SEATTLE, WA — On Monday, a man used his time during public comment at a Seattle City Council meeting to make a threat. The man, who speaks at every meeting and often gives Nazi salutes, told the Council he would stick his "kosher sausage" down their throats "forever."

Council President Bruce Harrell cut the man off. Councilwoman Lorena Gonzalez called it a threat of sexual violence, and asked that the man be removed from Council chambers. "This man just threatened to stick his genitals down our throats," she said.



It's an extreme example of how out of hand public comment can get. And it happened just a few weeks after a public comment incident that, at least briefly, made the Council infamous. A video of Council members looking at their phones while a 72-year-old Seattle man spoke during public comment was viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit. It was initially publicized by Seattle right-wing radio hosts before local media picked up the story. Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, among others, posted about it on social media.

The Council — and other city departments — received hundreds of angry emails in response, some from nearby cities, others from as far away as the Netherlands and Florida.

Some emails, which Patch obtained through a public records request, contain deeply offensive and racially-tinged language. Some could be construed as threats. Many were politely angry, chiding the Council for making Seattle look bad.

"You're truly a revolting individual and a cancer that plagues the jewel of the Pacific Northwest," one person wrote to Councilwoman Kshama Sawant.

"I used to show dogs. You're the epitome of what we call female dogs in the profession. But I won't degrade my precious dogs by using it on you," wrote a woman named Barbara Neale to Councilwoman Debora Juarez.



The video was taken on March 11 when Richard Schwartz, a regular critic of the city's bike policies at Council meetings, got up to speak. Before he began his comments, he asked the Council members to look at him as he spoke. He insisted that they not start the clock on his public comment time until they did. Councilwoman Debora Juarez responded, "Sir, you're on a 2-minute timer here, so let's go."

