Eric Cantor accuses Democrats of 'fanning flames' on member threats

Updated 6:05 p.m.

By Ben Pershing

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) angrily lashed out at Democratic leaders for their handling of reported threats against members of Congress Thursday, accusing them of "dangerously fanning the flames" by blaming the GOP and confiding that he has also been the recipient of threats.

Concerns about security for members of Congress burst into the spotlight this week after several lawmakers reported death threats or incidents of vandalism directed at them and their offices because of their support for the health-care overhaul legislation. Some Democrats have suggested that Republicans may have encouraged such behavior by acting rowdily during the weekend House debate on the reform bill.

Cantor, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) all addressed the issue of member threats in separate press conferences Thursday. But while the other two leaders avoided accusing the other party of exploiting the topic, Cantor was forceful in attacking Democrats.

"Let me be clear -- I do not condone violence," Cantor said at the start of his press event. "There are no leaders in this building, no rank and file members in this building, that condone violence, period."

Then he contrasted his own actions with those of Democrats who have been harassed:

"I've received threats since I assumed elected office, not only because of my position but also because I'm Jewish. I've never blamed anyone in this body for that, period. Any suggestion that a leader in this body would incite threats or acts against other members is akin to saying that I would endanger myself, my wife or my children. Just recently I have been directly threatened. A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week, and I've received threatening e-mails. But I will not release them, because I believe such actions will only encourage more to be sent," he said.

Cantor provided no further details about the shooting during his press event. The Richmond Police Department said in a press release Thursday that it "is investigating an act of vandalism at the Reagan Building, 25 E. Main St., Richmond, Virginia. A first floor window was struck by a bullet at approximately 1 a.m. on Tuesday, March 23. The building, which has several tenants including an office used by Congressman Eric Cantor, was unoccupied at the time. A preliminary investigation shows that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window in a downward direction, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds. There was no other damage to the room, which is used occasionally for meetings by the congressman."

Currently there are no suspects in the case, and it is unclear whether the bullet was targeted at the office or simply landed there at random.

In his comment about not publicizing threats, Cantor appeared to be taking a shot at Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) who has publicly released some of the threatening messages he has received since he cut a deal on abortion funding in the reform bill with the White House and Democratic leaders. Stupak's messages were also forwarded to reporters by the Democratic National Committee.

"I want to stress this, and it's very important: Legitimate threats should be treated as security issues," Cantor said. "And they should be dealt with by the appropriate law enforcement officials. It is reckless to use these incidents as media vehicles for political gain. That is why I have deep concerns that some -- DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen and DNC Chairman Tim Kaine in particular -- are dangerously fanning the flames by suggesting that these incidents be used as a political weapon. Security threats against members of Congress is not a partisan issue, and they should not be treated that way. To use such threats as political weapons is reprehensible."

Cantor concluded by saying that issuing press releases and releasing threatening messages "can easily fan the flames" and lead to more threats. "Enough is enough, It has to stop," Cantor said.

After leveling serious accusations against Democratic leaders, Cantor left the press conference without taking any questions from reporters.

DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said Cantor's accusations were off the mark.

"We disagree with the charge made by Rep. Cantor today that Democrats are using acts of violence for political gain," Woodhouse said. "Let's be clear: Calling on Republican leaders who have contributed in part to this anger by wildly mischaracterizing the substance and motives of health reform to condemn these acts is entirely appropriate. Instead of distracting from the issue with more attacks, we would again ask Mr. Cantor and other Republicans, as we did yesterday, to join Chairman Kaine in working to ratchet down the rhetoric, condemn deplorable behavior and find ways to disagree on these issues without the charged rhetoric that we've been hearing from Republican leaders."

Doug Thornell, a spokesman for Van Hollen, suggested that Cantor was blaming others rather than acting responsibly as a leader.

"Today, Mr. Cantor had the opportunity to join Mr. Van Hollen in calling for restraint," Thornell said. "Instead, he chose to use his press conference to level false accusations. This is straight out of the Republicans' political playbook of deflecting responsibility and distracting attention away from a serious issue."



Appearing on MSNBC Wednesday, Van Hollen said Republicans leaders "are pouring more and more gasoline on flames" and that a Republican leader needed to make clear that "this is unacceptable."

Kaine, meanwhile, alleged Wednesday that "Republican leaders are themselves engaging in actions and rhetoric that previously would have been limited to fringe elements of the Republican Party."

In emphasizing that no GOP leader had condoned violence, Cantor may have been referencing the case of Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), who complained to Boehner after the top GOP leader said in an interview with National Review that Driehaus would be "a dead man" if he voted for the health bill.

In his own press conference Thursday, Boehner complained, "No one saw this quote of mine in this publication until Mr. Driehaus and others made a public issue of it."

Boehner did make a point of condemning the threats: "I know many Americans are angry over this health care bill ... but as I've said before, violence and threats are unacceptable. They have no place in a political debate. We need to take that anger and channel it into what I would describe as positive change."

Boehner declined to address a question about whether it was appropriate for Republican members to hold signs off a Capitol balcony saying "Kill the Bill" -- Boehner said he hadn't seen the signs, though they were widely reported. But he did say "there was a lot of activity on the floor over the last several months that I would describe as unacceptable. And it's happened on both sides of the political aisle. That's why the speaker and I talked about it yesterday. ... We ought to be respectful of each other."

Pelosi, for her part, took pains not to tar all of the health bill's opponents with the actions of an extreme few.

"All who participate in our freedom of expression should not be painted with the same brush," Pelosi said, later adding that she did not blame any Republican members for provoking the threats.

"I don't subscribe to the fact that these acts of violence sprang from any words of my colleagues," she said.

Asked to react to the reports of member threats, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday, "Look, I think as strongly as your beliefs are held in a country as free as America, we ought to be able to have a debate that is done in a way that's civil without any threat of violence. We've done that for a good portion of our country's history. And I think there's absolutely no reason to believe that we can't debate big issues that people are passionate about but leave any threat of violence out of those passionate discussions."

