Political threats and violence appear to have reached Sarah Palin's home state.
Someone smashed a window at the headquarters for Alaska's Democratic Party in Anchorage this past weekend.
According to Alaska Dispatch, the police officer who inspected the damage called it a "smash and run." The first pane of a double-paned window that was situated on the front and center of the building was smashed, according to the Anchorage Daily News. The damage extended from the top to the bottom of the window and the metal frame was also damaged.
Statewide party officer Dave Metheny told the Daily News that there were no leads but that the office had fielded calls from angry people before and after Congress' vote on health care reform.
"People sometimes express their political discontent inappropriately," Anchorage police Lt. Dave Parker told the Daily News. "That could have been it. Or it could have just been somebody who decided they needed to break a window."
Patti Higgins, The state chair of the Alaska Democratic Party, told Alaska Dispatch that Palin's rhetoric contributed to a hostile atmosphere:
"There has become this inflammatory rhetoric, and Sarah Palin is leading the charge," Patti Higgins, state chair of the Alaska Democratic Party, said. "In the beginning I didn't think she knew what she was doing, but now I think she does"
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"It was a message," Higgins said. "Random acts of violence are a form of domestic terrorism and they need to knock it off."
Palin has denied any claims that she incited violence. CBS News reports that the former Alaska governor said that she just wanted to inspire people to get involved.
On Monday, a Philadelphia man was arrested for threatening to kill House Republican Whip Eric Cantor.