A Washington County lawmaker said she was physically accosted Saturday by a constituent at a community forum.
State Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, said she was taking part in a public forum on the grounds of the Fernhill wetlands in Forest Grove when a man she identified as Pedro Garcia-Balderrama, 28, disrupted the event. She said he was verbally combative toward her and the dozen or so members of the public in attendance.
In an interview late Saturday, Sollman said Garcia-Balderrama was focused on data centers and immigration. She said Garcia-Balderrama disrupted the event for about 10 minutes and at that point she said she stood and asked him to sit down or leave.
“I said, ‘You’ve made your point that you’re upset with me,’ and at that point he did get in my face,” Sollman said. She said he told her to shut up and used profanity. She said he moved “very close to me” and was “right in my face.”
“I thought he was taking a swing at me,” prompting her to move away, she said. “He grabbed my glasses and then he threw them in the bushes.”
She said by then a member of her staff had called the Forest Grove police, who arrived as Garcia-Balderrama was leaving the event. Washington County Jail logs show he was booked on suspicion of second-degree disorderly conduct and harassment, both misdemeanors, then released from jail.
Sollman said she viewed the episode as an act of political violence. “It just elevated it to a different step that was concerning,” she said.
On Saturday, Garcia-Balderrama posted on Instagram about his TriMet ride to Sollman’s appearance and then did a separate post about his three-hour stint in jail. He did not provide an account of what happened but said he was released with an order not to contact Sollman. He said he is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 13.
A message to the Forest Grove police was not immediately returned. Garcia-Balderrama could not be reached for comment.
Sollman was defeated in this year’s primary election by Myrna Muñoz, a progressive Democrat whose opposition to data center subsidies and spread became a central tenet of her campaign.
Hillsboro has one of Oregon’s densest concentrations of data centers, making the subject a central issue for the Democratic-leaning district.
Carlos Fuentes contributed to this story.
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