Pixiq | August 23, 2011
By Carlos Miller

Hoping to prevent an embarrassing Youtube video from making the rounds, Republican Congressman Steve Chabot of Ohio ordered police to confiscate cameras from people attending a town hall meeting Monday night.

The result was two embarrassing Youtube videos that are sure to make the rounds.

The first video shows a police officer confiscating a video camera from a woman in the audience as television news videographers record the interaction.

The second video shows a police officer confiscating a man's iPhone as it recorded, capturing the dialogue between the two.

The cop tells the man that he is not allowed to record the event "to protect the constituents."

Meanwhile, televisions news crews were videotaping openly.

Outside the meeting, Chabot had signs placed stating that cameras were banned "for security purposes."

The citizens were part of a group who had gathered outside the meeting to protest against Chabot, but the videos show they were not disrupting the meeting, even when the cop confiscated their cameras.

According to Think Progress:

Outside the town hall were multiple signs reading, “For Security Purposes, Cameras Are NOT Permitted.” In fact, on at least two separate occasions, middle-aged constituents who tried to record the public event had their cameras confiscated and were asked to leave.

Media were permitted to record the event, making the ban on citizen cameras all the more baffling. Clearly no “security” threat existed; rather, as one of Chabot’s staffers told ThinkProgress, they wanted to “prevent” people from “making a show” of the event

But who needs the media when you have Youtube?

Feel free to contact Chabot through this link or to post on his Facebook wall.