After a tea party organizer published the address of the brother of Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) in a blog post urging anti-health reform activists to “drop by,” someone cut a propane gas line at the house, Politico is reporting.
Now the FBI is investigating what happened at the home near Charlottesville, according to Politico.
The development comes on the heels of at least five instances of vandalism — mainly in the form of smashed doors and windows — at Democratic offices around the country in the days around the House health care vote Sunday night.
In the Periello case, an activist named Mike Troxel of the Lynchburg Tea Party wrote a blog post telling activists to add a “personal touch” to their anger at Periello — who voted yes on the health care bill — by going to his house. But Troxel mistakenly posted the address of Periello’s brother.
The blog post was apparently published on the site virginia6th.teapartywatchdogs.com, which is now down. (You can read a cached version of what is apparently Troxel’s response to Politico’s original piece here.)
And there’s one coda here, reported by the Danville News: Another tea party activist who reportedly posted Periello’s brother’s address online, Nigel Coleman of the Danville Tea Party, wrote in a blog comment after learning about the mistaken address: “Do you mean I posted his brother’s address on my Facebook? Oh well, collateral damage.”
(This post has been updated to include Coleman’s comments.)