Last Saturday night, a Republican Party headquarters in North Carolina was firebombed, and the words, “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” were spray-painted on a neighboring building.
The damage was not noticed until Sunday morning, when a nearby business owner called police around 9 a.m. Evelyn Poole-Kober, a retired federal government employee and vice chairwoman of the Orange County Republican Party, had this to say: “In my heart, it’s an evil crime,” she said. “It’s no vandalism. Vandalism is if they would have come out and removed our signs. But to throw a firebomb through this building window is evil, and that’s in my heart. I think it was a political terrorism, I do.”
In a statement, Mayor Tom Stevens of Hillsborough said, “This highly disturbing act goes far beyond vandalizing property; it willfully threatens our community’s safety via fire, and its hateful message undermines decency, respect and integrity in civic participation,” he said. “Our law enforcement officials are responding quickly and thoroughly to investigate this reprehensible act and prosecute the perpetrators,” he added.
Dallas Woodhouse, the executive director of the state Republican Party, called the bombing “political terrorism.” In his statement to the Charlotte Observer he said, “Whether you are Republican, Democrat or independent, all Americans should be outraged by this hate-filled and violent attack against our democracy. Everyone in this country should be free to express their political viewpoints without fear for their own safety.”