Parties Clash in Advance of VanHollen's 'Meet and Greet' at Carroll Community College

Democratic Congressman Chris VanHollen's scheduled "meet and greet" at Carroll Community College on Monday is igniting sparks between local political parties. 

In a press release Saturday, Dan Bongino, Maryland's 2012 Republican nominee for the United States Senate, said that Carroll County Democrats are using intimidation to keep members of Carroll County's tea party organization We The People (WTP) away from VanHollen's event.

"After a 2012 campaign marred by vehicle & property vandalism and a more recent, brazen display of government intimidation by the IRS, the Democrats are at it again," Bongino said in a statement. "Now they are attempting to use law enforcement to intimidate and silence one of my former volunteers and a female conservative activist in Carroll County, MD."

According to political website Front Line State,  Michelle Jefferson of WTP Carroll County said that Don West of the Carroll County Democratic Central Committee had reached out to Carroll Community College campus security, the Sheriff's Department and the state police expressing concerns about WTP attending the event with VanHollen because of the group's “violent tendencies.”

On June 21, West filed an interim peace order against Jefferson alleging harassment. West claims in the peace order that he contacted security at Carroll Community College after he received an email from Jefferson that he said "seemed to make possible threatening actions against Congressman Chris Van Hollen ... "

West reported in the peace order that Jefferson also sent him a text saying "You’re a weenie & a jackass, Don. My turn!! Michelle"

Jefferson wrote on the WTP website about VanHollen's visit Monday, "I say we give him a WTP welcome to the neighborhood."

Bongino said on his Facebook page Saturday that he knows Jefferson personally and that she sounds scared. 

"This is real for me and I assure you it is very real for her," Bongino wrote on his Facebook page. "When we spoke there was genuine fear in her voice, a fear that cannot be faked. You may not agree with her politics but do you feel she should be criminalized for them?" 

Bongino encouraged the state democratic party to make amends. 

"As a former law enforcement officer and a Secret Service agent with specific expertise in evaluating political threats, the MD Democratic Party should be embarrassed by this shameful attempt at intimidation and the corresponding waste of law enforcement resources," Bongino said in a statement. "I am calling on the Maryland Democratic Party to issue a public apology to the Carroll County law enforcement officials involved and Mrs. Jefferson, immediately."     

Rep. VanHollen's "meet and greet" is scheduled for Monday, June 24 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Carroll Community College. 

Do you plan to attend Congressman VanHollen's 'meet and greet' Monday? Tell us in comments.