By Kim McDarison
A candidate running for a seat on the Fort Atkinson City Council has responded to questions asked by Fort Atkinson Online after photos surfaced of the candidate joining with protesters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
While candid with his responses about the photos, which were posted by Ron Martin to his Facebook page on Jan. 7, 2021, and recently sent to Fort Atkinson Online by a source asking to remain anonymous, Martin questioned the motives of individuals sending the photographs to the press, asking: “What does this have to do with a city council race?”
Martin is one of three candidates running for two open Fort Atkinson City Council seats. The race will be decided in April.
In response to questions about his attendance at the Jan. 6 event, which has been described by national media and online sources as “a riot” and “attack on the capitol,” and by others as a “rally,” and “pro-Trump protest” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_United_States_Capitol_attack), Martin said: “Yes, I was there with millions of other freedom-loving Americans exercising my rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.”
Along with four photos posted by Martin, he wrote on his Facebook page: “On a bus on the way home from important business trip. Interesting day. See pics.”
In a recent telephone interview, Martin said he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, arriving by bus. He opted against sharing further information about the bus and and its passengers.
Martin said he attended the gathering “all day,” adding that from his vantage point outside of the Capitol, and which he further approximated as being from within “the middle of the crowd,” he saw no negativity or violence.
“There was no violence, no negative feelings. There was nobody that I witnessed there that would have had any ill intent. They were just there to express free speech rights and that’s it,” Martin said.
Sharing his impressions, Martin said: “I would estimate the crowd was over 1 million people. We were there exercising our constitutional right to express our opinion and our right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
“It was an upbeat mood.”
As reported by national news sources, A U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee was formed, holding its first hearing about the Jan. 6 protests and subsequent attack on the Capitol last July. An overview of the committee’s work, which is characterized as “ongoing,” is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_the_January_6_Attack.
A list of individuals who reportedly died during or in connection with the pro-Trump protest on Jan. 6, as reported by the New York Times, includes four people from within the crowd and five officers who served at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Causes ranged from gun shot wounds to heart attacks and suicides.
A story, dated Jan. 5, 2022, from the New York Times, titled: “These Are the People Who Died in Connection With the Capitol Riot, is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-deaths.html.
A subhead on the story reads: “A bipartisan Senate report found that at least seven people had lost their lives in connection with the Jan. 6. attack.”
Update: While Ron Martin noted that he believed 1 million people arrived on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, official counts, as reported by national news agencies, including the Associated Press, estimate that 10,000 people arrived that day.
Photos appear on Facebook after they were posted by Fort Atkinson City Council candidate Ron Martin on Jan. 7, 2021. The image was recently shared with Fort Atkinson Online by a source asking to remain anonymous. Speaking with Fort Atkinson Online by phone, Martin verified that he attended a protest at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, noting he was there to express his right to free speech and free assembly. He questioned the motives of those sharing the photos with the press, asking: “What does this have to do with a city council race?”
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It’s amazing the great lengths that the left will go to, and how low they will stoop to try to discredit good people who question the integrity of the November 2020 election.
I have known Ron for about a year and find him to be a decent man and a true patriot who is concerned about the future of our country. This anonymous person digging up photos from the past is just trying to smear Ron. The sources mentioned in the article are lying legacy media whom many of us no longer believe.
Why would Ron spend his own money and time to have attended this rally if he wasn’t trying to make a difference? I think someone this dedicated and principled would make a good city council member.
No one is suggesting that Mr Martin committed any crimes and he has every right to assemble. I could care less that he traveled to Washington and paid for it out of his pocket. The people that gathered for this rally were there to protest the results of an election they think was stolen from them. There are questions I think should be asked. 1. How did he know about the rally and what drew him there on January 6th? 2. Does he think the 2020 Presidential election was stolen and if so where is the proof?
This is just good reporting and I for one am glad to have this information about a candidate that might be making important decisions for our community.
I agree with you Kevin. Mr. Martin may not think anything of his actions last Jan. 6th, but it tells me a lot about the type of person he is. Just remember to go and Vote…
Mr. Martin is wrong. It has a lot to do with the City Council race. It informs the voters as to what his viewpoints are and helps us get a better picture and understanding if he is the type of person the city of Fort Atkinson should have in a position of leadership.
No violence? No negative feelings? I watched the whole day and saw policemen beaten and windows smashed. This was no peaceful expression of speech and assembly. I think Mr. Martin’s actions speak for themselves. I will not vote for him.
Five-time Emmy award-winning journalist Sharyl Attkisson said she has seen an increased effort to manipulate the public to appreciate censorship and disapprove of journalism. One of the strategies that has been employed is the use of third-party fact-checkers, she said.
“Nearly every mode of information has been co-opted, if it can be co-opted by some group, [and] fact-checkers are no different,” Attkisson said.
“Either they’ve been co-opted, in many instances, or created for the purpose of distributing narratives and propaganda,” said Attkisson. “This is all part of a very well-funded, well-organized landscape that dictates and slants the information they want us to have.”
Attkisson said she first started to notice news being controlled in the early 2000s when the media company she was working for (CBS News) was actively trying to suppress certain stories.
“The pushback came to be more about keeping a story from airing or keeping a study from being reported on the news, not just giving the other side, not just making sure it was accurately reported,” she said of pharmaceutical company stories she was covering at the time.
In 2016 Attkisson heard former President Barack Obama say news needed to be curated, after which mainstream media outlets started to consistently use the term fake news to describe mostly conservative news stories that they deemed untrue.
“And I remember thinking that was such a strange thing to say, because there was no big movement among the public, that people needed to have their information curated, that someone needed to step in and tell us what to think, curate what was online. But … after that, if you look at the media, day after day, there were headlines about fake news and curation of what should and shouldn’t be reported.”
Attkisson was referring to Obama’s comment at the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in October 2016.