Mr. Hill Goes to Washington
Have you been wondering what ever happened to candidate for Sheriff Robert Jesse Hill? He hasn’t been mentioned on Exit133 in a long while now. Well …
Tacoma’s very own Robert Hill went to Washington – the other Washington – two weeks ago to, apparently, meet with some of our more prominent elected officials.
Mr. Hill has been a character in Tacoma for several years. He is a well known figure in City Council and County Council meetings. Last year he began showing up in Olympia. He’s been called crazy, a City Council “season ticket holder”, gadfly, candidate for Sheriff, elected Precinct Committee Officer (PCO), among other things. We’ve watched him as he’s made comments at public meetings, paid his filing fees in silver certificates, and saw as his increasing fascination with guns and props has made elected officials and staff increasingly agitated. His interview in the Weekly Volcano a year ago opened up many of our eyes to the intricacy that is Robert Jesse Hill.
Hill’s first public appearance on the DC scene is at the September 25th, 2009 House Committee on Financial Services meeting in the 117th minute. Congressman Mel Watt of North Carolina disrupts the flow of the meeting to discourage someone in the audience from holding up a sign. Chairman Barney Frank acknowledges the individual, the police interest in the individual, and that he is alright with him being in the room as long as he doesn’t disrupt the meeting or hold up the sign. While Chairman Frank is talking and banging his gavel, the camera turns and there is Hill in one of his signature jumpsuits. His head darts back and forth quickly as the camera watches. The camera then returns to its normal position and the hearing continues.
Then again in the 123rd minute there appears to be an interaction between Capitol Police and someone in the audience. The camera doesn’t turn, but the audio reveals a voice remarkably similar to Hill’s. Finally, as the meeting ends, he is seen on camera approaching the key witness in the hearing. Camera fades.
After the Financial Services meeting, it would seem that Hill decided to check in with his local representatives in their DC offices. He visited the office of Congressman Norm Dicks. What was said is unknown, but office staff contacted Capitol Police. Mr. Hill left the office before the officers arrived. He then visited the office of Congressman Adam Smith where office staff contacted Capitol Police. He left the office, before they could arrive, but was stopped shortly thereafter. According to the police department, Hill was detained briefly and released outside the Rayburn Building. He was not arrested.
Hill boarded a Continental Airlines flight on the morning of Wednesday, September 30th to come back to Tacoma. His emails from the day before indicated that he planned to attend the Ballot Issues conversation at the Tacoma Public Library that evening. However, something happened to delay his trip home.
At this point, it starts to get a bit murky.
What we do know is that Robert Hill was involuntarily committed by the State of New Jersey. What we don’t know is how he got there. The word on the street is that airline passengers became upset after Hill began handling out literature and, when confronted, Hill became agitated. He was taken into custody and removed from the airport. However, neither the Port Authority nor Newark Police have any record of such an incident or an arrest. So maybe it didn’t happen quite as rumored. His luggage, on the other hand, is apparently at SeaTac sans Mr. Hill. So, something happened in between DC and Tacoma that has put Robert in New Jersey.
In spite of the many convoluted faces of Robert Hill, several folks have told us that are worried for his well-being. New Jersey and Washington DC are not Tacoma, Pierce County, or Olympia.
We’ll keep our eyes and ears open.
Filed under: General
43 comments
R RR Anderson October 5, 2009
was the literature he distributed on the plane related to world masturbation day?
How does New Jersey get to keep him? Send him home I say.
N NSHDscott October 5, 2009
Does that make New Jersey the dumping ground for Pierce County?
T Thorax O'Tool October 5, 2009
Actually, New Jersey is the dumping ground for the whole US.
E Erik B. October 5, 2009
Sounds like Tacoma lost yet another member of the creative class.
S Squid October 5, 2009
Meanwhile, back in Tacoma, one aspiring Auditor is thrilled.
A Altered Chords October 6, 2009
Finally a Tacoma export we can be proud of!
B broadweezy October 6, 2009
Is he single dude? He’s pretty hot.
S scott October 6, 2009
I am sure he will be out and sharing his brand of politcs with people across the nation sooner rather than later.
N North Ender October 6, 2009
What!? New Jersey locks up mentally ill people? They consider them a threat? What a novel idea! Don’t they know Washington runs an open air asylum? We let our deranged citizens attend city council meetings, go to State Fairs, ride the bus (with their pit bull), sleep in Pioneer Square, yell at cars on 6th Ave, kill lesbians, and maybe burn down a house. What is this new concept of putting them in an institution?
R RR Anderson October 6, 2009
Ian Demsky says this story lacks sourcing.
Did Eric Anderson get him on a Terrorist no fly list?
T Tacoma (A)roma October 6, 2009
Man..this is like an early Christmas present.
