Tragedy brings together lawmakers on both sides of aisle

By Karoun Demirjian

Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011 | 2 a.m.

In the midst of seething discord, it sometimes takes a tragedy to bring people together.

The calm of the first weekend of the new Congress was shattered Saturday when a gunman opened fire on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a Tuscon shopping center parking lot, killing six, including a federal judge, and critically wounding the congresswoman.

Lawmakers of both parties expressed shock and support for Giffords, a moderate Democrat.

“I am horrified by the senseless attack,” Republican Speaker John Boehner said. “An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve.”

“This terrible act of violence is a national tragedy,” Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said.

But bipartisan outpouring of sympathy and disgust didn’t stop speculation in round tables, blogs, Twitter feeds, and coffeehouses across the country that a poisonous political climate had motivated the alleged gunman.

As the nation geared up for 2010 elections, Sarah Palin told her followers last spring: “don’t retreat, reload.” She later named Giffords one of the top “targets” in the midterms.

In Nevada, that was echoed when Sharron Angle implied the need for “Second Amendment remedies” to rein in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Arizona has been, and continues to be a swing state — swung by the strong political winds that have been blowing over the past year.

Although the Tea Party left a bigger footprint in states like Nevada, Arizona and its passage of Senate Bill 1080 — an immigration enforcement law so stringent it prompted the federal government to sue for a repeal — were a major rallying cry for the movement. Tea Party activists have already expressed concern they will blamed for the attack on Giffords.

The federal judge who died in Saturday’s attack, John Roll, has been at the center of that immigration debate. Roll has received hundreds of death threats for allowing illegal immigrants to bring lawsuits against Arizonans.

In a Congress dominated by partisan rancor, Giffords is known as a lawmaker who crosses party lines.

During the 110th Congress, she joined Republicans to advocate strongly for widespread use of the employment vetting system E-Verify as part of comprehensive immigration reform — before Democrats had warmed to the idea.

In the last Congress, she came under attack, or at least her office did (it was vandalized), after she voted in favor of the health care bill that the GOP will attempt to repeal this week.

She’s also partnered with members of the Nevada delegation on initiatives of importance to the West.

She and Nevada Republican Dean Heller were the force behind last year’s bill to prevent drug smuggling into the country via ultralight aircraft.

“I am deeply saddened by today’s tragic and senseless shootings,” Heller said Saturday.

Giffords has pushed for solar energy development, echoing Reid’s hopes to turn the West into the country’s renewable energy hub, despite coming from a state where the clean energy preference appears to be nuclear power.

“Congresswoman Giffords is one of our most dynamic members of Congress ... I have watched her career and admired her work,” Reid said Saturday.

“Congresswoman Giffords is a very close friend ... I love and adore her on a personal level,” Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley said.

“I am shocked and saddened by the attack and I’m keeping Congresswoman Giffords her staff, the other victims and all of their families in my thoughts and prayers,” Rep. Joe Heck said.

“Today’s shooting is a true tragedy,” Republican Sen. John Ensign said. “Tragic events often translate into moments of contemplation, and I believe that we owe it to the victims of today’s shooting to pause and reflect on the direction that we are moving as a country.”

Last week, Giffords participated in the House’s reading of the Constitution. Her passage was the First Amendment, which talks about guaranteeing the freedom of all speech — and the right of citizens to “peaceably assemble” to petition the government for redress of grievances.

Giffords was holding a forum to hear such ideas when she was shot.