Yesterday the progressive organization Progress Now sent out an e-mail to its members asking for tips in trying to find out who was behind a threatening e-mail sent to Republican Sen. Nancy Spence.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is working on finding out who sent the e-mail, and when reached for comment today, a spokesperson said that there was nothing new to report. “It’s just a continuing criminal investigation,” said Lance Clem, spokesman for CBI, who declined to elaborate on any specifics of the investigation.
Clem wouldn’t set a specific timetable for when the investigation might be completed, but noted that “[Cases like this] are usually wrapped up fairly expeditiously.”
Does that mean the investigation could be completed by the end of the legislative session, in mid-May? “You could probably expect to have some kind of results by then,” said Clem.
Progress Now E-mail Text
Dear Network Member,
We need your help to ensure that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation catches the person who threatened a Colorado elected official.
On Saturday, April 7, 2007, Colorado State Senator Nancy Spence received a threatening e-mail that said her grandchildren “will pay” for her stance on an education issue. (Rocky Mountain News, April 10, 2007)
Since then, Sen. Spence said police are providing security at her grandchildren’s homes and at their schools while the Colorado Bureau of Investigation investigates the source of this e-mail.
Spence stated that “the person who wrote it will be prosecuted.” (RMN)Threatening any elected official or their family cannot be tolerated. Click below to support the call that the person or persons who wrote this threatening email be prosecuted to the full extent of the law:
http://progressnowaction.org/stopthreats
The e-mail came from an “Ed Barger” at cea98barger@yahoo.com. Here are a few facts:
1. The Colorado Education Association has never heard of an “Ed Barger,” and the group uses “NEA” for National Education Association instead of “CEA” in its email.
2. The email was cc’d to political reporter Lynn Bartels at the Rocky Mountain News, and may have been bcc’d to even more members of the media. “Lynn Bartels” appears as “Bartels, Lynn,” so it appears this person is a regular sender who had her email in his/her address book.
3. The email referred to specific legislation that Senator Spence was carrying and also referred to a little-known right-wing blog.
4. While the email spells out a number of insider terms correctly, it was signed “the edcation panthers”, and there is no such group with or without the obvious misspelling.
Click the link below to confidentially submit any tips or clues that might be helpful to the CBI in this investigation:
http://progressnowaction.org/tipline.Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,Michael Huttner
Executive Director
