Representative Kathy Lohmer (R-39B Stillwater) serves on the Public Safety & Security Policy Committee. She sent a letter to be read at the Protecting Civil Discourse Press Conference held on March 25, 2017. The press conference was to address the disruption of the 1st amendment peaceful assembly of the #March4Trump, which was on March 4, 2017. The use of mace, tasers, smoke bombs and fists by the ANTIFA Thugs aka #Fascist6 posed a serious risk to the health and welfare of those in attendance, Capitol security personnel and State Representatives like Rep Kathy Lohmer. How can the Ramsey County Attorney, the St Paul Attorney, or the State Attorney General let these civil rights violators off the hook? That’s what those at the press conference wanted to know.
Here is the letter Rep Kathy Lohmer sent to the organizers of this group at the Rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol.
Thank you all for coming today. I regret not being able to join you. I do support your efforts to call on Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, and St Paul’s City Attorney to follow through and charge the 6 individuals arrested on March 4th in this building during a peaceful gathering of citizens from the state of Minnesota who had gathered to show support for our President – Donald J Trump. I was one of several speakers that day and I experienced hearing the chaos and bedlam created with shouting and the use of fog horns. I saw the videos of the police asking masked men to remove those masks and leave the building. I heard from our peaceful, law abiding citizens who were tazed, maced, and told of the smoke bombs that were thrown in the building. Six individuals were arrested because they were breaking the law as they assaulted these citizens. This cannot be dismissed or excused and these individuals should be charged with the crimes that police arrested them for.
We have had similar incidents where people have chosen to block our freeways and throw objects at police and others and have subsequently had charges dropped. We cannot continue to have a peaceful society where this type of behavior goes unpunished. For this reason, I authored House File 1066 which changes the penalties for blocking a freeway from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor. We citizens believe in the rule of law and we know that we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to what is transpiring here.
Again, I applaud your efforts and stand with you in calling for these individuals to be charged for their crimes. We ask that you would do the job that the citizens of this state pay you to do.
Rep Kathy Lohmer (R-39B Stillwater)