Radical leftists have employed hate-tactics to threaten and intimidate business owners on the Boise Bench, resulting in the cancellation of a local “meet and greet” community event.
According to a press release issued from candidates running for office in District 17, business owners who intended on hosting the event received “multiple harassing and frightening phone calls, and threats had made the employees feel unsafe.”
April Larson, a Republican State Representative candidate in the district, said, “Because organizing these events takes time and money, moving the event is impractical and the difficult decision was made to halt distribution of the flyers and cancel the event.”
A police report is being filed and an investigation into the threatening phone calls is being requested.
Benjamin Chafetz is a Republican candidate for Idaho’s Senate in the district. In the statement, Chaftez said, “My campaign is here to offer an alternative to the status quo which has punished the constituents time and time again. These ‘disruptors’ are the very reason that I am running. They have become a tool of the very ideology they claim to oppose.”
Chafetz also said, “Fascism utilizes the elimination of choice and free speech by way of censorship. These harassers have alleged that my fellow candidates and I are ‘Christian fascists,’ yet they embody the fascism they purport to oppose.” He went on to say that “[T]his is not the type of home we want for ourselves in Idaho. I know that the people of Idaho support free, direct, and thoughtful political discourse and I aim to provide it.”
Larson added, “It deeply saddens my heart that instead of opening doors of dialogue, honest debate and communication, we have a small minority of people sinking to verbal abuse and using terminology and racial words to tear us apart. My heart has always been for unity, bridge building and conversation in a healthy way. These angry and aggressive people do not represent the spirit of kindness and respect that I have experienced as I walk through the neighborhoods and talk with those who call this district their home.”
According to the statement, the business owners who received the threats were clear from the start that they were not endorsing any campaigns and wished to remain politically neutral. Still, the hate-tactics enacted by leftist activists were strong enough to unnerve employees of these businesses, so the business owners asked that the events be moved.
Larson said she will honor the request of the local business owners because she wants no part of them “becoming collateral damage at the hands of hate groups.”
