Harassment of local officials on the rise: “Lawful, but awful”

Reno, Nevada — When Beth Smith joined the Washoe County School Board, she expected rigorous debate. But she didn’t anticipate a level of vitriol and toxicity more commonly associated with senior position in Washingtoninstead of his town in Nevada.

“What you don’t expect is harassment, intimidation and attacks on you, constant yelling, profanity-laced messages, people knowing where you live, where your kids go to school,” Smith told CBS News in an interview with “Keeping an eye on America.” “I have to talk to my children… no one goes to the door, the front door is locked.”

And Smith is not alone. A recent to study from Princeton University found that harassment and threats to local law enforcement have increased by 55% in the past two years. The survey found that both Democrats and Republicans reported hostility in equal amounts, but women and people of color typically bear the brunt of the hostility.

Federal office holders, such as senators and members of Congress, for better or worse, have become accustomed to harassment and often have the security infrastructure to face it. But local officials, who are often closer to the communities and voters they serve, are inherently more vulnerable.

“They’re closer… They shop at the same supermarkets, their kids go to the same schools, and that makes them part of this kind of front line of democracy, but it also often puts them at greater risk,” said Shannon Hiller. , the executive director of Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative who directed the study.

Hiller describes much of the increased hostility at the local level as “nice but terrible,” noting that harassment — such as doxing, stalking or general threats — is not always illegal, but can have a negative impact on the ways local authorities can engage in democracy.

“Only a small percentage of this behavior will actually have a law enforcement or legal remedy,” Hiller said, “but it could be effective in terms of driving people out of public service, closing space for engagement and dialogue, and really disrupting the processes democratic at its most local level.”

The data can also serve as an alert. “These types of persistent and rising rates of threats and harassment may be an early sign that we are at risk for other, more serious types of violence, “including physical violence,” Hiller said.

But it can also be successful on its own – by discouraging public meetings, posting on social media, or even running for public office. Nearly 40% of employees surveyed said they were unlikely to run for re-election.

A CBS News investigation compiled video evidence of harassment against local officials across the country, from city administrators and mayors to county clerks and commissioners. For example, in Taylor County, Texas, last year, a man protested in front of a city manager’s home with a shotgun in the back of his truck that was pointed at the house. According to a video he posted on Facebook, the man says: “These are the people who deceive us as citizens,” before the police ask him to point the gun away from the employee’s house.

In 2022, an Erie County, Pennsylvania official reported that an unknown individual threw a partial pipe bomb into his family’s home while they were sleeping, along with a message saying that the next pipe bomb would be active, according to local reports.

Earlier this year, a Texas mayor received a threatening package containing a noose and a note that said, “get out of the race now.” These are just a few examples of the more than 900 incidents reported over a two-year period between 2022 and 2024 analyzed by the Bridging Divides Initiative.

And in Washoe County, recent elections saw an increase in harassment of local officials. In 2022, both a county commission candidate and the mayor of Reno found GPS trackers in their cars. CBS News obtained video of police questioning a private investigator who did not say who hired him but admitted the devices were placed for “political” reasons.

Suspicions centered on Robert Beadles, a wealthy local political activist. Beadles and his PAC spent several thousand dollars on private investigators and investigative services during the period the politicians were under surveillance. He was also the author of a blog postnow withdrawn, which said: “We have chosen to use professional services to investigate the allegations of countless people throughout the county and state.”

When contacted for comment, Beadles denied any involvement in surveillance of local politicians. Beadles, who says he made his money in cryptocurrencies and real estate, has become a well-known mover and shaker in Washoe. In 2021, he attended a school board meeting and announced that he would use his financial resources to remove board members.

“God blessed me. I have a lot of money,” he said. “And I will go [do] everything I can to remove you all.”

Beadles focused his ire on Smith, the school board member. He wrote a blog post detailing his painful divorce and posted altered images of her dressed as the grim reaper — images, Smith says, that are meant to shed light on her recent battle with cancer.

“I recently faced my mortality when I had cancer and had to look at my children and tell them there was a possibility I wouldn’t get to see them grow up,” Smith said. “So when I see messages with images of death… I know it’s part of their attacks to make me stop doing this work.”

When asked about these and other allegations of harassment, Beadles mocked those who made the complaints and said they “look like sissies.”

“If they’re running for public office and they can’t accept the truth about them being told in any light, maybe they shouldn’t be running for public office,” he told CBS News.

In Washoe, the school board became the center of political discontent, as it did in much of the rest of the country. Washoe County Republican Party Chairman Bruce Parks says the party is prioritizing school board races because “it has a ripple effect throughout our community.”

When asked about the tactics employed by Beadles, who serves on the executive committee of the Washoe Republican Party, Parks suggested they are effective.

“If you want to bring light to something, do you just whisper the information to someone or do you want to get their attention? It gets their attention.”

Even as the political climate in Washoe continues to heat up, Smith says he’ll hold on for now: “I beat cancer and I’m definitely not stopping because of it.”