Former Police Officer Posed As Reporter At Political Events

A former police officer who recently worked in politics was caught posing as a reporter at multiple events featuring Democratic congressional candidate Scott Wallace.

Bucks County Courier Times reporter Thomas Friestad broke the news Saturday that political operative Ariel Benjamin Mannes posed as a reporter for their publication while at an event. The newspaper reported Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s campaign confirmed Mannes was employed part-time with the campaign but they cut off ties after they learned he was representing himself as a reporter. The congressman called the newspaper’s executive editor to apologize.

Mannes acted as a journalist at Wallace events attended by NewtownPANow.com reporters who witnessed some of his actions. During those events, he had opportunities to ask questions of Wallace along with actual reporters from local news organizations and a regional TV station.

“I file for the Bucks County Courier in Philadelphia,” Mannes said in a political tracking video it appears he recorded.

Videos featuring Mannes speaking with Wallace appeared on Republican political tracker pages and were even included in press releases sent out by the National Republican Campaign Committee. The clips and bits from the tracking videos are often used in news articles, posts on partisan websites, and in election season ads.

Both parties often make use of political trackers to follow candidates in the hopes they’ll catch clips that can be used against opponents. However, the trackers are usually easy to spot and do not pose as journalists.

A NewtownPANow.com reporter became suspicious of Mannes, who wore several lanyards, late last month due to his behavior at campaign events and were unable to find articles about that race that matched his attendance. Other reporters at events stated they did not know who the man was but he was a regular at Wallace events.

In tracking videos, Mannes, a Philadelphia resident, appears to tell a woman who speaks with him that he submits content to The Hill, a Washington D.C. political publication, and the right-leaning Daily Caller website. At the same event, which took place in Falls Township, he tells Wallace campaign communications director Zoe Wilson-Meyer he uses a pen name.

In one video, Mannes was asked about being a tracker and seemed to have no idea what it was, noting he needed to look it up.

As reporters in Bucks County were digging on Mannes, he was posting to regional news aggregator Philadelphia Patch about school safety.

Mannes listed on his website that he worked as a police officer for the Federal Protective Service and later the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department before working in the private sector and as a consultant for security-related projects.

Mannes, according to a Washington City Paper report from 2005, was “embroiled in a bizarre incident involving a reporter for the Washington City Paper.” The publication said he posted information about a reporter following a story and ended up losing his job as an officer with the Washington D.C. city police agency.

In addition, the Washington City Paper noted that Mannes was involved in an incident while working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and moonlighting as a bar bouncer.

According to court records from Washington D.C. court and supplied by Wallace’s campaign, Mannes pleaded guilty in December 2005 to carrying a pistol without license outside of a home and business and false impersonation of police.

Fitzpatrick’s campaign spokesperson Genevieve Malandra said Mannes “actions were completely unauthorized, unsanctioned and unacceptable and he was released immediately upon discovery. We have a zero-tolerance policy for any such conduct, period.”

While Fitzpatrick apologized to the Bucks County Courier Times executive editor for the incident, Wallace’s campaign called the incident an “unethical tactic.”

“We’re used to trackers, that’s just the game these days but as a campaign we work really hard to be transparent and accessible to the press and for someone to introduce themselves as a reporter for a local paper – using a fake name – and then take home a paycheck from our opponent, Rep. Fitzpatrick, is shockingly unethical,” Wallace campaign manager Eric Nagy said in a statement.

Nagy said the campaign has concerns that Mannes attended campaign events due to his criminal history.

Mannes and the National Republican Campaign Committee did not return an email seeking comment.