A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

1 March 2015

Is David Lenio’s predicament being exploited for fame and money?

David Lenio, accused of threatening to kill schoolchildren, is in the Flathead County Jail, charged with malicious intimidation and criminal defamation, his bail set at half a million dollars. He’s not going anywhere. And he doesn’t seem to be saying anything, which suggests to me he has an attorney who advised him to remain silent.

But after reading Paul Rosenberg’s sensationalist story in Salon, it’s clear that few others are remaining silent:

Rosenberg even brought into the story Richard Spencer, the Whitefish resident who makes money selling soft core white supremacy literature and videos at gatherings of white supremacists around the country. His ideas are abhorrent. In Whitefish he’s a law abiding citizen — but that hasn’t stopped some from wanting to adopt city ordinances to run him out of town.

Does Spencer have a connection to Lenio? No one has alleged that yet, but I won’t be surprised if someone does.

There is great fear among some members of the Flathead community. It’s not necessarily what I would consider rational, but it’s not being feigned. It’s genuine, and it’s making people miserable. They don’t feel safe, and might not feel safe even with a policeman at every door and a national guardsman under every streetlight. They have my sympathy.

Others exploit that fear. Being able to point to David Lenio and Richard Spencer and the bad things they allegedly represent is a good way to raise money. Rosenberg’s article surely will be cited in pitches by fundraisers in the human rights community. Nothing opens a checkbook like a cry that the barbarians are at the door and only your money can stop them.

On the right, of course, in fundraising appeals Lenio and Spencer are replaced by President Obama, the ISIS, and or other villains of the moment. The extremes of right and left are distinguished by ideology, not tactics.

At this point, Lenio is off the street. The people involved in the case should stop talking to reporters. And the prosecutors should drop the charge of criminal defamation, which strikes me as unwise, unnecessary, and arguably trumped-up.