D DC Collins October 6, 2009
“You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.”
-Charles Austin Beard
D Douglas Tooley October 6, 2009
@Squid –
Just how ‘thrilled’ do you think our aspiring auditor is?
:-)
R RR Anderson October 6, 2009
you can straitjacket a man, but you can’t straitjacket an idea.
Information like the Traveller needs to be free.
T tom waits October 6, 2009
would anybody dispute that this qualifies as “escalating behavior?”
M Mofo from the Hood October 6, 2009
In America, one can freely act as a crass idiot….
…but I don’t endorse such behavior.
N North Ender October 6, 2009
Mofo@17 That’s a nice view. Mental illness is the new “expressing yourself”. Lets ask Teresa Butts and Shannon Harps for their opinion…… Oopps, their dead. Keep treating it like it’s a joke and you could run for Governor.
Jim C @14 I went on a date with a girl that worked for the Crisis Triage Center. She told me some pretty scary stuff about what they deal with on a daily basis. You’re right… we’re in trouble. The State/County isn’t interested in protecting you. The cops and judges are now the default social worker.
M Mofo from the Hood October 6, 2009
North Ender:
I have no reason to believe that Mr. Hill has any type of illness.
So what if he does? I still don’t endorse crass idiotic behavior.
N North Ender October 6, 2009
Mofo
Making an ass out of yourself in City Council meetings,dressing in costumes, skulking around Senate hearings, getting kicked out of Senate offices, disrupting a plane flight….. Seems like a pretty normal and balanced individual to me. I guess you have to stab someone before you get a trip to Western State Hospital and it stops being considered “expressing yourself”.
T tom waits October 6, 2009
north ender: don’t forget about the weapons charges.
i’m not the kind of person that thinks mentally ill people should be locked away, nor am i a person who believes people who are odd or different are mentally ill. nor am i afraid of mentally ill or just plain odd folks.
guns, knives, and purposefully intimidating behavior, however, is where i have to draw the line.
mr. hill is a bit more than weird.
T Tacoma (A)roma October 7, 2009
While I’ve never had him pull a replica pistol on me, I’ve dealt with him in the past and he makes the regular Tacoma weirdos seem like Mr Rogers.
O offbroadway October 7, 2009
“New Jersey and Washington DC are not Tacoma, Pierce County, or Olympia“
Umm…One might say perhaps, “…ya gotta know the territory!”
(I can hear the Congressmen now: “Ever meet a fellow by the name of Hill?”)
A andre October 7, 2009
While many readers find Mr. Hill amusing and a source of entertainment, it is a matter of time before he harms himself or someone else. He has issues and they are serious. Those of you who celebrate him are pimping him. He’s your version of a minstrel, and your humor is coarse and condescending.
R RR Anderson October 7, 2009
andre@24,
so no world masturbati0n day celebrations for you I imagine.
yours must be a lonely path.
D Drew October 7, 2009
Oh please, since when is “eccentric” considered mentally ill! Let Mr.Hill ruffle the feathers of our local elected officals, they deserve it.BTW, where does Mr. Hill by his jumpsuits at? I wonder if they come in petite?
Which Owen brother should play Hill in the movie? This whole situation is like a political “Zoo Lander”.
A annoyed33 October 8, 2009
Those of you that seem to “celebrate” Robert Hill, or Jesse Hill as he sometimes refers to himself, obviously have not dealt with him. He is mentally unstable and his crazy behavior continues to get more and more bizzare. I feel very “on edge” whenever he calls the office where I work or makes an appearance here. You just never know what he is going to do. Or if he has taken his meds or not. He is a ticking time bomb. Seriously. Thank you State of New Jersey!!! You can keep him!
R RR Anderson October 8, 2009
two things my mom always told me:
1. being homeless is not a crime.
2. being mentally ill is not a crime.
the fact he is not getting the help he needs is a testimony to the sorry state of our health care industrial complex.
PUBLIC OPTION NOW!
A Andrew October 9, 2009
This is surprising considering he corned me at a Pierce County Council meeting a week or so ago. Pretty much amazing.
S Scott October 10, 2009
He lately joined the Tacoma Solar Group and was wanting to instantly be the advertising/public relations guy. He can come off as intense rather than nuts at times. I suspect he is a very intelligent person that just doesn’t see things quite the way most people do (borderline nuts?)or is playing games with everyone for his own amusement. I’m heavily leaning to the first as he seems to research the heck out of what he’s after. He has apparently been the only one actually doing anything with all those surveys the county collected with the last election.
N North Ender October 12, 2009
Has anyone checked the validity of the New Jersey detention story? Tried to interview Hill? Made a call to the authorities in NJ? It’s been what… two weeks? I would think something would be in the local rag about an incident like that. Of couse, the News Tribune is pretty useless, so maybe not.
