This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 10, 2011 - WASHINGTON - The number of candles placed on the steps of the U.S. Capitol was dwarfed Sunday by the size of the vigil outside the Tucson hospital that sheltered critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. But the impact of that shooting spree in Arizona was felt deeply by members of Congress across the nation.
While the gunman's motivation remained unclear, the act of violence that killed six and wounded Giffords and 13 others at a town hall event in Tucson on Saturday intensified the debate about the vitriol in the nation's political discourse and also heightened the security concerns of legislators who fear disruptions in their efforts to meet with constituents.
"We are in a dark place in this country right now. And the atmospheric condition is toxic," said U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Kansas City who is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
"Much of it originates here in Washington, D.C., and we export it around the country," Cleaver said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. "Members of Congress either need to turn down the volume, begin to try to exercise a high level of civility, or this darkness will never be overcome with light."
As federal, state and local authorities in Arizona continued to investigate the background and motivation of the gunman on Sunday, congressional leaders postponed a controversial House vote that had been scheduled for this week -- an effort to repeal the health-care overhaul adopted last year -- and U.S. Capitol police moved to review already tight security at congressional buildings in Washington.
"An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, at a news conference Sunday in which he called on fellow members of Congress to carry on with their work. "This inhuman act should not and will not deter us from our calling to represent our constituents and to fulfill our oaths of office."
The leaders of the House and Senate have security details and most members of Congress tend to be well protected at the U.S. Capitol and in the congressional office buildings -- in which security was tightened after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing anthrax mailings to two senators in October 2001. But there continues to be concerns about meetings in home states or districts, such as the open meeting outside a supermarket where Giffords was shot on Saturday.
Members of Congress from the St. Louis area were reluctant to discuss the details of their own security on Sunday, but political observers have noticed a decline in the number of town hall and similar sessions in the wake of raucous meetings in the summer and fall of 2009, when many people identified with the Tea Party and other activist groups complained loudly about health-care reform and other controversial issues.
St. Louis Democratic Party chairman Brian Wahby said Sunday that he has seen a trend, going back at least a decade, in which politicians and candidates -- in both major parties -- have held fewer events that are open to the general public. Instead, such events often are invitation-only, publicized only to likely supporters, or the attendees are "screened'' for people suspected of being political opponents or potentially disruptive.
Security is one of the reasons for the change, Wahby suspects. "If the people representing us don't feel comfortable or safe interacting with their constituents, I don't think it bodes well for our democracy," he told Beacon political reporter Jo Mannies.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who knew Giffords well when he served in the U.S. House, said in a statement this weekend that "we take this attack on the congresswoman very seriously." He said that he and others in Congress "will work with Capitol police and federal law enforcement to contemplate security measures which ensure that decisions made by Americans through elections cannot be changed or threatened by violence."
U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, issued a statement condemning the "unconscionable act of violence" against his "good friend and colleague" Giffords. But he declined on Sunday -- though a spokesman "on best advice from our security people" -- to discuss what measures he takes to protect himself.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said: "As a former prosecutor, [the senator] has relied on, and will continue to rely on, the guidance and recommendations of Missouri law enforcement officials, as well as the U.S. Capitol Police, as to security precautions."
Several members of Congress have said that the intensity of the political vitriol ratcheted up during the debate over the health-reform legislation. In fact, the glass door of Giffords' district office was smashed a few hours after she voted for that bill last year. Many other legislators who backed the bill also received threats.
The second-ranking House Democrat, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, suggested Sunday that politicians and others should tone down their rhetoric on such hot-button political issues. "My colleagues are very concerned about the environment in which they are now operating," Hoyer said on CBS's Face the Nation. "It's been a much angrier, confrontational environment over the last two or three years than we have experienced in the past."
Among the prime targets of criticism this weekend has been former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee, called SarahPac, which published a graphic showing gunsight-like crosshairs on 20 targeted congressional districts -- including Giffords' district -- under the headline, "It's time to take a stand," before last fall's election.
Palin has denied that she intended the graphic to look like a gun sight, but Giffords noticed it and deplored the tactic, telling a cable news channel last fall: "When people do that, they've got to realize there are consequences to that action."
Authorities have found no connection at all between the graphic and the Tucson shooting spree, and a spokeswoman for SarahPac told a conservative news commentator, "We never ever, ever intended it to be gun sights." Palin herself posted a statement offering "sincere condolences" to Giffords' family and to other victims of the gunman. The statement said, "we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice."
No one seemed to have a coherent idea this weekend what motivated the Tucson shooter, whose rants on various networking sites appeared to make no sense. U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, a conservative Republican from Arizona, said the shooting seemed to be the act of a "deranged monster" with no clear political affiliation.
"The central element here is this unhinged lunatic that had no respect for innocent human life [who] was willing to make some grand statement. I don't even know if he understands what statement he was trying to make," Franks said on CNN's State of the Union program.
Describing Giffords as a low-key centrist, Cleaver said, "It just seems so ironic" that she was a target. "She is clearly not a hothead, or somebody who is prone to create controversy."
Cleaver, who has held "Coffee with the Congressman" meetings with constituents at the Kansas City district every month or so, said on Meet the Press, "We must, in a democracy, have access to our constituents. What we are seeing, though, is that the public is being riled up to the point where those kinds of events, and opportunities for people to express their opinions to us, are becoming a little volatile."
He added: "People come to Washington, they come to the [House] gallery and they feel comfortable in shouting out insults from the gallery. We had someone removed last week, shouting out an insult about President Obama's birth."
Late Saturday, the House sergeant at arms, Bill Livingood, sent a message to House members and their staffers advising them to be on the alert for potential threats. He advised them to "immediately report circumstances that appear suspicious, and if you are scheduled to be in a public forum (town hall meetings, rallies, etc.), and feel uncertain about your safety, immediately contact the U.S. Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section or the sergeant at arms."
But Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a native of St. Louis, told Politico that she is unsure how members of Congress can be protected around the clock. "We can be shot down in our district, but we can also be shot walking over to the Capitol," she said. "We have a lot of people outside who appear to be fragile emotionally. So we don't know when one will walk up and shoot us down. We're vulnerable, and there's no real way to protect us."
