A local gadfly best known for disturbing government meetings by toting fake guns, promoting masturbation and advocating tearing down the Tacoma Dome has ignominiously ended his bid to become Pierce County sheriff.

Robert Hill, aka Robert “The Traveller” Hill, aka Jesse Hill, aka the great, honourable , state master Robert Jesse Hill, pleaded guilty Tuesday to forging a judge’s signature on a temporary restraining order in April.

The felony conviction renders him ineligible to hold public office, Auditor Pat McCarthy said. Prosecutors have said they intend to take legal action to have Hill’s name removed from the November ballot, she said.

Hill, 38, also was running as a Democratic precinct committee officer. It’s unclear how much it would cost and whether there is time to remove his name from the ballots for the August primary, McCarthy said.

Attempts to reach Hill Wednesday were unsuccessful – the number on file for his campaign had been disconnected.

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Hill, who has enjoyed some dark horse celebrity status in the local blogsosphere, had little chance of unseating incumbent Paul Pastor. But court records related to the case allow a glimpse into the mind of a man prosecutors say causes them to have “very serious concerns for public safety.”

According to charging documents, sheriff’s deputies investigated Hill for squiggling District Court Judge David Kenworthy’s name on a temporary anti-harassment protection order. The judge had only ordered a hearing on the matter.

Hill was picked up by police about a week later on May 1 after trying to buy a gun, but being turned down for “mental health reasons,” court records say.

“The responding officer’s report states that the officer has had prior contact with (Hill) and knows that he ‘indeed has mental health issues,’” an affidavit reads.

Hill’s sentence in the forgery case was limited to the 23 days he had already spent in jail. He was also fined $1,200.

He also was arrested Feb. 17 in Nevada on charges of bringing guns into a casino. The status of that case was unclear Wednesday.

Closer to home, Hill wore a mock .38-caliber gun strapped to his ankle outside his pants to a Tacoma Human Services Commission meeting on Feb. 6. On March 4, he turned up at a City Council meeting with two plastic holsters and two metal briefcases. Police asked him to open the cases, but he said it would take two hours. He wasn’t allowed in, court records say.

“We do have people down at the council meetings to make sure Mr. Hill follows the rules,” police spokesman Mark Fulghum said. Officers are concerned that Hill’s interest in holsters and fake guns will escalate.

Hill also was irate that his name was typed in all capital letters on some court documents.

“Using All-Capitals, in writing, is akin to YELLING, and I don’t need to yell who I am; my existence clearly accomplishes this,” he wrote in a statement to the court.

A transcript of a May 22 hearing further reveals Hill’s existential bent.

Asked if he was born on Dec. 4, 1969, Hill replied:

“I have no personal knowledge of that, but I believe it to be true.”

The court also was trying to pin Hill down about where he lived.

“I live in this body that’s speaking to you and I sleep in that room when I’m in Piece County.”
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Here are some Web extras.

This is Hill's interview with The Melon:

This is the letter he wrote to the court:

Updated:
I got a call from Mr. Hill today after my story ran. He said he was unhappy that I had written he had forged a judge's name, when it was really just his signature -- which wouldn't necessarily have to be a name. It was a short conversation and I told him (truthfully) that I'd pass his concerns along to our copy desk.

I also finally got a chance to watch the second part of Hill's Melon interview. In it, he gives some of his views on guns. For example, "The state of Washington owes its high school students an opportunity to learn more about firearms."