MADISON - Police showed up at a man’s workplace Tuesday morning to hand deliver two citations for his participation in Monday’s Solidarity Sing-Along at the Capitol.

Bart Munger, a 51-year-old Milton resident who works in Madison at the UW Physical Plant, says one Capitol Police officer and one UW Police officer came to his job and gave him two tickets – one for obstructing access without a permit, and one for holding a sign or banner.

“My supervisor called me on the phone and asked me where I was, and when I told her I was on my way into work she said good, because two police officers are here and want to talk to you,” Munger explained during the noontime sing-along Tuesday.

He said that a police officer approached him at the event on Monday and asked him to hold his banner and sign in his hands, rather than draping them over the railing of one of the rotunda balconies. Munger says that he complied without an argument, and wasn’t approached by an officer again until being issued the tickets the next morning.

“The whole thing is just bizarre,” commented Brandon Barwick, who also had two officers show up at his home late Monday to issue a citation. Barwick had been conducting the sing-along, something he said he’d been doing for the last three months. “I love music, and I feel like this is important,” Barwick added.

Munger’s experience brings the total to four people who have been given tickets for violations of administrative codes at the Capitol after the fact. All of them say they were given no warnings by police beforehand to stop doing what they were doing.

The sing-along on Tuesday was led by local activist art group the Raging Grannies, and many of the signs being held by those in attendance expressed disdain for new Capitol Police Chief David Erwin, whose policies have led to the recent crackdown.

Barwick said that when he asked the officers who delivered his tickets why the new tactic had been employed, they responded that their instructions had come from Chief Erwin and didn’t say anything more.

All of the people given tickets--except for Barwick--have received previous citations at the Capitol, likely explaining how the police were able to find them at home and at work.

Several Capitol Police were on hand for Tuesday’s sing-along, at one point circling the crowd with a video camera. No arrests were made or tickets given at the time.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that all four protesters had previously received citations. That is incorrect. This is Brandon Barwick's first ticket.

Emily Mills

Editor-At-Large

Emily Mills is Editor-At-Large for Dane101, as well as Editor of Our Lives Magazine. She is also a freelance writer, photographer, actor, and musician (drummer and singer in local band Little Red Wolf). Originally from several states up and down the Midwest Emily has called Madison home since 2000. Contact her at