I know a little about political violence. I was targeted but survived a political assassination attempt in 2006 and slowly turned the incident into a positive force for personal and community transformation.
First came anonymous death threats by phone over a series of months. I did not take them seriously at first because I knew that these were the bigoted reactions. I was the first Jewish, liberal, Democrat, pacifist, educated, affluent, activist, and politically connected person in this working class rural red neighborhood. I knew that my environmental activism annoyed local politicians. This was a community that, for more than a century, made its living by exploiting natural resources. It may be difficult for outsiders to understand, but this is a community that, until recently, often resolved their business or political differences by fist fight. I felt that the resistance would fade once I proved that I was a ‘good guy’. But I grew concerned when the messages grew more intense and personal. In one case I gave police the caller ID, and told them who I thought was behind the calls (I was wrong) but it was not properly investigated by police. I had a reputation in those days as an effective environmental activist, transplanted from Philadelphia and Ocean City. I was specifically recruited by a former landowner to come here to help bridge the tension and communications gap between locals and state government, specifically the NJDEP (that had a bad reptation for corruption in earlier decades). There were local rumors that I was a drug dealer because I drove a new sports car and didn’t leave the house to go to work in the morning (these were the days before WFH). I had a thriving online employee benefits consulting business in those days and could run it even with dial-up internet service (before Sandy took away our phone lines). I was accused of conspiring with state officials to condemn my neighbors properties because I was an active photographer but my only interest was personal photography with a 35mm camera and telephoto lens. I found it interesting to document the old town in photographs. Some of my photographs were lifted from my web site and used by state officials for nefarious and twisted reasons, this was without my knowledge or consent. I accidently photographed a handful of crimes in progress, mostly fisheries issues. But I did not even know about fisheries laws in those days. I was simply taking photos of boats, cabins, old trucks, and things that seemed interesting.
Then on a warm weekend afternoon on Sunday October 28, an enraged local politician confronted me on my front lawn. He came to complain that I was landscaping in an area of the front yard where people preferred to drive through as a shortcut through a bend in the road. I said that was causing erosion on the waterfront lot and so I was building raised garden beds so that people would need to drive on the actual roadway. Court depositions later revealed that after I told him that I was legally in the right, he went to an accomplice who said in front of witnesses “I will take care of it”. Shortly later he gave his keys to an employee and said “You will need to lock up tonight, I might be going to jail”. A few minutes later he climbed into his work truck (shown in the photo) and intentionally hit me on my front lawn. He drove up slowly. I thought he was just being arrogant, but then hit the gas when he was less than 10 feet away. He drove away while I was laying in the ground he yelled out the window, in front of my kids and their friends “What the F_ did you think would happen when you screwed with (named the politician)!”. He later admitted to police that he was avenging the politician. Police interviewed the man who admitted to all of it shortly after I was taken away by ambulance, but mysteriously did not attempt to arrest him until the next day.
The attacker fled the state the next day before police arrived to avoid arrest, and the politician fled the state later to avoid prosecution. Legal investigations indicated that the wealthy family members of each man arranged for their out-of-state relocation and some indication in later investigation that this was coordinated by their defense attorneys. A grand jury voted to bring attempted manslaughter charges in their absence but neither man ever faced trial. The local government paid a settlement some years later for their liability in the conspiracy to murder case, but both men escaped prosecution based on later paperwork errors by the prosecutor’s office. Most people close to the case understood that that key people in the prosecutor’s office and the local legal system protects the good old boys who run out rural government. The subsequent prosecutor (still out current prosecutor) and assistant prosecutor met with me many years later after my recovery and admitted the pattern of past corruption but promised “It would never happen on my watch”).
I spent the next five to six years working to regain my life that was scrambled by traumatic brain injury that day. Long after the cracked ribs and injured joints healed, I was still unable to function in daily life. I had trouble remembering the names of family members or how to tie a shoelace. I am grateful for years of excellent medical care including highly effective types of cognitive therapy. I did eventually recover and even passed the CPA exam a second time at age 51. It took a tremendous effort. I spent the years since rebuilding relationships in this community. I learned everything I could about my injury and the type of community bigotry that triggered this violence. Over time the “not from around here stigma” began to fade even though I am still the only political minority. Most neighbors and government officials see me now as being involved, helping the community, and working cooperatively toward a prosperous future. I am fortunate to put the attack in the past and most people today do not even remember the violent politically motivated attack 19 years ago.
