ALBANY, New York –
Democratic lawmakers in a handful of states are trying to send a message two years after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol: Those involved in an attempt to overthrow the government should not be allowed to run it.
New York, Connecticut and Virginia are among the states where the proposed legislation would bar anyone convicted of rioting from holding public office or a position of public trust, such as becoming a police officer.
Although the bills differ in scope, their purpose is similar. “If you tried to overthrow our government through violent means, you should in no way be a part of that,” said New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Siegal.
He sponsored a bill that would bar people convicted of insurrection or rebellion against the United States from holding civil office, meaning they would not be able to serve as judges or members of the Legislature. Hoylman-Siegal said he introduced the bill this year because he saw more people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Washington running for office last year.
He described the attack on the Capitol as “a real attack on the foundations of our free and fair democracy and the values that allow it to continue.”
A Virginia lawmaker introduced a bill this month, on the second anniversary of the Capitol riot, that would bar anyone convicted of a felony related to attempted insurrection or rebellion from serving in positions of public trust — including those related to policymaking , law enforcement, safety, education or health. A Connecticut bill would bar people convicted of rebellion, sedition, insurrection or a crime related to any of those acts from running for or holding public office. Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, who introduced the measure, told The Associated Press he wants the legislation to eventually bar them from holding state or municipal office.
The state legislation comes after a House committee final report on Jan. 6 found that Donald Trump was criminally involved in a conspiracy to overturn the legal results of the 2020 presidential election he lost and failed to act actions to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.
The panel’s recently completed work may have provided another springboard for lawmakers to act and propose ways to hold people accountable, said Victoria Bassetti, senior policy adviser at the Center for a United States Democracy, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for fair elections.
Some Republicans say the legislation is unnecessary.
In New York, Republican Assemblyman Will Barkley, the minority leader, called the bill a “political statement,” saying it was “more political than a public policy concern.”
He said existing rules already apply to people in certain positions who have been convicted of crimes and that those laws “should be enough”.
The legislation is another example of how the Capitol rebellion has become a political Rorschach test for the country.
Many Republicans refuse to see the attempted shutdown of presidential certification — which was based on lies that the 2020 election was stolen — as a coup, while strong majorities in the party continue to believe that President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected. . Even schoolchildren are taught different versions of the attack depending on whether they live in more conservative or liberal parts of the nation.
The opposing realities came into sharp focus this month in Pennsylvania during a tense conversation between two lawmakers.
During a committee hearing, Republican state Sen. Chris Dusch slammed his gavel as he ruled Democratic state Sen. Amanda Cappelletti out of office after she described the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as a “place of insurrection.”
“Rebellion, no one is charged with it,” Dusch said. “There is not a single charge against any of these people as rebels. We don’t use that term in this commission.”
Nearly 1,000 people were charged with federal crimes in the Capitol riot, with about half of them pleading guilty to riot-related charges and more than three dozen convicted at trial. Charges range from misdemeanors for those accused of trespassing into the Capitol but not involved in violence to felony seditious conspiracy for members of far-right extremist groups accused of conspiring to stop the transfer of presidential power.
In November, two leaders of the extremist group Oath Keepers were convicted of sedition for what prosecutors said was a weeks-long plot to use force to keep Trump in office. The leaders of the Proud Boys and other members of the Oath Keepers are currently on trial on sedition charges that carry up to 20 years behind bars.
Weeks after the committee exchange, Cappelletti told The Associated Press that it was important for people to understand that the attack on the Capitol was a riot.
“These are factually correct things,” she said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t have political disagreements about policy or other things, but we can recognize that this has happened and start figuring out how to move forward to work together to rebuild that public trust .”
Dusch remained adamant that what took place on January 6 was not an uprising.
“If there was any plot to insurrection, it would have collapsed pretty quickly once the government regained control,” he said in a telephone interview.
There have been some earlier attempts to prevent certain officials from running for or holding office.
A New Hampshire bill that would have barred anyone involved in an insurrection or rebellion from holding state office died last year.
Also last year, groups filed lawsuits under a rarely cited section of the 14th Amendment dealing with riots. They tried to disqualify a handful of members of the US House of Representatives from running for re-election because of the events surrounding the January 6 riot.
In New Mexico, a state court in September disbarred a rural county commissioner from public office for participating in the Capitol riot. Couy Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a felony charge of trespassing on the Capitol grounds without going inside the building. He was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served.
The judge permanently barred Griffin, then an Otero County commissioner-elect, from federal and local public office.
In West Virginia, a former state lawmaker who pleaded guilty to a felony — civil disorder — for his part in the riot and served time, announced earlier this month that he is running for Congress.
“We really need to get rid of those who want to take down our government,” said Duff, the Connecticut lawmaker. “There is no place for any of them to be (in) any elected or appointed official.
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