Republican Congressional candidate Wendy Rogers says her house was vandalized the day she announced her candidacy, and one of her campaign staffers thinks "the Left" might have something to do with it.
An email from the Rogers campaign says her Tempe home was vandalized on Saturday night, about 12 hours after the Air Force vet sent out an email saying she's running for Congress in the state's newly formed Ninth District.
Aside from noting the shooting of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords "weighs heavily on everyone's mind," the campaign adds, "Police recommended they investigate because of the coincidental timing of this attack with Rogers' campaign announcement amid the backdrop of recent history of political violence in Arizona."
One of Rogers' campaign staffers has an opinion.
"I have been around campaigns for two decades," campaign official Joe Giardiello says. "I thought I had seen it all. But attacking a candidate's home and family is something we would expect in a third-world dictatorship. The hatred and anger already coming from the Left because of Wendy's unwavering commitment is downright frightening. In light of recent events in Arizona, we can't be too careful."
The campaign also cited some "intolerant blog comments" that were made the day of Rogers' announcement, which were apparently "spewing forth in full force":
DeepThought claimed Rogers was "Running as the most extreme Republican."
Someone going by the name of "Camry" stated military pilots like Wendy Rogers "tended to be half-crazed out of the cockpit."
Another poster called her a "token candidate", presumably because she was one of the first 100 women pilots in the Air Force and the only woman in the CD9 race.
To someone going by the handle of AZNativeMod, Wendy Rogers is a "lunatic."
Rogers' campaign also added in some more blog comments they found from Rogers' unsuccessful run for a state Senate seat in 2010.
Rogers' people didn't go as for as saying the blog commenters left their computer dungeons to vandalize her house, but the comments do take up about half of the announcement.
Her campaign manager has also offered some advice on a more reasonable method of getting Rogers' attention.
"If someone wants to attack Wendy Rogers' views on the issues, we say bring it on," campaign manager Martin Mastro says. "Wendy spent 20 years active duty serving her county in the United States Air Force and I can guarantee she can take whatever someone can dish out. But coming onto her family's property to vandalize her home to send a message is completely outrageous and unlawful."
Tempe PD's digging up the info on the vandalism, so we'll provide the update when that comes in.
