With Gabby Giffords lying in an intensive-care bed in Tucson's University Medical Center, this is an especially tense time in American politics. Though the timing is surely a coincidence, this morning's arrest of Charles Habermann underlines just how difficult, just how inflammatory, it has become.
As reported this morning by seattlepi.com (the web-only remnant of the defunct Post-Intelligencer), Habermann was arrested today in Palm Springs. He is charged with violating several sections of Title 18 of the United States Code -- Threatening a Federal Official -- based on the evidence of several (very) troubling phone calls to Congressman McDermott's Seattle office.
And, as we'll see below, Jim McDermott wasn't Charlie Habermann's only target.
The criminal complaint against Habermann can be read in full (note: PDF). Displayed in that document are transcripts from two messages he left on the McDermott office's voicemail, in the wee hours of the morning on December 10, 2010. I won't quote directly from the transcripts; suffice it to say that Habermann spices up his intention to shoot and kill McDermott with numerous obscenities.
Interviewed by the FBI later on December 10, Habermann admitted making the calls to McDermott and other House members regarding the then-pending tax cut bill. Between threats and curses, he referred to Federalist 10 and Locke's Second Treatise of Government. The complaint indicates that he admitted calling "Congresswoman C.P." (almost certainly Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01)) the previous night, and that he said he'd been calling House members across the country. I have no idea whether any others have reported, or will report, on his threats.
Habermann did tell the FBI agents that he'd been drinking at the time of the calls, but that he was "functioning" at the time. He said he thought he would have been able to drive when the calls were made.
Threatening a member of the House of Representatives is a step up from Habermann's prior history of political threats. In March 2010, he'd been escorted out of a California Assembly member's office after ranting on taxes, Latinos, and immigration. A few days later, he had called the same Assembly member with content similar to the messages he left for McDermott. For those incidents, he had been interviewed by the California Highway Patrol and received a warning.
I don't know whether any other federal prosecutors will join Western Washington's US Attorney Jenny Durkan in charging Habermann with federal criminal charges. If more do, perhaps Gabby Giffords will be the only Congressional victim of the ugly violence that is poisoning the American political scene these days.