I didn’t want to write about this but I feel I have to. Something has been sitting uneasily with me this past week. Last Thursday the 15th, I had two hit pieces against me the same day by people who have an association with each other. The first one featured distortions of the truth that were so egregious that they crossed over into total fiction. The second was even more egregious in it’s lies. That one left me concerned for my wellbeing. Which is why I am speaking up.
I can’t prove that the two posts were coordinated. That they were an intentional attack in coalition. Though I have reason to believe that it is true. It could be that the posts were simply inspired by each other. It could also be true that they were not coordinated at all and it was just coincidence. I don’t know.
The dangerous post was a flyer called “Antifa News”. I was featured in it along with two other candidates for Olympia City Council. What he says in it are straight lies and incredible distortions of the truth that make little sense. What he includes though is my number.
I got an anonymous call on Friday the 16th while I was doing a job, a demolition of a bathroom for a friend. The caller asked if I was Bruce, I said yes, and then he started in on an expletive ridden tirade against me. I don’t remember all the details. I remember he called me a white supremacist along with many other expletives. I remember he finished the call with something like he ‘hopes that I die.’ Then he hung up. I don’t know the exact words. I was in shock.
I tried to see if I could figure out the number but I couldn’t. I checked my phone online to figure out what could have caused someone to call me like this. That’s when I discovered messages to me from a couple other people asking me to respond to an egregious facebook post against me posted the night before by Zoltan Grossman. It wasn’t until I got back home that someone shared with me the worse flyer spread on Instagram the same day as Zoltan’s post.
These two posts hit on the same day, the day that ballots would start arriving in people’s mailboxes. The flyer was from a young anarchist named Miguel. I’m not sure of their connection to Zoltan but I’m certain they know of each other at least. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had attended lectures of his. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if they had greater communication. I was surprised to see Miguel, as a young anarchist, pay such attention to city council races to share his hit piece on the day ballots landed in mailboxes. I was not surprised that Zoltan would know to do that. This gives me much suspicion as to them being coordinated, it could be coincidence still but it seems further unlikely.
Zoltan’s post also shared within it two other posts by a couple of his friends, Alex Daye and Sfirah Madrone. Posts they had made over a month earlier. Their posts were exceptionally lacking of any facts. By sharing their posts Zoltan was able to say the lies he wanted to say without saying them directly. Sfirah and Alex also know of Miguel at least, I suspect they are friends online, I know they are in the same FB groups. So all these folks know each other. I am blocked by Sfirah, Miguel and Alex as far as I can tell on FB, so I could never see their posts about me. Zoltan though shared his post publicly so I could finally see their posts in his. I have a hard time believing that Zoltan would make a post where he included their posts in whole without asking them first.
This makes me feel that if Zoltan was likely reaching out and coordinating at least permission with Alex and Sfirah, then why wouldn’t he also be coordinating with Miguel? Of course Zoltan could have just taken the text from their pages and never told him he was going to do it. It could be a coincidence even that he posted the day the ballots dropped. It could be coincidence with Miguel as well. I don’t know. It was also strange that the caller called me a white supremacist, words Zoltan’s post shared but not Miguel’s flyer.
What I do know is that I got a call wanting me dead and it was related to these posts.
And I think there is more reason for me to worry. Last year several city council members had mobs of anarchists march on their homes. Their homes were defaced by graffiti, they were very scared. I spoke out against this very strongly and Miguel did not like that. My own home address is easy to find, you can find it on this website. I am worried about such an attack on my own house. Not afraid, these folks don’t scare me, yet, but I am nervous.
I support people’s freedom of speech. If folks don’t like a position or policy I take then that’s fine by me. I have some political disagreements with my two opponents in the race and I welcome debate and democracy around it. I think it’s another thing altogether to intentionally misrepresent my positions, especially when it’s so egregious it creates a dangerous situation for myself and others around me. This is what I see happening. Miguel was the one that crossed the line, dog whistling for violence against me, but I fear that it was in coordination with Zoltan. I doubt the other two did anything other than agree to Zoltan sharing their previous posts.
I knew politics could get ugly but this is really too far!
I could get into how these attacks are horribly wrong in great detail, (I already did on FB) but I’m exhausted. People can read my website, it’s got my positions, my thoughts, my history. They can call me or email me if there are other questions. I welcome that! Just don’t wish for my death based on false rumors please?
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