A video-recorded town hall meeting in West Eugene last weekend has sparked a war of words and dollars, all playing out over the Internet.
The event itself featured three Democratic legislators from Eugene, who engaged in occasionally testy but mostly routine question-and-answer exchanges with an audience at Willamette High School’s cafeteria Saturday.
But in the days that have followed, one of the lawmakers involved has found herself targeted by harsh words, posted to the same Web site where the video has been up for display. Rep. Val Hoyle, said the swipes are coming from tea-party activists. She has responded with a couple of online actions of her own: She set up a page on a social networking site that has so far attracted 250 “fans,” many of whom have fired back with defenses of Hoyle and criticisms of her critics. And she’s launched an appeal for campaign contributions, with an invitation to supporters to “do our part to Rain On Their Tea Party by keeping Val Hoyle in office.” So far it’s attracted eight contributions totalling $295.
Hoyle gave a spirited defense of government’s efforts to help the unemployed and the economy and tea party activists criticized such government activism as an unwanted move toward socialism. The video shows audience members and legislators interrupting one another and occasionally raising their voices.
But the post-meeting exchanges on the Internet have been far surlier.
The YouTube video’s accompanying posts—all from people using pseudonyms to conceal their actual identities, don’t single Hoyle out by name. But she said that, given how she engaged more with some of the skeptics in her audience than did Rep. Nancy Nathanson or Chris Edwards, she is convinced they were aimed at her. Some of them included such remarks as:
“Finally a hot woman running for a state office.”
“That gabby broad talked a lot but answered nothing so far…”
“socialist bitch”
“Hay lady, I need some service… why don’t you get down on your knees… socialist ho…”
“She is brainwashed retarded and fat.”
The Democratic Party of Lane County has weighed in, issuing a statement that encourages individuals “of all political persuasion to give input to candidates and elected officials, but we call for discourse to be civil and respectful.
Hoyle said the YouTube comments weren’t just offensive to her, but hurtful for her children to learn about, especially, she said, because it was her 17-year-old daughter who discovered them on the Internet.
Hoyle described how her daughter brought the posts to her attention: “‘Mom,’ she said. ‘You’ve got to luck at this. This is really scary. These guys want to hurt you. Are we safe?’”
“I know it’s politics, not tiddlywinks,” Hoyle said. “But this crosses the line.”
Aaron Baker, a tea party activist who recorded and edited the video and posted it to the Web, said some people put “some pretty rude remarks” on his YouTube page. But the unemployed Elmira man disputed that they are threatening and said he would not remove any of them.
“Sure that was uncalled for. It was inappropriate. But it’s their freedom of speech to say whatever they want,” he said.
Hoyle said she is planning to tally up the number of friends, who sign on at her Facebook page, titled “Rain On Their Tea Party, Support Val Hoyle” and the campaign contributions registered at ActBlue’s page of the same title.
“I’m not going to get in the dirt with them,” Hoyle said. “But I am going to let them know how much money I’ve raised and how many fans I’ve got as a result of their tactics.”