlet:

“Whether we’re talking about violent crime, theft, vandalism or scams that target our most vulnerable citizens, City government must help law abiding citizens band together to defend us all. I will support coordination among neighborhood associations, churches, community organizations and the police to replace fear with pride and send criminals packing.”

The activist stated that he did fear for his safety, before and after the incident and especially now. “I don’t know who those people were at this event, I don’t know if they were union or what, but I do what I do as a private citizen for this very reason. Because this stuff happens. “

He suffered an abrasion on the bridge of his nose and from a “pounding head”, but the videographer’s confrontation with Chicago-style politics left him with no broken bones, only a steeled resolve:

“Daylight is the best disinfectant. That’s why we do this. And we’re not going to stop.”