Two armed men wearing bulletproof vests with “POLICE” stenciled on them showed up Wednesday at the Florida home of Cathy O’Gara while she was getting her 11-year-old granddaughter ready for school. Via the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
She greeted the men, who didn’t identify themselves or the agency they were with. They asked if her husband, James O’Gara, lived there and if they could speak to him about a postcard he’d sent to Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia with the brief message: “You lack values.”
It was a scary “big red flag moment” for the O’Garas, a retired couple who are politically active supporters of progressive candidates, vocal critics of President Trump’s immigration policies, and helped to organize a local No Kings anti-Trump demonstration in June.
“Anything is possible, if you can send a postcard and have this happen,” Cathy O’Gara said.
With the help of the Largo Police Department, they found out the officers were investigators with the criminal division of the state’s Department of Financial Services, which Ingoglia oversees.
A spokesperson said the visit was a “precautionary measure given the current political climate.”
Yeah, I can see why a postcard from two progressives saying “You lack values” would seem like a threat to a Republican.
“In light of recent events and with political violence on the rise, ensuring the security of public figures and maintaining public safety is increasingly important,” said Sydney Booker, his communications director. “While it is unfortunate that law enforcement must sometimes go the extra mile to ensure public safety, let it be known that it is a direct result of an increasingly hostile political environment.”
She said Ingoglia was unaware of the postcard and did not “have any involvement in the threat assessment.” Ingoglia did not return a call seeking comment.
Yeah, and if you believe that, I have some wetlands in the Everglades to sell you for a trailer park.
Ingoglia is the public face of the DeSantis crackdown on alleged wasteful spending and spiraling property taxes. Ingoglia was in Sanford for such an event on Tuesday.
The O’Garas, who have been critical of those efforts, sent the postcard to Ingoglia after a news conference he held in St. Petersburg in August.
“I expected them to show up eventually because I’m an organizer, and it follows the state of play these days,” said Cathy O’Gara.
They’ve also sent emails to DeSantis and state Attorney General James Uthmeier, criticizing their support of President Trump’s mass deportation policy, calling it “unlawful” and “un-American.”
Then there was this:
After some small talk, one of the officers remarked that O’Gara had been in the infantry during Vietnam, James O’Gara said.
“I was literally scared at that point,” he said. They obviously didn’t just check his name in the white pages or voter rolls, he continued, but had dived deep enough to find his military records. After a few more minutes of idle chatter, they left, he said.
When Cathy O’Gara drove her granddaughter to school moments later, she saw two unmarked Black Ford Broncos parked down the street, which led her to believe more than two agents were sent to their house.
Cathy printed out a letter and showed it to 40 of her neighbors. “I am trying to get people to see what is happening,” she said. “They could have easily taken him away under false pretenses.”
What a buncha pants-pissing manbabies these “tough” Republicans are.
