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U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Republican Conference, confronted chants of “Save Our Health Care” at a Martin Luther King Day celebration in Spokane last month. She has now called in The Sheriff — U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., a former King County Sheriff — to explore how to protect GOP House members from protests by those who want to preserve the Affordable Care Act.
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Republican Conference, confronted chants of “Save Our Health Care” at a Martin Luther King Day celebration in Spokane last month. She has now
Former U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley would entertain all comers at Eastern Washington town hall meetings lasting as long as three hours. Successor Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., runs a much tighter ship with shorter meetings, control of the agenda, and drawings of who gets to ask her a question.
Former U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley would entertain all comers at Eastern Washington town hall meetings lasting as long as three hours. Successor Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., runs a much tighter ship
The Republicans in the House of Representatives, who egged on anti-Obama Tea Party demonstrators in 2009, are feeling threatened enough by “Save Our Health Care” protests at their town meetings that they held a closed meeting Tuesday to discuss self protection.
House Republican Conference chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., called in the Sheriff — Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., who lets no occasion go by without mention that he used to be King County Sheriff.
McMorris Rodgers, who tightly choreographs appearances in her Eastern Washington district, encountered spontaneous peaceful protest at a Martin Luther King Day celebration last month in Spokane.
“Save Our Health Care!’ members of the crowd chanted. McMorris Rodgers has relentlessly called for abolition of Obamacare.
Speaking at a Spokane Martin Luther King Day rally, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers was greeted with chants of “liar” as she took the stage. It then broke into the “Save Our Health Care!” chant.
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., one of Congress’ most outspoken conservatives, was escorted out of a town hall meeting last weekend, a hostile crowd prompting a call to police.
In an email to seattlepi.com, Reichert explained:
“I have 33 years of law enforcement experience, so House leadership asked me to share some security recommendations for other members of the Conference to consider implementing in their district offices. Members must always be prepared for all circumstances and are required to ensure the safety and well-being of their constituents and staff.”
Reichert told Politico, in the corridor outside the Washington, D.C., meeting, that organizers defending the Affordable Care Act are showing up at House offices and flooding offices with protest calls.
“It’s not that you run from protesters, but it someone presents some sort of physical threat or are espousing a verbal threat that could lead to a physical threat, if you feel that you’re in danger and your staff is in danger, call 911 and leave and go out the back door,” Reichert said.
Paradoxically, Reichert has consistently, sometimes amusingly, shown consistent skill at defusing protests that aimed for televised confrontations.
He welcomed delegations from the group MoveOn.org into his former office on Mercer Island, asked whether they would like coffee or water, and settled into absorptive listening. The MoveOn.org protesters were totally flummoxed.
Lawmakers should “make sure you have a black door inyour office if there is some sort of danger,” Reichert told Politico.
The out-the-back-door approach can backfire. U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., went down the back stairs in 2000 as a delegation from the National Council of Senior Citizens made for his office. The escape was captured by Seattle Post-Intelligencer photographer Paul Joseph Brown. Gorton was defeated by Maria Cantwell later that year.
The tactics discussed by Republicans on Tuesday included a physical exit strategy, a back door at House field offices, and police monitoring of town halls.
Ben Stuckart, president of the Spokane City Council, was in the front row three seats away from McMorris Rodgers at the MLK Day ceremony in Spokane.
“I heard a couple of people shout ‘Liar!’ and ‘Bull****'”, Stuckart, a McMorris Rodgers critic, recalled. “Then, the chant of ‘Save Our Health Care!’ drowned out the end of her speech. At no point was anybody int the room threatened.”
Stuckart has been in the chair at unruly council members, but said “nothing” at the MLK event posted a threat to McMorris Rodgers.
“She was new to the event: It wasn’t one of Cathy’s controlled town halls,” Stuckart added.
Sam Mace, a leader in Save Our Wild Salmon and another Spokane witness, added: “She wasn’t happy but I don’t think she felt threatened.”
State Democratic Chair Tina Podlodowski was not sympathetic to the security concerns of McMorris Rodgers and Reichert.
“It’s tough to listen to the stories of real people, with real health issues and concerns, who will be impacted by the GOP’s ill-advised attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act,” said Podlodowski. “But that’s their job — to listen — which they refuse to do.”
The Tea Party protests of 2009 turned rowdy, with right-wing groups grabbing front row seats and chanting. (The favorite of all slogans: “Keep your government hands off my Medicare.”)
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., had to defuse a crowd of 8,000, labor supporters and Tea Party opponents, at a stadium in Everett: He did so ably by calling on all sides to join in the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem.
Town meetings are a tradition in locales like McMorris Rodgers’ Eastern Washington district.
In the early 1990’s, U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley would spend as long as three hours, hearing out all comers — even the most hostile — and then staying to help a Colfax (or Walla Walla) high schools student with a term paper.
McMorris Rodgers runs a tight ship, usually with her choice of agenda and a drawing to see who gets to ask questions.
Republicans have changed the venue. After facing hostile queries at 2011 town halls, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., has switched to coffees. Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., and Greg Walden, R-Oregon, on Tuesday tweeted and emailed thanks to those who participated in “telephone town meetings.”
“The world is sometimes not a friendly place,” Reichert told Politico, referring to the 2011 shooting and disabling of Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at an outdoor constituent meeting in Tucson, Ariz.
But incendiary rhetoric can sometimes come from a member of Congress. In the summer of 2015, after heavily edited videos allegedly showed Planned Parenthood leaders dealing in fetal tissue, McMorris Rodgers tweeted:
“What kind of a country are we if we think @PPFA’s activities are acceptable?” Without offering evidence, McMorris Rodgers accused the group of “unethical and illegal practices” and “illegal activities.”
A Planned Parenthood clinic in Pullman, serving the Washington Statue University and University of Idaho communities, was destroyed in an arson attack on September 4, 2015.
Pullman is in McMorris Rodgers’ district. She has never commented on the attack.
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