Rantz: Activist slams Seattle council member’s death threat ‘delusion’

Seattle City Councilmember Rob Johnson says he’s received death threats because he supports a controversial bike lane project in his district. Only, Johnson has ignored multiple media requests for clarification, never reported it to Seattle police, and is backtracking on at least one of the “death threats” because it wasn’t an actual death threat.

It’s leading some community activists to wonder if he overplayed the threats in order to vilify those fiercely opposed to the bike project that he has been pushing, against community wishes.

The City of Seattle is using a mediator to settle down angry neighbors and businesses who do not want bike lanes on busy 35th Ave NE in Seattle. Armed with substantial survey data, activists with the grass-roots group Save 35th Ave. believe the bike lane placement is unnecessary and will hurt business. The pro-bike lobby, many of whom don’t live in the district, have attempted to drum up support for the project, implying those opposed to it are content if cyclists get hit by cars.

The fight has become nasty, made worse after Johnson claimed the anger over the project crossed the line into actionable threats.

“Having had death threats because of my support for this project, having had individual SDOT workers be targeted, I think has resulted in a real anxiety both for me, my family, and I would imagine for members of the SDOT team,” said Johnson to the Seattle Times.

What exactly were the threats? And why — as I’ve confirmed — did he not report them to the police?

After repeated requests for comment made directly to Johnson and the council communications director Dana Robinson-Slote, the first on October 23, Johnson refused to comment to clarify the nature of the threats nor explain why he hasn’t reported the incident to police.

The possible ‘threat’ doesn’t seem like a death threat

Seattle City Council suggested I search Nextdoor.com, a popular community blog, to find the threats. This suggests the staff knew, generally, of the threats but did not want to reveal them to me directly. I wasn’t able to find anything.

Nor has Gabe Galanda, a local attorney and leader of Save 35th Ave.

Galanda reached out to Johnson via email, requesting the council member retract his statement, as he felt it unfairly implicated them in the controversy.

“Earlier this year somebody unaffiliated with Save 35th tweeted that you were a ‘dead man walking,’ alluding to the fact that he will not be re-elected in 2019,” Galanda wrote Johnson on October 25. “I saw the tweet at the time; I did not recognize its sender.  The tweet has long since been deleted. It was not any death threat. Yet your staffers … scurried around the second floor of City Hall, claiming you were the subject of ‘death threat.’ That was precisely when the false ‘death threat’ narrative was born.”

He continued by explaining he heard Johnson’s home address was published on Nextdoor, and however troubling that might be, the address is public record and wouldn’t constitute a death threat.

Galanda isn’t the only one asking questions.

The Seattle Times has updated its original story on this issue to add quotation marks around “death threats” and have indicated, via emails to Galanda, they’re seeking clarification from Johnson about his thus-unsubstantiated claims.

Johnson finally responds and backtracks

On October 29, Johnson finally responded to Galanda and The Seattle Times — though not to KTTH. He wrote to Galanda:

Over the summer in quick succession an individual posted my home address and encouraged people to come to my house and share their opinions with my wife and three young girls. Shortly afterwards we received word that someone had posted on twitter that I was a dead man walking in conjunction with a thread about 35th. The overlap of those two threats happening within a short time of each other do constitute threatening behavior to me.

In the email, Johnson says the “dead man walking” message was a “death threat” and was reported to the city clerk, head of security at city hall, and the mayor’s security team.

In an interview with The Seattle Times, the tweet is quoted as “Yup, Former CM Johnson … dead man walking” but doesn’t explain what the tweet was responding to when the user says “yup” — an indication that we’re missing context.

“I do not know if those threats are then formally filed with the SPD, but as you know the mayor’s security team is made up of SPD officers,” Johnson wrote. “I have been assured on multiple occasions by members of the mayor’s security team that they have been monitoring those social media accounts and have been following up.”

It’s unclear if the online “threats” encouraged people to come to Johnson’s house to discuss anything directly with his wife and daughters, or if that is what Johnson inferred.

But, it also turns out that the comments were wholly unrelated to the bike lane project, a claim he originally made to The Seattle Times.

In the Times, the “threat” was described as relating to a post about homelessness where a user asked folks to park “ratty motorhomes” at Johnson’s home. The address was listed and the Times makes no reference to mentions of Johnson’s kids or wife.

To better understand the context, I’ve asked for copies of the threats, but they were not provided.

The death threat “delusion”

Galanda doesn’t believe these instances are credible threats and he told that directly to Johnson via email.

Thank you for the courtesy of your reply and for confirming that the Tweet and Next Door post we’ve identified are the sum total of what you believe were “death threats.” In other words thank you for confirming that in fact there were no credible threats upon your life of any kind. I will not indulge the rest of your delusion.

When I originally approached this story, I intended to call out vitriol from the anti-bike lane side because it can be just as nasty and maddening than the language from the bike militants who litter Twitter with hateful rhetoric. I can’t consistently call them out while giving a pass to anyone dumb enough to threaten a council member over his expected position on bike lanes. His support is no shock; Johnson is a bike activist, after all.

But the story as presented seems Johnson is vastly overstating the level of threats as a political maneuver to undercut the efforts by Galanda’s group.

Is Johnson delusional with his claim of death threats? It’s hard for me to see his point clearly, as he refuses to turn over the “threats” to be viewed in context. And if the “dead man walking” was clearly in reference to re-election prospects, that well-known phrase shouldn’t confuse Johnson, even if people posted his information online on another website, having to do with a completely different subject.

Of course, posting addresses of public servants — even if the info is public — is wrong and dangerous.

If Johnson believes he was legitimately threatened, he should immediately report it to the police, even if he did go through some internal procedure. He has no idea if they referred it to the SPD; why wouldn’t he ask? We’ve seen how threats against public figures can turn to actual violence. We should all want whomever is responsible for a threat to pay the legal price for such abhorrent behavior. Disagreements over bike lanes should never lead to a threat. Period.

But if Johnson is using the “dead man walking” tweet to claim a death threat, when the context shows it to be unrelated to an actual death threat, his constituents should disqualify him from consideration if he runs for re-election. It’s disturbing to play victim, so that your position on an ill-advised bike lane project can gain public sympathy; what’s worse, it diminishes actual victims of death threats.

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