Washington State’s new governor, Christine Gregoire, has received a death threat. She tells the Seattle Times, she blames “the level of discussion on some of these talk radio shows” for whipping up people.

Capt. Jeff DeVere, spokesman for the Washington State Patrol, tells the Times someone overheard Jeffrey Martelli of Yakima County saying he disliked government officials and planned to kill Gregoire and her children. Nothing came of the Jan. 19 threat; Martelli was booked, arrested and released to await a trial. It is is not clear from the article if subsequent threats were made on Gregoire. Nor is it clear whether Martelli listened to talk radio.

Brian Maloney comments:

I’m amazed she forgot to blame bloggers since they’re about 90% responsible for the strength of the Republican challenge to the stolen 2004 Washington Gubernatorial election.

It’s not too late to revise that press release, Ms. Gregoire. Be sure to list SoundPolitics bloggers by name for added effect.

For his part, Stefan Sharansky of Sound Politics writes:

Oh, please. I’ve heard a lot of discussion about Gregoire and the governor’s race on talk radio. Yes, a lot of people are angry about the tainted election and the illegitimacy of Gregoire’s governorship. But I’ve never heard any appeals to violence on any talk radio show that I listen to, nor would any of the hosts that I know permit such talk on their programs.

For Gregoire to equate public outrage over serious failures of government with death threats, is not merely a ridiculous mischaracterization, it’s an attempt to delegitimize and stifle dissent. Appalling. But it’s also as politically inept as, say, calling the election a “model to the rest of the nation and the world”, and it will backfire. Gregoire deserves all of the ridicule and derision her comment will inspire on talk radio for weeks to come.

Update: I sent an e-mail to Maloney asking him about which talk radio shows air in Yakima County. He responds as follows:

KVI and KTTH do not generally reach Yakima County except in certain atmospheric conditions that are only occasional. KIRO and KOMO do reach the area for most of the day, KIRO in particular. KVI has a very small 5000 watt signal, KIRO has 50,000 watts. As a result Yakima has its own local talk station that is almost entirely nationally syndicated programming.

KVI and KTTH are conservative stations; KIRO is liberal. KOMO is mostly news. It seems unlikely that Martelli spent much time listening to conservative Washington State talk radio hosts.

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