Man who blocked Harrisburg restaurant during GOP fundraiser ordered to pay fine

A Dauphin County jury on Wednesday convicted a Butler County man for unlawfully blocking the entrance to a restaurant hosting a state senator’s fundraiser last year.

Michael Bagdes-Canning, 70, who was convicted of obstruction of highways and disorderly conduct, will pay a $200 fine and serve 90 days of unsupervised release. Judge William Tully imposed the sentence immediately after the jury rendered its verdict Wednesday afternoon.

“Obstruction of a highway” extends to sidewalks, which includes entrances to businesses in front of sidewalks.

Bagdes-Canning, a state environmental advocate and member of the Pennsylvania Action on Climate, was previously convicted for blocking a revolving door to a Trump rally in 2016 in Western Pa. He represented himself during Wednesday’s trial.

Bagdes-Canning and his fellow protestors blocked the front entrance into Mangia Qui, an Italian restaurant where Sen. Scott Martin, R-Lancaster County, was hosting a fundraiser, on Jan. 31 2023. Martin did not respond to a call to his office for comment about the incident.

The fundraising event cost $1,000 a plate, and was attended by lobbyists, which was tantamount to legal bribery, according to Badges-Canning’s testimony. He said Martin’s environmental stance was worsening climate change.

“Our politicians are taking money, they’re taking it legally, and they made the rules (that let them take it).”

But prosecutor Amanda Batz said the trial had nothing to do with the First Amendment, environmental issues or political corruption.

“Protesting is not illegal, but if you break the law while you protest, you could face legal consequences,” Batz said during her closing statements.

Badges-Canning and his followers converged at the fundraiser near the state Capitol building — furious at Martin’s pro-fracking, pro-fossil fuel environmental stances. Badges-Canning said Martin was ignoring the concerns of voters in favor of listening only to those who have $1,000 to pay to get into an event with him.

In front of the restaurant’s door, Bagdes-Canning wore an all-white hazmat suit and dropped to his knees when Martin’s colleague, Sen. Mike Regan, R-Cumberland/York counties, approached. Regan pulled him away from the entrance, forced him to the ground, then stepped over his body to enter.

Police charged Bagdes-Canning with obstruction of a highway and disorderly conduct by fighting. Prosecutors later amended the second charge to exclude the part about fighting.

Bagdes-Canning, who sometimes used a cane during the protest, previously said he tried to report Regan to police for assaulting him when Regan pulled him away from the door. But Harrisburg police officer Jeffrey Teeter, the officer who filed charges against Bagdes-Canning, refused to take the report. A Harrisburg police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

But under Pennsylvania law, it is legal to use a reasonable amount of force to remove people who unjustly obstruct locations so long as the person removing obstructionists has a legal right to go where they are attempting to go. The law says the amount of force used to remove people must not be greater than the amount of force the other person would have to use to continue to prevent passage.

A spokesperson for Regan said Regan had nothing to do with the charges Bagdes-Canning faced at trial. He said Regan was within his rights to remove Bagdes-Canning from the entrance.

Martin and Regan were both listed on the trial’s list of potential witnesses, but neither attended the trial nor testified.

Prosecutors said they offered different “outs” for Bagdes-Canning before they arrived at trial, including the county’s diversion program known as Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition, or ARD. First-time offenders who complete ARD can have their case dismissed and their records expunged.

But, the same principles that guided Bagdes-Canning’s protest led him to turn down attempts to dispose of the case before trial, he said.

“We tried to do this the ‘right way’, but unfortunately the ‘right way’ doesn’t work,” Bagdes-Canner said. “We wanted a clean government and for our politicians to stop taking bribes.”

“We … didn’t want to recklessly endanger anybody, we didn’t want to scare anybody. We did not want to get arrested. There’s nothing fun about this.”

Staci Basore, the owner of Mangia Qui, testified Wednesday that the protestors scared and confused her employees.

Basore would have allowed Bagdes-Canning and his group to form a gauntlet for the dinner guests to walk through while chanting their rhetoric, Batz said. Instead, the door-blocking protest delayed people from attending the fundraiser dinner and hurt Basore’s business, Batz said.

Bagdes-Canning said Basore never testified to any money lost as a consequence to the protest, and said the prosecution was attempting to falsely portray the restaurant owner and employees as victims.

Regardless of the outcome, Bagdes-Canning said he would accept whatever verdict the jury presented.

“Rosa Parks did what she did and faced the consequences. Gandhi did what he did and faced the consequences. I am willing to face the consequences,” Bagdes-Canning said.

Around 20 supporters piled into the defense’s side of the gallery for the trial to support Bagdes-Canning. Even though he lost the case, where he represented himself, his supporters clapped and cheered after Tully sentenced Bagdes-Canning.

Bagdes-Canning asked Tully to sentence him on the spot, as opposed to waiting for a sentence at a later date.

“I don’t want to come back to Harrisburg,” Bagdes-Canning said. “Sentence me now.”

“Well why not? I heard there’s great food at the Mangia Qui,” Tully said.

“I’ve heard that too,” Bagdes-Canning said, emphasizing the word “heard.”

After the playful exchange, Tully did share some commentary with Bagdes-Canning.

“You have a right to speak, but you do not have a right to force others to listen,” Tully said.

Bagdes-Canning identified the PA Health and Environment Study, conducted by researches at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health who were contracted by the state’s Department of Health, as a source of frustration with state environmental policies.