Senate candidate’s guards handcuff journalist after event

Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller dodged journalist Tony Hopfinger's questions Sunday night at a campaign event and continued walking down a middle school hallway.

But Hopfinger, editor of the online newsmagazine Alaska Dispatch, couldn't follow. That's because Miller's private security guards surrounded him and, when Hopfinger tried pushing his way around them, handcuffed the journalist to a chair, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Anchorage police made the security guards release Hopfinger when they arrived on the scene.

William Fulton, owner of Drop Zone security, the private firm hired by Miller, claimed that Hopfinger was trespassing at a private event held at Anchorage's Central Middle School—despite the town hall event being publicized on Facebook.

"Your friends, colleges, family, acquaintances, neighbors, need to be informed and hear Joe Miller speak for himself," read the public Facebook invite. "Don't let the media skew your views."

Or, more appropriately, don't let the media ask questions.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that Miller agreed to speak "after the open question period" on Sunday night, but then "quickly left the room." Hopfinger started following the Republican candidate with a video camera but "Miller reversed directions and Hopfinger found himself surrounded by Miller supporters and the security detail, all of them wearing radio earphones."

Fulton alleged that the journalist—by asking questions—was "stalking" Miller. Fulton's guards seized Hopfinger's camera during the incident and returned it with the arrest footage missing, according to Hopfinger.

The Miller campaign tried turning the tables on Hopfinger by releasing a statement titled "Liberal Blogger 'Loses It' at Town Hall Meeting." The campaign describes Hopfinger, a veteran journalist, as an "irrational blogger" orchestrating a "publicity stunt."

Hopfinger offered a different account.

"He throws me up against the wall," Hopfinger said of Fulton, who handcuffed him without ever identifying himself.

Fulton claimed that Hopfinger—whose site describes him as "a pot-bellied and overweight writer"—"shoulder checked" someone. However, Fulton did not name the person allegedly pushed by the journalist.

"I was being pushed into a lot of people," Hopfinger said. "I used my hand. It all happened in seconds. He said it was a private event. He grabbed me and said, 'You're under arrest'."

Fulton also claimed to Alaska Dispatch that the publicized town hall was a "private" event and that his security guards had "taken over the school."

Miller, a tea party favorite who surprised the establishment by winning the Republican primary, has faced criticism for not answering questions about his work history. Last week, Miller called out Alaska Dispatch for "journalistic impropriety" after the site reported that there had been an investigation of the candidate when he worked as an attorney for the Fairbanks-North Star Borough.

Currently, Alaska Dispatch, the Fairbanks News-Miner and the Anchorage Daily News are suing the borough to obtain Miller's personnel file.

(Photo of Hopfinger in handcuffs: Anchorage Daily News/ Bill Roth. Photo of Miller in August 2010: AP/ Mark Thiessen.)