18 | OCTOBER 29 • 2020
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
J
ewish Michigan State
Rep. Ryan Berman has
rebuked backlash and a
recent call from the Oakland
County Democratic Party
(OCDP) to “denounce his
ties to militias,
” following the
arrest of 13 men
accused of plot-
ting to “storm”
the state capitol
and kidnap
Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer.
The OCDP
circulated two separate pho-
tos of Berman pictured with
armed individuals, one dated
September 2019 and one on
April 30, 2020, when pro-
testers demonstrated against
the COVID-19 lockdown at
Michigan’
s capitol.
OCDP said Berman, a
Republican, was “front-and-
center with armed mili-
tia members confronting
Michigan State Police officers
near the entrance to the
Michigan House during a pro-
test on April 30.
”
But Berman tells the JN that
neither photo has been inter-
preted accurately, calling the
OCDP release a “smear.
”
The April 30 photo, Berman
said, shows him walking
through the crowd to get to
the house floor as the legisla-
ture was in session.
“The people in the crowd
were the ones there yelling at
us, chanting to ‘
let us in’
—
meaning to let them in our
session/chamber,
” Berman
wrote in an email. “Why
would I be there yelling and
rallying alongside those people
when I’
m an elected represen-
tative who is already allowed
to go into the chamber and
vote and voice my opinion?
“This is really ridiculous
that I even have to explain
why I was at my own work-
place!”
Berman said he went out of
the chamber at one point to
try to de-escalate the protest-
ers, letting them know he was
there to listen to their concern.
“I was not a part of the rally
or associated with those pro-
testers, nor any militia!”
As far as the 2019 photo,
Berman identified the other
figures in the photo as “an
attorney in the district and his
friends,
” but did not provide
any further information.
“He stopped by my office
while they were in Lansing
to participate in a Second
Amendment March at the
Capitol,
” Berman said. “I sup-
port the people’
s ability to arm
and protect themselves as per
the Michigan Constitution.
”
Berman, who represents
Michigan’
s 39th District,
is up for reelection against
Democrat Julia Pulver.
Berman at
the Capitol
Berman Slams
Democrat Group for
Linking him to Militias
Rep. Ryan
Berman
ODCP
IN
THED
JEWS
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