More Democratic state legislators appear to have been targeted by a man accused of threatening to shoot lawmakers, according to at least two Pittsburgh-area state House members.
And as a wider circle of local legislators learn of threats to their safety, some are decrying the apparent reappearance of an anonymous mailer doxxing a state House candidate, Brittany Bloam, in Pittsburgh's suburbs.
After Adam G. Berryhill of Lebanon County was arrested last week for making terroristic threats online, an initial 20 Harrisburg Democrats learned an account allegedly belonging to him had included their names on "a hit list," state police said.
But a message sent to House Democrats Wednesday night referenced a larger list of 36 legislators, nearly doubling the number of targets first shared by Pennsylvania State Police. The message says those additional names — which include state House members Dan Frankel of Squirrel Hill and Arvind Venkat of McCandless — will be added to the charges now facing Berryhill, who waived a preliminary hearing Thursday and is being held at the Lebanon County Prison.
"We just learned that we were on the list once [authorities] did a more thorough review," Frankel told WESA. "But it looked like much of the Democratic caucus was on the list."
Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf, whose office is handling the case, did not respond to a request for comment.
Frankel said he's received threats in the past that mention his faith.
"It becomes kind of exhausting when you take a look at the volume of visceral hatred that's out there, and much of it targeted to elected officials and especially to Jewish elected officials," said Frankel, who is Jewish.
" Sometimes we tend to take some of these things lightly, but I think that era has ended," he said, referencing the governor's mansion firebombing and the killing of two Minnesota state lawmakers last year.
Venkat, who represents the North Hills suburbs, said it was the first time he'd been the target of a threat.
"My concern is that we are in an environment where these type of public threats against elected officials — and I don't care if you're Republican, Democrat or any other party — it seems to be more prevalent," he said.
He also echoed concerns expressed by other lawmakers that the targets of such threats should be notified more quickly. While the threats were posted last month, lawmakers only heard about them this week.
"It's not only a matter of personal safety, it's a matter of my staff's safety and the public's safety," Venkat said. "As a public figure, if I'm out in the public and I'm being targeted, the public should be aware of that as well."
Gov. Josh Shapiro and legislative leaders met with Pennsylvania State Police late Wednesday to revise the process by which members are notified of threats.
A state police spokesperson said troopers "are confident that the threat was addressed swiftly and appropriately," but added that PSP is working with the legislature's security force on a new notification process.
More broadly, Venkat said the tone and tenor of the political debate should change.
"Public officials need to condemn this vociferously, and it doesn't matter if the targeting is on you, on your side of the aisle or your ostensible opponents," he said.
Anonymous mailer controversy resurfaces
News of the threats this week underscored concerns about an anonymous mailer, first reported by WESA two weeks ago, sent to residents in the western suburbs criticizing Brittany Bloam. The mailers did not explicitly threaten Bloam, instead portraying her as a carpetbagger and a Buffalo Bills fan. But they did include address information and a photo of her home.
Those mailers have been criticized for "doxxing" Bloam, and potentially putting her family at risk. Suspicion about who is responsible has fallen on Bloam's rival, Pat Catena, who has denounced them as well.
But all the criticism has apparently made little impact: On Thursday, there were reports of another batch of the mailings landing in district mailboxes.
Bloam's campaign said in a statement that despite the threats against local lawmakers, "yet again, 'friends' of my opponent continued their cowardly and dangerous tactics by circulating a mailer … accompanied by a picture of our home and address. I will not stand by and allow tactics that endanger families, encourage violence, and put public servants at risk, to become normalized."
And Venkat joined with three other Allegheny County Democrats — Aerion Abney, Jessica Benham, and Lindsey Powell — in a statement denouncing the mailers.
"At a time when political violence and intimidation are escalating across our country, there is no excuse for reckless actions that endanger public officials, candidates, or their families," the statement said. Alluding to the threats reported this week, it said, "We have seen firsthand how hostile rhetoric and targeted harassment can create real danger."
The statement urged Catena and his campaign "to condemn these mailers and consider the ways in which he has cultivated an environment where his allies would think this was acceptable."
Catena has staunchly denied having any part in the mailers. And on Thursday, he said he was stunned to hear they were still going out. "Are you kidding me?" he asked. "What would possess someone to do that? It's beyond bizarre. I vehemently denounce any kind of political violence" or threat.
Catena also criticized them two weeks ago. "I wouldn't wish this on anybody," Catena told WESA at the time. He has himself said he was threatened over a county council vote on whether to work with federal immigration officials. "I know what it's like to be attacked," he told WESA. "I was a victim of that myself."
Catena said his own campaign had stopped sending out any mailers at all after he was denounced for a mailing that criticized Bloam for being endorsed by a group that supports transgender athletes. The reaction has led to calls for his ouster.
"I'm not doing any more mailers," he said. "This has been a rough week for me." He said his own family had received threats in recent days: "It's bad. No one should have to put up with this."
The mailings do not include a "paid for" disclosure that identifies who sponsored the messages — a violation of state law — or other potential identifiers like a union "bug" that could help track down who printed them.
Venkat said candidates "don't control everything that a political supporter does. We live in a free society [and] people do stupid things. But if something is done that is meant to be on my behalf, even if I never had anything to do with it, I would hope that I would condemn that immediately and make it clear in as many communications channels as I had that that should not happen."
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