A meeting with Washington’s Congressional delegation about the future of the Mount St. Helens Volcanic Monument was canceled Wednesday afternoon over worries that it had become embroiled in the national health care debate and could turn violent.

The decision came after Longview city officials sent a letter to county commissioner Axel Swanson on Wednesday afternoon saying they expected as many as 900 people at the event and they could not guarantee anyone’s safety.

A committee studying the volcano area’s funding and management had planned to give its final report to U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray as well as Congressman Brian Baird during a public meeting at the Cowlitz County Expo Center on Thursday.

But an e-mail sent Tuesday by Organizing for America, the group that led President Obama’s campaign last year and now promotes his policies, misconstrued the meeting’s agenda, saying people would get a chance to talk with lawmakers about health care.

“This is an ideal opportunity to make sure your support for health insurance reform is seen and heard at exactly the right time,” the e-mail said. “Our representatives are under attack by Washington insiders, insurance companies and well-financed special interests who don’t go a day without spreading lies and stirring up fear. We need to show that we’re sick and tired of it, and that we’re ready for real change this year.”

By Wednesday afternoon, more than 400 people had signed up on Organizing for America’s Web site to attend the meeting. With the event suddenly overshadowed by a debate that has touched off shouting matches and death threats across the nation, the Mount St. Helens committee decided to pull the plug on the meeting, Swanson said.

Organizing for America’s e-mail pushed health care reform onto the Expo Center meeting’s agenda at an inconvenient time for Baird, a Southwest Washington Democrat.

Baird said several times this week he’d recently received death threats over the health care debate. The Associated Press reported Tuesday he contacted police about a fax his office received portraying President Obama as the Joker from the Batman film “The Dark Knight.” “Death to All Marxists! Foreign and Domestic!” read the message.

As the tension rose last week, Baird compared those disrupting town halls to Nazis. Critics accused him of ducking the public after he held a public forum by telephone conference call.

The political environment had become so intense by Wednesday that Patrick Bell, a spokesman for the Washington State Republican Party, suggested Baird had made up the death threats to provide political cover.

“He started making these outrageous and bizarre comments before any of the death threats came in,” Bell said. “I don’t think there’s ever been the effort on behalf of the Republicans to disrupt these meetings. We’re all for civil debate.”

Baird backed away from his more volatile remarks Wednesday afternoon and announced a series of additional, in-person town halls. (Related article)

Baird's office did not return multiple calls Tuesday and Wednesday seeking a response to Bell’s comments.

Before Thursday's meeting was canceled, spokesmen for Murray and Cantwell clarified that the delegation would be discussing Mount St. Helens, not health care. But the damage was done.

In a letter urging Swanson to call off the meeting, Longview Mayor Kurt Anagnostou and City Manager Bob Gregory said the event was “being misrepresented as a forum on the national health care issue.” As a result, they wrote, authorities estimated as many as 900 people could show up.

“We are concerned about our ability to ensure adequate security for the safety of the Mount St. Helens Advisory Committee, the public attending the meeting and the Congressional delegation,” Anagnostou and Gregory wrote.

The police department estimated it would need 20 officers at the Expo Center to manage security. Longview officials asked the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office and Kelso Police Department “to be on alert should we need additional support,” the letter said.

Swanson said members of the Mount St. Helens committee decided late Wednesday afternoon to reschedule the meeting over concerns about safety, particularly because both Sens. Cantwell and Murray would be there.

“Having both senators in one room definitely adds an interesting dynamic,” he said. “It’s a big deal for security and safety.”

Swanson also said the committee worked “way too hard for way too long” on the Mount St. Helens report to be overshadowed by the health care dust-up. The committee debated for more than a year whether Mount St. Helens should become a national park, who should manage it and how it should be funded.

Thursday's meeting to present the final report to lawmakers had been scheduled weeks ago, long before the national health care debate erupted with such intensity, Swanson said. It has not yet been rescheduled.

Dustin Lambro, the Washington State Director for Organizing for America, said his group sent Tuesday’s e-mail in an effort to organize opposition to “right-wing extremists” who have been disrupting town hall meetings about health care across the nation.

“What we’ve seen across the country is essentially mobs, mobs of people who come out and try to disrupt these kinds of meetings, and it’s frustrating,” he said.

“Quite frankly,” Lambro said before the meeting was canceled, “we’re a little worried that there will be folks from the opposition who will try to disrupt what will be an important policy discussion on Mount St. Helens.”

Tuesday’s e-mail from Organizing for America mentioned nothing about Mount St. Helens and asked people to register to attend Thursday’s event.

Lambro said he approved the e-mail, but it wasn’t coordinated with the offices of the Washington Congressional delegation.

Related articles:

Mount St. Helens meeting canceled over security concerns

E-mail provides misleading information on Longview meeting, lawmaker says

Federal lawmakers to get report from Mount St. Helens panel  (Aug. 10)

Baird Statement on Postponement of Longview Mount St. Helens Meeting

Washington, D.C.— In response to the news that the Mount St. Helens Advisory Committee has canceled tomorrow’s meeting in Longview due to concerns for public safety, Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA-03) released the following statement:

“I am deeply disappointed by the need to postpone this meeting. This was going to be an excellent opportunity to get feedback from the citizens who have worked so hard and given so much of their time to advise us on the future of Mount St. Helens. At the same time, I have to respect the decision of the Mount St. Helens Advisory Committee and law enforcement regarding public safety. My hope is that we will be able to reschedule this meeting sometime in the near future.”