“Why I got arrested”
by Michael Bagdes-Canning, written for the Daily Item
I was arrested on Jan. 31, 2023. Some of my friends and I decided to force an encounter with one of our “leaders.” Sen. Scott Martin was holding a $1,000-per-plate fundraiser at a restaurant near the Capitol in Harrisburg. These fundraisers are where the bribers can bribe our legislators over a very expensive meal. We sat at the entrance wearing Hazmat suits with a banner that read, “You Take Bribes, The Planet Dies.” At some point, state Sen. Mike Regan arrived and pushed me to the ground to gain access.
This was captured by a journalist (https://twitter.com/pennslinger/status/1620460640161910785) and all of a sudden, this old retired teacher with a cane became front page news. I have been charged with obstructing a highway, and disorderly conduct, fighting and face up to one year in jail.
I was a part of this peaceful demonstration because I and people like me have been relentlessly victimized by the damage done to our state by the fossil fuel companies and the complicit legislators.
My friends in the Woodlands, a small community in Butler County where I live, had their wells poisoned by a bad fracking job. Studies from Duquesne University pointed directly to the driller. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection found them blameless. My friends, who are not rich, lost everything because their “savings” were their homes. No one will buy a house without potable water.
To this very day, up to 60 families from the Woodlands go to White Oaks Springs Presbyterian Church once a week to pick up 20-25 gallons of water per family. Their state representative told me he didn’t believe the drilling caused the problem. Same with their state senator and U.S. representative. Even though Section 208 of The Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Act states that the driller is presumed to have caused the problem if the water goes bad.
People in Chester have been choked with Covanta’s trash incinerator. In Huntingdon, people have had their land stolen by Energy Transfer Partners. My friends in Butler have been harmed by Exxon’s reckless drilling. And my friends in Lancaster have a pipeline they didn’t want. We were in Hazmat suits for the demonstration that day because this is toxic politics.
We were there to clean up the mess. We want to get dirty money out of politics, pass a gift ban, and stop allowing legislators to have corrupting side jobs with the very industries that they are supposed to regulate.
As I looked into it, I found that representatives who were attending that fundraiser had received hefty campaign contributions from the very industry they should have been regulating. These same representatives are also championing legislation that protects the industry at the expense of those who elected them. My eyes were opened to legalized bribery, the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.
If you are rich and powerful, you can legally bribe a politician. And make no mistake, these are bribes.
Money buys access. Regular people like you and me can’t afford to buy that kind of access. Jan. 31, 2023, was a good day for Sen. Martin. If you look at his campaign finance reports, he raked in tens of thousands of dollars from fossil fuel interests on that one day. And he has repaid them with serious favors.
In any other profession, these donations would be recognized for what they are. Think about it, if I had offered the policeman who arrested me $1,000, how would that go over? What about the judge who will hear my case? What if I offered the members of the jury $1,000? Our legislators legally get away with receiving such bribes.
I still have faith that a vigilant citizenry can make a difference, but I’m no longer that young teen who thought that letter-writing and lobbying would do the trick. We need to demand that our politicians serve the people who elect them, not the ones who buy them.
My trial will be held at 9 a.m. Monday, March 11, in the Dauphin County Courthouse, 101 Market St. in Harrisburg. Come join us.