Right-wing extremists have been plastering personal information for Idaho public officials and medical professionals around Boise neighborhoods.
A flier showing photos of 4th District Magistrate Judge Annie McDevitt and Ada County deputy prosecuting attorney Whitney Welsh, along with their home addresses and contact information, were posted around town complaining they were engaged in “POLITICAL PROSECUTION" against gubernatorial candidate and anti-government gadfly Ammon Bundy, reported the Idaho Capital Sun.
“It’s become an extremist tactic very frequently, and it started really over the summer of 2020, for these extremists to get their way by being more intimidating than everyone else,” said state Rep. Greg Chaney (R-Caldwelly). “They’re all about shutting up anybody who doesn’t agree with them.”
Chaney co-sponsored a bill last year with state Rep. Brooke Green (D-Boise) to outlaw protesting at a person’s residence, only to have protesters show up at his own home, and the pair of bipartisan lawmakers plan to introduce a similar measure at next year's legislative session.
Bundy, who is running for governor as an independent after clashing with Republican Party officials, failed to complete 40 hours of community service, to which he was sentenced for a conviction on trespassing and resisting arrest for refusing to leave a restricted area at the Idaho Statehouse.
He instead reported time spent campaigning for governor, and McDevitt, the magistrate judge, on April 7 ordered Bundy to spend 10 days in jail and pay a $3,000 for disobeying the court order.
“You didn’t just blow it off. Rather, you took the time and effort to blatantly disrespect the court’s order, making a mockery of the sentence you received,” McDevit told him. “You were given an opportunity to go complete public service — you could have done it.”
The fliers protested his jailing but did not explain the legal basis for the judge's order.
“He is now being held, a political prisoner, in solitary confinement, at the Ada County Jail, causing a hardship on his family,” the flier says. “TELL THESE JUDICIAL EXTREMISTS TO STOP TORMENTING THE GOOD PEOPLE OF IDAHO!”
An Ada County Sheriff's Office spokesman confirmed Bundy was held in solitary confinement, but said Bundy had requested that.
"Our agency considered that request and figured there could be possible security issues, so for his safety and the safety of the other inmates, we granted his request,” said sheriff's spokesman Patrick Orr.
Bundy's supporters used doxxing to target health care professionals two years ago and continued up through last month, when the grandchild from Bundy associate Diego Rodriguez was removed from his home and hospitalized after a medical provider alerted authorities to possible danger to the child and his parents failed to show for follow-up appointments.
Rodriguez and Bundy issued "calls to action" through Health Freedom Idaho that disrupted phone, ambulance and other operations at St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center, and Health Freedom Idaho leaders Miste Gardner-Karlfeldt and Sarah Clendenon posted contact information for the hospital and their political opponents online.
The two women, who are each running for statewide office, have been involved in various campaigns to expose the personal information of their political enemies, and their close ally David Pettinger has been arrested at protests outside public officials' homes and dressed up as the Joker to confront law enforcement.
“Free speech is absolute,” Pettinger said in a recent interview to defend the tactics, but denied the recent fliers.Editor's note: The original source was misattributed in an earlier version of this report.
