ALLENTOWN (TNS) — Both political parties were quick to condemn Friday’s bludgeoning of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s elderly husband, whose skull was fractured with a hammer.
So why don’t they do something about it?
Politically motivated violence is a big problem and it’s time to treat it as such. Congress should broaden federal hate crime laws to include attacks and threats related to politics and elections.
While that wouldn’t deter knuckleheads who lose their minds over politics, it would ensure they receive harsher penalties.
Paul Pelosi is just the latest victim.
During the Capitol riot last year, cops were attacked by Trump supporters and Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence could have met a similar fate if rioters had found them.
Five years ago, Republican Congressman Steve Scalise was shot at a baseball field. In May, a Montgomery County man was sentenced to three years in prison after shooting up a Democratic Party office in Norristown.
And just last week, three men were convicted on charges stemming from a failed plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, in retaliation for restrictions she imposed early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The problem is so bad that the Department of Justice created a task force last year to address the rise in threats against election workers, administrators, officials and others associated with the electoral process.
The task force has charged several people, accusing them of making threats against President Joe Biden and local and state elections workers. On Oct. 6, Travis Ford of Nebraska was sentenced to 18 months in prison for making online threats against the Colorado secretary of state.
Fortunately, many people merely talk tough. But as the beating of Paul Pelosi shows, sometimes they go further.
Authorities said the suspect, David DePape, broke into the Pelosi home in San Francisco shouting, “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” She wasn’t home, and police said DePape attacked her 82-year-old husband after breaking in during the night.
At times, it may be challenging to prove an attack or threat was politically motivated. But often, the miscreants leave an easy trail to their motivation.
In the Norristown case, Anthony Nero of Eagleville pleaded guilty to sending threatening communications and cyberstalking in connection with the shooting at the Montgomery County Democratic headquarters.
He admitted to sending an online message in January 2021 to the county Democratic Party that threatened “random acts of violence” and stated “you should probably beef up security,” according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia.
Party officials later discovered bullet holes in the front window of the office. Ballistics tests confirmed two spent rounds recovered inside were fired by Nero’s pistol, according to the news release. The office was empty during the shooting and no one was injured.
The shooting of Scalise and five others at a congressional baseball practice in Virginia in 2017 was ruled by Virginia authorities and the FBI to be domestic terrorism. The shooter, James Hodgkinson of Illinois, who was killed by police, had a history of anti-Republican rantings.
He belonged to political Facebook groups including “Terminate the Republican Party.” Before firing at those on the field, he asked someone whether they were Democrats or Republicans.
The people who run our elections, and those who are elected to office, should not have to fear for their lives. Nor should their families. Political animosity has gotten out of control. It didn’t end when the Capitol riot was quelled. If anything, that emboldened more people.
There must be harsher repercussions. When many of these reprobates are hauled before a judge, they express remorse and regret. That’s not enough.
Federal hate crime laws carry penalties of up to 10 years when the circumstances involve injuries, use of a weapon or threatened use of a weapon. In situations of kidnapping or attempted kidnapping, an attempt to kill or death, the penalty can be life in prison.
It may be a stretch to amend current federal hate crimes laws to include violence and threats based on politics.
One law allows prosecutions for “violent interference with federally protected rights,” which should include election activities, but only if the victim is targeted based on their race or religion.
A new hate crime statute may be necessary to classify elections workers and elected officials as a protected class and create offenses for targeting them based on their political affiliation or for their role in the electoral system.
However it gets done, it needs to happen because these threats are not going to stop.
Thankfully, Paul Pelosi is expected to recover. So did Scalise. But will the next victims?
(Email Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick at paul.muschick@mcall.com.)
