Winter apologizes for '04 e-mail to writer

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Congressional candidate Bill Winter apologized Monday for a 2004 e-mail that a media critic interpreted as an implied physical threat.

Winter, a Democrat challenging Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton, said he never intended to threaten anybody. Still, he said he was sorry for the tone of a September 2004 e-mail exchange with Dave Kopel, a Rocky Mountain News media columnist and research director at the Independence Institute.

Winter is a military veteran, and during the 2004 presidential contest he defended Democratic candidate John Kerry from charges that he had lied about his military record in Vietnam.

Winter e-mailed Kopel denouncing the "Swift Boat hysteria" surrounding Kerry. Winter said that while President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney supported the Vietnam War, they did not serve in combat.

Kopel defended his writing about Kerry's war record, which drew an angry response from Winter, who called Kopel a "rabid attack dog for Bush and Cheney" and ended with the line: "When the revolution comes, I'll be looking for you, brother!"

In an interview Monday, Kopel said he interpreted the "revolution" line as an implied threat, so he placed the e-mail in a file that he said prosecutors might find should anything ever happen to him.

"The clear implication was that when the revolution comes, and when he finds me, he's not going to shake my hand," Kopel said.

Contacted Monday, Winter said, "I look at that, and I don't know what was on my mind at that point. I know both sides were worked up. . . . I can guarantee you it wasn't a threat. I'm not a person who goes threatening people.

"If he took it that way, I certainly apologize. And, quite frankly, I apologize for getting worked up and not being able to have a better dialogue."

Kopel said he accepted Winter's explanation.

"I'll take him at his word for what he says about it now," Kopel said. "If he sincerely has no recollection for what he meant, I don't think there's anything more to do. He apologized, and I think that was the mature thing to do."

Winter has recently criticized Tancredo for his fiery rhetoric, including Tancredo's suggestion last year that the U.S. could threaten to bomb the Muslim holy site of Mecca in retaliation for terrorist attacks.

About his own e-mail, Winter said, "We ask if it's the sort of thing that a serious political candidate would say, but nobody seems to question the things Tom Tancredo says."