Sturgeon Bay, WI – Surveying last night’s acts of vandalism at the Republican Party of Door County office, Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher delivered the following statement:
For the last few months, we have watched major cities across the country allow peaceful protests descend into violence and destruction. We’ve watched leaders in those cities abandon their citizens to anarchy. While troubling, we thought incidents like this would never happen in Wisconsin. We thought our communities were stronger than this, but the violence in Kenosha sent shockwaves across the state. We must not allow this division and disorder to spread to Northeast Wisconsin.
When someone sent me the pictures this morning of the Republican Party of Door County’s office defaced and vandalized, I was disconcerted and I drove to the office to see the destruction firsthand. But by the time I arrived, the good people of Sturgeon Bay had already cleaned the graffitied walls and painted over obscenities. One couple was having breakfast across the street at Wanda Jeans and finished early to come over and help paint over the lewd graffiti.
This reminded me of something simple: Northeast Wisconsin is a special place. Here we look out for one another and we help our neighbors, even if we disagree politically. We treat each other with respect and dignity regardless of the sign in our yard or the slogan on our T-shirt.
To my Republican friends, do not be intimidated or hide from your beliefs. But do not respond to vandalism, violence, or destruction of property with vandalism, violence, or destruction of property. Hold yourself to a higher standard, a Northeast Wisconsin standard.
To my Democratic friends, please join us in denouncing vandalism, violence, and destruction of property. Though we may not see eye to eye on every policy matter, I believe we all can agree that this is a special community, a safe community, and we should work together to keep it that way.
This is also a special country, a great country. One of the things that makes this country great is that we can resolve disagreements peacefully through the democratic process, not through violence and intimidation.
The moment we lose that is the moment we lose our democracy.