Apple threats missing their target
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray is campaigning for her fifth term in Congress and, once again, the apple throwers are ready.
It’s not the first time some of Murray’s opponents have encouraged throwing apples on rooftops of her supporters. But this time, they seem to be missing their target.
“I’m a registered Republican,” said Lisa Schmidt, who lives in the 49th Legislative District, and received one of the letters.
The note, once again signed from Titania and handwritten using bubbly letters, appeared a couple of weeks ago.
It’s the same notes that has surfaced in some of Murray’s previous elections.
“Dear reader of this note,” it says, “We have been throwing rooftops of supporters of Patty Murray, usually just before dawn. Because some people have windows up there where the roof is, we’ve broken a few of them; but please understand that this is happening by accident. It is sometimes difficult to see in the predawn murkiness and we thought about apologizing for the damage. But in the spirit of Murray and Obama, we are not apologizing; like them we have no intention of fixing anything.”
The letter circulated in 2015 encouraging people to throw apples started out with: “Some of us wish for our purses not to be emptied nor to see our dictionary become skinnier to please their ears … In the neighborhood if someone pulls the clothes off of your clothes line, then you have a license to pull the clothes off their line. That is how things have always worked in neighborhoods.”
In previous years, similar letters have circulated about Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon.
And rotten tomatoes have caused a stir in Vancouver when they were left in President Barack Obama supporters’ yards.
Although The Columbian has heard from a half dozen people who have received a similar letter, we haven’t actually heard of anyone who found apples on their roof or who has had a broken window.
Most of the people who have received the note mentioned they are Republicans.
“I took it as a threat,” Schmidt said. “Everyone who works in politics I talked to said it was threatening, it’s threatening our property and Republicans take property matters very seriously.”
Lauren Dake
Lauren Dake covers politics for The Columbian. You can reach her at 360-735-4534 or lauren.dake@columbian.com. Follow her on Twitter .