Cops push back against ‘un-American’ Ammon Bundy's run for governor

Veteran law enforcement officials in Idaho are campaigning against Ammon Bundy and other right-wing candidates.

The new political action committee called Defend and Protect Idaho, led by retired lawmen Gary Raney, Paul Wilde and Gary Winegar, is pushing back against "political extremism" in the gubernatorial campaigns of Bundy and Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, reported the Idaho Capital Sun.

"We have to return to civility in politics and stand up against radical extremism, regardless of the source,” said Winegar, the retired chief deputy of the Boise Police Department. “We just need to strongly examine ourselves and our motives and our values and align ourselves with people in our representative republic, of like mind and like values, and, to me, those cannot include violence, intimidation or extremism in any way.”

Nine former sheriffs, police chiefs and other law enforcement officials signed on to the PAC condemning "the actions of fringe extremists whose promotion of political violence threatens the rule of law, public safety and democratic governance in our communities.”

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“In the last several years, extremists have become emboldened to threaten our communities and even the law enforcement officers who protect us every day,” said retired Ada County sheriff chief deputy Scott Johnson. “I’m speaking out because this cannot stand in Idaho.”

The group's statement was timed to coincide with a McGeachin campaign event where she hosted antisemitic blogger Michelle Malkin, white supremacist Stew Peters and election conspiracist Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers.

“Janice McGeachin, Ammon Bundy and their followers manipulate Republican values like liberty and independence as weapons against police officers, ignoring the rule of law that keeps us safe,” the PAC stated.

“As former and current members of Idaho’s law enforcement community, we are writing to condemn the actions of fringe extremists whose promotion of political violence threatens the rule of law, public safety and democratic governance in our communities,” the group said in the news release. “Targeting the family homes of police officers, judges and civil servants does not reflect Idaho values. Using the threat of violence to shut down hospitals and emergency rooms in order to score political points is un-American."

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“Trying to appeal to white nationalists, Holocaust deniers, and convicted criminals in order to intimidate and bully true conservatives to their extremist point of view is bad for officers of the law, public servants, and ultimately, our society.”