Garamendi once had his own close call with violence

In the wake of the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, California Congressman John Garamendi is recalled his own brush with violence.

It happened in 1975, when he was a 30-year-old state freshman state assemblyman.

Garamendi represented parts of the conservative Central Valley, but he’d supported the landmark Agriculture Labor Relations Act that allowed farm workers to organize under activist Cesar Chavez.

“My constituents in San Joaquin County – the farmers – said you must come and explain yourself," Garamendi said.

The young Democrat entered a room full of hundreds of angry farmers to say why their mostly Mexican American farm workers should be able to form labor unions.

"As I was explaining it, about 15 feet in front of me, a farmer stood up," Garamendi recalled. "He took out his 45 automatic and pointed at me, and said I’m going to kill you, you S.O.B.”

Garamendi remembers seeing weapon leveled in his direction. A scuffle ensued.

“Fortunately, his friends pulled him down, and we went on with the meeting.”

Garamendi, now 65-years-old and a member of Congress, said he’s kept a close watch on crowds ever since. He did just that as walked through a Tea Party demonstration last year to cast his vote in support of healthcare reform legislation.

“I was one of those Democrats that marched out of the Cannon office building 200 yards over to the nation’s capital," he said.

"The crowd was there right next to us shouting epithets, spitting on a couple of our members. And it was a very, very heated situation.”

Garamendi said people had painted “kill the bill” signs, with the word “kill” in giant letters. It was frightening for a moment, he said, as G.O.P. colleagues looked on.

“And I know that our Republican colleagues went out onto the veranda with the crowd below them and encouraged the chanting, encouraged the anger.”

Garamendi’s unsure whether that kind of political rhetoric motivated the man who shot Congressman Giffords. But he knows firsthand how it may provoke some constituents to respond with violence.

“We need to tone down the rhetoric of hate and anger.”