A12
OREGON
East Oregonian
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Republicans running for governor defended Jan. 6 Capitol attack
Video of remarks
came to light when
conservative group
complained about
being censored
By JULIA SHUMWAY
Oregon Capital Chronicle
BAKER CITY — A panel
of Oregon Republican candi-
dates for governor, including
one currently facing federal
criminal charges for assault-
ing police officers at the
U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,
uniformly insisted recently
that the events of that January
day were a righteous protest.
Reed Christensen, Bran-
don Merritt, Tim McCloud,
Kerry McQuisten, Amber
Richardson, Bill Sizemore
and Marc Thielman made
their comments at a private
Republican forum in Baker
City in late March.
Their remarks came to
light Tuesday, April 12,
when a conservative orga-
nization founded by an aide
on Donald Trump’s 2016
campaign complained that
video of the conversation had
been removed from YouTube
for violating the video plat-
form’s policies on misinfor-
mation.
The group, Look Ahead
America, has been leading
rallies throughout the coun-
try against what it refers to
as “political persecution” of
people who participated in a
violent riot aimed at prevent-
ing Congress from certify-
ing President Joe Biden’s
election. Five people died,
nearly 140 police offi cers and
countless rioters were injured
and more than 700 people
are facing federal criminal
charges.
Christensen, a former
Intel employee from Hills-
boro, is among those facing
charges. He is scheduled to
appear via video in a Wash-
ington, D.C., U.S. District
Court on May 10, just a week
before Oregon’s primary
election.
According to court docu-
ments, Christensen struck or
pushed several law enforce-
ment offi cers and led a group
that removed bike racks
blocking people from moving
closer to the Capitol. Offi cers
sprayed him with a chemical
irritant to discourage him
from pushing through the
bike racks, but he continued
to push through, according to
charging documents.
Christensen told Repub-
licans in Baker City that he
was trying to wave a flag
on the steps of the Capitol,
though photos included in
court documents don’t show
him with a fl ag. He compared
himself to early Americans
who participated in the
Boston Tea Party.
“We wanted to wave the
fl ag on the steps of the Capi-
tol,” he said. “They had bicy-
cle racks with guards behind
them, so I got a little upset.
You can steal an election,
break state law, federal law, I
have to stay off the grass and
stay behind your line and not
wave the fl ag? So I got a little
rowdy.”
The audience applauded
for Christensen after he told
them he was facing charges.
Other candidates praised
him. Merritt, a marketing
consultant from Bend, said
Christensen had a “great
story” to tell before he falsely
claimed that police invited
rioters into the building.
“Jan. 6 was not an insur-
rection,” he said. “If the left is
calling that an insurrection,
what in the world are we call-
ing what’s happening in Port-
land? Because it certainly
ain’t peaceful protests.”
McQuisten, the mayor of
Baker City, said she talked
with Christensen and several
eastern Oregonians who were
at the Capitol on Jan. 6. They
Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press, File
Rioters loyal to former President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020.
were engaged in “peaceful
prayer,” she claimed.
“None of the fi rst-person
accounts I’ve heard line up
with the media,” McQuisten
said.
News orga n i zat ions
including the New York
Times have obtained thou-
sands of videos recorded
by both rioters and police
to reconstruct the events of
the hours-long siege on the
Capitol. Videos show fran-
tic scrambles between police
and protesters outside and
inside the Capitol as crowds
swarmed the building.
Sizemore, an anti-tax
activist who was instru-
mental in passing several
ballot measures and now
owns a painting business in
Redmond, referred to the
Jan. 6 insurrection as an
“understatement.”
He accused Facebook
founder Mark Zuckerberg
of swaying election results,
a theory that stems from
grant money that election
offi ces throughout the coun-
try received from a nonprofi t
organization supported by
Zuckerberg. Local elec-
tion offi cials used money to
buy equipment, including
personal protective equip-
ment for election workers
to reduce COVID infection
risks, to pay staff and to adapt
to changing laws, including
in several states that greatly
expanded mail voting
because of the pandemic.
Sizemore said he was
initially hesitant to believe
false claims that the 2020
election was stolen, but
that he’s become convinced
people will do whatever it
takes to win.
“We’re going to need
more protests like Jan. 6,”
Sizemore said.
In an email to the Capital
Chronicle, Sizemore allowed
that a “few bad actors”
engaged in wrongdoing, but
said Democrats and journal-
ists were trying to make the
incident seem worse than it
was.
McCloud, a Salem busi-
ness development analyst,
said the Capitol and all
government buildings belong
to the American people and
they have the right to enter it
at any time.
Thielman, the former
superintendent of the Alsea
School District, said the
attempted insurrection was
a response to the government
failure.
“ W he n ou r c ou r t s
wouldn’t hear it, when our
Congress wouldn’t hear it,
when our executive branch
wouldn’t hear it, we the
people did what our Constitu-
VISIT US
ON THE
WEB
EastOregonian.com
Christensen
McQuisten
tion allows us to do,” he said.
“It was a wonderful patriotic
protest.”
He told the Capital Chron-
icle that the incident became
a “mess,” and that he didn’t
condone behavior like storm-
ing the Capitol or sitting in
Merritt
Richardson
House Speaker Nancy Pelo-
si’s desk, both of which riot-
ers did.
Richardson, a licensed
massage therapist from
White City, said she’s been
part of a group “canvassing”
elections in Jackson County,
going door to door to talk to
voters about fraud.
“Jan. 6 was not an insur-
rection,” she said. “Nov. 3
was, and we know that.”
She told the Capital
Chronicle that she stood by
her comments, and that she
believes the media skewed
perceptions of Jan. 6.
In November 2020, Jack-
son County Clerk Chris
Walker found the phrase
“VOTE DON’T WORK.
NEXT TIME BULLETS”
painted in 6-foot letters in
the parking lot across from
her offi ce. Walker and other
county clerks still receive
regular threats and angry
calls and emails from people
about the 2020 election, and
they’re preparing to combat
misinformation about the
2022 election.
Christensen, Merritt and
McCloud did not immedi-
ately respond to emails Tues-
day afternoon.
The Republican candi-
dates’ response to questions
about the Jan. 6 Capitol siege
refl ects a political divide in
Oregon.
Recent polling from the
Oregon Values and Beliefs
Center found that about
three-quarters of Demo-
crats described the events
as an attempted coup or
insurrection, and most other
Democrats thought it was
best described as a “riot out
of control.” A plurality of
Republicans, 38%, said it
was an out-of-control riot,
but 16% described it as a
reasonable protest and nearly
a quarter said it was carried
out by Trump’s political
opponents.
The Oregon Republi-
can Party last year passed a
resolution declaring the inci-
dent a “false fl ag” operation.
Christine Drazan, then the
House GOP leader and now
a candidate for governor, led
all 23 House Republicans in
condemning the state party
for that resolution.
Another candidate, Sandy
Mayor Stan Pulliam, has
spent months trying to walk
back comments he made to
Portland alt-weekly Willa-
mette Week shortly after Jan.
6 blaming Trump for inciting
violence. He now presents
himself as the only candidate
willing to say that the 2020
election was fraudulent.
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