Sen. Spence discusses e-mail targeting her grandchildren

Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A state lawmaker who received an e-mail containing a threat to her grandchildren said Tuesday it was sent from a computer at a metro-area hotel.

Agents from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation reviewed the hotel's security tape but couldn't determine the e-mail's author, said Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial.

The security tape had been improperly inserted, Spence said Tuesday at a political luncheon.

She has vowed to press charges if authorities catch the culprit, who was upset over an education matter at the Capitol.

"You touch my grandchildren, and I get really angry," Spence told the Independence Institute's women's group.

Spence received the e-mail in April from a person claiming to be "Ed Barger."

Although the CBI does not have any new leads, the case is active, Lance Clem, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday.

The e-mail referred to a controversy at the Capitol surrounding Democratic lawmaker Michael Merrifield's comments blasting vouchers and charter schools. Merrifield, of Colorado Springs, resigned as House Education Committee chairman after a conservative blog posted his remarks.

"Ed Barger" accused Spence, who supports school choice, of somehow being involved with the conservative blog. The e- mail accused the blog of "humiliating Merrifield."

"You need to pay, . . . but your grandchildren will pay first," the e-mail stated.

"Nancy, we are going to take it out on your grandchildren . . . we know where they live (we have contacts all over the country) and where they go to school," the e-mail read.

bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5327