The Gorham Times recently reached out to Town Council member Ben Hartwell to ask for his response to coverage in southern Maine news outlets regarding his allegedly having been a member of the Oath Keepers group at some point. These news reports referred to a September 7 news release, in which the Anti-Defamation League claimed that Hartwell is one of just two Maine elected public officials who had been identified as having ties to the Oath Keepers. (The Anti-Defamation League is an international civil rights organization.) Hartwell responded with the following written statement.
“In January 2015, I joined an organization called Oath Keepers, which to my understanding, was a membership geared towards military and law enforcement who had previously sworn an oath to defend the constitution and would continue to uphold that oath.
“Much of the talk about upholding an oath stem from the fear of the government taking firearms away from law-abiding citizens. Any such order, in my opinion, is unconstitutional. By getting the people who would theoretically be tasked with disarming people to uphold their oath and refuse to obey such an order, then potential conflict could be avoided. Oath Keepers was an organization to prevent violence, not cause it. That is what caused me to join it.
“Nothing happened, I never met with anyone, I never attended anything, and I never renewed my membership after it expired in 2016. I didn’t continue to follow what they were doing and had no idea what has happened along the way.
“When I heard that some of the people involved on January 6 were members of Oath Keepers, I thought to myself that I was glad I didn’t continue to be a member of that organization and be associated with it. That said, I have no idea how those actions were consistent with the values of the organization, and I don’t even know what the values of the organization are today. It certainly doesn’t sound like any of them were upholding their oath that day.
“It is absolutely ridiculous for anyone to try to tie me to the January 6 riots, I did not support it when it happened, I don’t support it now, and I had no involvement. – Ben Hartwell, Esq.”
The Gorham Times also contacted Town Council chair Lee Pratt to ask for his commentary on this issue. In an interview with Gorham Times Editor Lori Arsenault, Pratt described Hartwell as a good councilor who is not seeking re-election, and who has only one more meeting to attend. Pratt was asked if councilors are required to account for past or present group memberships, to which he replied no, and whether he had had any concerns about Hartwell’s service on the Council prior to the recent allegations. Pratt said no, and that he considered Hartwell to have been an unbiased councilor who “looked on both sides of the coin.”
Written with Lori Arsenault, Gorham Times Editor