The mob must be stopped. WA lawmakers can’t be intimidated by violent thugs | Editorial

As our nation continues to reel from the shock of this week’s bloody rampage in Washington, D.C., concern that violence will erupt during our state’s legislative session is alarmingly justified.

The anger, the venom, the deranged brutality toward other human beings is out of control.

Our state lawmakers already have said they are determined to do their jobs, and will not be intimidated when they convene Monday for this year’s 105-day session.

That’s as it should be. Our government must not be hijacked by the frenzied mob.

That same determination also goes for journalists. Consider what happened to state government reporter, Sarah Gentzler, as she covered the chaos Wednesday in Olympia.

On the same day President Donald Trump encouraged an insurrection on the nation’s Capitol, his supporters also gathered at our state Capitol and broke through the gate surrounding the governor’s mansion. Some were armed.

While security officials were able to take control of the situation rather quickly, it wasn’t before one man with a gun threatened two journalists — one of them Gentzler, who covers state politics for McClatchy newspapers, including the Herald.

“Get the f… out!” the man screamed, while lunging for her cell phone. He told her he had pepper-sprayed members of the media before, and repeated, “We’re serious, get the f… out.” Later, he told her “We’re going to shoot you f…ing dead in the next year.”

Gentzler was able to get some of the confrontation on video, capturing the frightening moment. It can be seen on her Twitter page.

Olympia has been a hotbed of strife off and on for several months, attracting angry demonstrators from the extreme poles of the political spectrum.

In early December, one person was shot and three arrested after two protest groups clashed near the state Capitol Campus. Over the summer, protest groups also damaged parts of downtown Olympia.

So government officials must unfortunately prepare for the worst when they meet next week. With the pandemic, a majority of members from the Senate and House chambers will meet Monday to change the rules so they can conduct business remotely, which may turn out to be a positive switch under such anxious circumstances.

But still, it doesn’t mean some protesting groups won’t try to cause trouble.

At least one organization has wisely decided to cancel its “Legislative Lock Out” event.

Originally, Tyler Miller, of Washington Three Percent, had planned to have his group members find a way to get inside the state Capitol building and occupy the visitor galleries where the public can observe the Legislature. His group is upset that lawmakers aren’t meeting in person this year.

But with the events this week, he said their protest plan is too risky. Miller does not want violence, and told KIRO Radio that there was just too high a likelihood that the group would be infiltrated by outsiders.

He also lamented that lawless protesters have made it impossible for other, peaceful demonstrators to be safe and to be heard, according to MYNorthwest.com.

Miller is right. Peaceful protests on all sides are fine, but crazed, paramilitary riots are not.

Already five people have died in the assault on the nation’s Capitol. Three were medical emergencies that occurred during the assault, one woman was shot, and a Capitol police officer died of his injuries fighting armed thugs trying to disrupt the Congressional vote that would affirm Joe Biden’s presidency.

The attack may have stalled the Electoral College count, but it didn’t stop it. Journalists at the scene in Olympia were threatened and told to leave, but they got their story.

And lawmakers will conduct business next week and thereafter regardless of the prospect of angry mobs bent on taking over the state Capitol.

We must, all of us, hold firm until this tide of madness recedes.

This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 12:41 PM.