Democrats report threats against those who voted for healthcare overhaul
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Democrats who voted for the healthcare overhaul legislation have been threatened, party leaders said Wednesday, calling on Republican leaders to jointly condemn the incidents.
At a news conference, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina condemned the 10-plus threats. Authorities including the Capitol Police and the FBI are investigating, they said.
The incidents include the shouting of racial epithets and homophobic comments over the weekend, putting legislators addresses online and using posters of lawmakers’ faces in the cross hairs of a target.
Such activity “undermines our democracy and undermines the safety of individuals,” Hoyer said.
“To remain silent gives the impression of condoning or sanctioning such actions,” Hoyer said, urging Republican leaders to publicly stand with Democrats to condemn the actions.
The threats came as the House was approaching a climactic vote on healthcare, the issue that has monopolized politics in Washington for more than a year. The rhetoric has been heated and fiercely partisan.
Republican leaders including Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia have issued statements condemning the threats, especially racial taunts directed at some lawmakers from ‘tea party’ demonstrators over the weekend. Tea party leaders have disowned those incidents as well.
One of the most serious incidents involves a severed fuel line at the home of the brother of Rep. Tom Perriello of Virginia. The cut line was discovered the day after tea party activists posted the address online. The incident is being investigated by the FBI.
“My No. 1 priority right now is ensuring the safety of my brother’s family, and I am grateful to law enforcement for their excellent work,” Perriello said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
“While it is too early to say anything definitive regarding political motivations behind this act, it’s never too early for political leaders to condemn threats of violence, particularly as threats to other members of Congress and their children escalate. And so I ask every member of House and Senate leadership to state unequivocally tonight that it is never OK to harm or threaten elected officials and their families with anything more than political retribution. Here in America, we settle our political differences at the ballot box,” he stated.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs also condemned the threats.
“We ought to be able to, in a country as proud and as rich in tradition as the United States of America, to have a debate in a way that is civil and in a way that demonstrates both the passion of our beliefs, but in the values that we hold dearly as a country,” he said.
-- Michael Muskal
