Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan was the swing vote on a proposal to cut $18 million from the city’s police budget. That proposal came from fellow Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty and was supported by Commissioner Chloe Eudaly. A group of Antifa/BLM activists saw Ryan as a potential third vote to pass the measure. Several dozen of them marched to Ryan’s house in late October and began chanting.

Protesters have taken to city council commissioner Dan Ryan’s home to ask him to defund PPB pic.twitter.com/jiadSi7ayS

— Melissa “Claudio” Lewis (@Claudio_Report) October 28, 2020

Ryan came out and agreed to talk with them. At the time he said he wasn’t sure how he would vote. But a few days later on Nov. 5, Ryan became the deciding vote against the proposal. “This 18 million proposal is a threat to our current public safety,” he said. That night, Antifa returned to his house and they were angry.

A group of roughly 60 people marched from Arbor Lodge Park to the commissioner’s home in the pouring rain Thursday evening. Upon arrival, they chanted “Black lives matter” and shattered a window and two terracotta planters. They lit flares and chucked eggs and balloons filled with paint at the home…

In a statement Friday, Ryan said protesters were using bullying and intimidation tactics and asked that they “be accountable to one another, and think before they act.”

“I appreciate that members of our community are passionate. But trespassing at the home I share with my fiancé; disrupting and intimidating my neighbors and me – and vandalizing my property – is not a productive or safe way to express opinion,” he wrote. “I have elderly neighbors and I fear for their safety and well-being.”

Here’s a local news report on that:

At Commissioner Dan Ryan’s home, group members “broke a window, threw burning flares and paint filled balloons at the home, and broke potted plants," the Unified Command said. @fox12oregon pic.twitter.com/lsK9qL7osY

— Amber Wilmarth (@amberwilmarth) November 6, 2020

In an interview a few days later, Ryan revealed that he’d been advised to leave home that night for his own safety:

What happened on Thursday night was about 60 people, as you heard, came by. I was advised, probably for my safety, to not be home, which was good because when people throw rocks at your windows, that’s not safe. I heard about the destruction while it was happening. My neighbors were really mobilized and were giving me information. Sadly, they had enough time to do some damage.

But it wasn’t just one night of anger in Ryan’s case. In an interview published Wednesday by the Oregonian, Ryan revealed his home has been vandalized a total of seven times since the meeting with Antifa in late October:

Commissioner Dan Ryan said Wednesday that his home has been vandalized seven times since late October, when the North Portland dwelling he shares with his fiance was first targeted by protesters who wanted him to support cutting millions of dollars from the city’s police budget.

The latest episode occurred early Sunday, Ryan told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a statement.

“I ask those who seek my attention on city business to schedule time with me and my team. We welcome scheduled meetings, during working hours, to hear inclusive perspectives on the complex challenges facing our city,” he said. “Acts of vandalism to my home, in the veil of darkness, will not allow me to actively and compassionately listen to you.”

The same group has treated Mayor Ted Wheeler in a similar way. Last year they ran him out of his own apartment after setting off fireworks and setting fires at his building. Earlier this month another activist confronted Wheeler at a restaurant and began shouting at him. Another protester hit the mayor in the shoulder.

Activists have also been vandalizing the home and law office of Anil Karia a lawyer for the Portland Police Association. Karia says people came onto his porch, banged on his windows and tore down a security camera.

He said the harassment at his home was an “effort to intimidate me, my family and my kids.” Karia added that people also smashed out windows at his office and scrawled graffiti on the building’s exterior over the summer.

Yes, that’s exactly what all of this is, an attempt to bully people into compliance. Unfortunately, the leadership in Portland has been tolerating this for months and no one is ever held accountable for this behavior.