R RR Anderson October 12, 2009
The Traveller is a very intelligent guy if you listen to his KUPS Melon radio interviews. Some days he acts more together than other days, but that’s just what life is like living with mental illness I would imagine.
When Ian Demsky left the TNT was the day the TNT stopped covering strange local news (ie. traveller, military domestic spies, pay to play TPD basketball, funny city council meetings, etc).
at least the TNT still has Peter Cunningham or what’s his face.
M Mofo from the Hood October 12, 2009
If Mr. Hill is a flamboyant character and he’s having fun, then so what?
The problem starts when he enters the public arena and acts in ways that cost taxpayer’s money.
Running a society, keeping it safe and sane, costs money. I personally don’t want to finance anybody’s personal fantasy’s, especially if they are the sort that destablizes society.
F free.alive October 14, 2009
You rabid police-statists who want to lock him up are the actual problem. I’ve met the guy, and while he’s a little odd, he’s totally harmless.
That he makes the political class a little nervous, so much the better!
As for Jersey being worse than Washington, if it were so bad, why would it be the most densely populated state in the country, have the best public schools year in and year out, and also be one of the wealthiest states per capita. Yeah, there are crappy parts, but you’re less than an hour away from either of two cities that dwarf Seattle and make Tacoma look like a village. It’s more convenient, has better food and better weather. And did I mention the beach? I’m moving back from this rain forest as soon as it’s practical.
A Altered Chords October 14, 2009
free.alive – but they talk funny there.
S Steven October 14, 2009
free.alive,
When you carry a fake gun around, you are not harmless. You are going to get someone hurt.
Steven
J jr October 16, 2009
Last week I read this article to Mr. Hill. He was a bit amused by both style and inaccuracies. Since then I’ve kept him updated on comments posted (through through #36). We have talked about and laughed at some them. What surprises him the most is the extreme paranoia exhibited by some of the writers. On that, I agree with him.
Mr. Hill’s trip home included a scheduled flight to Newark with a layover to change planes and then on to SeaTac. Once on the plane in Newark for SeaTac, he handed out a few of his old campaign fliers. An airline supervisor asked him to step off the plane whereupon he was told that he would not be allowed to fly on the airline without a medical evaluation.
Mr. Hill then voluntarily submitted to a mental evaluation so as to be able to get back on the plane which was being held up. After more than an hour the plane departed without him. Hill was told that after the evaluation the airline would provide him a seat on another flight. Hill was taken to a mental hospital. His status also changed from voluntary to involuntary. He was never actually arrested.
As far as some of the comments go, let me say Mr. Hill’s many outrageous and sometimes quite crude performances have earned him most of his legal problems, arrests and sentences. I shed no tear for him in this regard. On the other hand, Mr. Hill has never shown the slightest tendency toward violence. He has never been accused of having spoken a single threatening word to anyone. For those who have known him, the worry is not who he might harm, but rather who might harm him after taking offense at what he says and does.
R RR Anderson October 16, 2009
Thanks Jr! Tacoma needs him ASAP. Jan Shabro is trying to sabotage our Ranked Choice Voting with this 61 cent mailing cost at voter expense..
Light the traveller’s bat signal!
O offbroadway October 16, 2009
I’ve kept him updated on comments…and laughed at some them
Well, I hope my reference to Act 1 of The Music Man wasn’t for naught.
Yessir.
C crenshaw sepulveda October 16, 2009
I have it on good authority that it was actually Hill that was in that runaway balloon in Colorado the other day.
J jr October 16, 2009
Mr RR Anderson, out of all the comments made here I found only your comment #28 to be troubling. Admittedly, I may not have the artistic imagination that you have. But considering all the unwanted help “our health care industrial complex” and the “PUBLIC” (government) have already provided Mr Hill, I haven’t the slightest idea what more could be provided for him. Unless of course we declare his odd behavior an illness and treat it as a crime. I wonder what your mom’s advise on that would be.
R RR Anderson October 16, 2009
Jr. I respectfully submit that you’re seeing the health care industrial complex as it exists today.
I however am seeing a glamorous new health care industrial complex through my magic Obama glasses.
Shalom
J jr October 16, 2009
I can’t seem to find them glasses anywhere. I’m thus left to rely on second hand information as to what that new health care complex might might be like. Just last night I got to see an excerpt from a June 2009 speech given by White House Communications Director Anita Dunn. She stated two of her favorite political philosophers to be Mao and Mother Theressa. Could that mean beheading or being institutionalized with absolutely no medications regardless of the need. But then Anita Dunn is not the Surgeon General.
R RR Anderson October 16, 2009
Hey, I like Pink Floyd but that doesn’t mean I’m going to shave my eyebrows off.