Two McCain offices get threatening letters
One sent to Colorado may have come from jail inmate
By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 21, 2008 at 4:26 p.m.
Photo by Javier Manzano / The Rocky
Several people were taken to a hospital for an exam and others quarantined after a suspicious white powder was found at McCain headquarters in Centennial. The powder was not hazardous.
Photo by Linda Mcconnell / Special To The Rocky
A hazmat team member exits John McCain's campaign office in Centennial. The team tested a white powder sent in a letter.
Two of Sen. John McCain's campaign offices - one in Colorado and one in New Hampshire - received threatening letters Thursday, both containing white powder.
The letter received in Colorado may have been sent by an inmate at the Arapahoe County Jail.
Secret Service officials said the substance contained in the letter was not hazardous, but McCain's headquarters in Centennial was evacuated, and seven staffers and four first responders initially were quarantined after the discovery. Four other staff members also went to a local hospital to be checked out.
"We have not determined what it is, but through all the processes we have figured out it is negative for hazardous substances," said Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley.
An Arapahoe County sheriff's spokesman said the inmate, identified as Marc Ramsey, is a suspect in the incident. He has not been charged. Ramsey is serving time on a variety of charges, including felony menacing, stalking and assault.
"He's a prolific letter writer," Wiley said.
He added that it was not known whether the letter sent to New Hampshire was related to the one sent to the Centennial office.
"There was a Denver return address, but we have not confirmed that it also came from Ramsey," Wiley said. "We have not drawn any conclusions between the two letters."
Bruce Williamson, chief of the Public Safety Bureau for Arapahoe County, said samples of the substance were reportedly on their way to the state lab, but results weren't immediately available.
At about 3 p.m., the Secret Service received a call from McCain's headquarters in the 6300 block of South Racine Circle.
"A staffer at Sen. McCain's office opened a letter with white powder," Wiley said. "The letter came from the Arapahoe County Jail. It was a threatening letter against McCain."
Jeff Sadosky, spokesman for McCain's campaign, said there were between five and 10 campaign staff members and volunteers in the Centennial office at the time the letter was opened by a staffer.
"They immediately evacuated the building," he said.
After the incident in Centennial, Sadosky said an alert was sent to all of McCain's offices nationwide.
About an hour later, at 4 p.m. MDT, a staffer at McCain's Manchester, N.H., office opened an envelope with "another similar letter," Sadosky said.
It was hand-written in all block letters with a return address of Denver.
"We had put everyone on high alert, and that is what set things off in the Manchester office," said Sadosky. "The letters were very threatening."
He said that there were no injuries in New Hampshire and the the local people who were in the office "are under observation."
Secret Service agents and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's hazmat team were at the Centennial offices Thursday.
The McCain campaign opened the Centennial office in June. The second floor suite serves as the regional headquarters for seven states, including Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.
About 30 volunteers were scheduled to come into the office Thursday to do phone banking - calling voters to galvanize support for McCain. The office conducts phone banking about once or twice a week.
Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree confirmed that it received four people from the Centennial office - two men and two women - Thursday afternoon.
"They are resting comfortably," said Linda Watson, spokeswoman for the hospital. "They are not showing any symptoms. They were intercepted before coming into the emergency room."
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August 21, 2008
4:37 p.m.
Suggest removal
RightDownTheMiddle writes:
Go figure.....a terrorist threat right around the DNC convention.
I'm "shocked and awed". Who wants to bet they'll raise the "threat level" to off-purple the day after Obama's speech?
Perhaps, the return address on the powder was Karl Rove's?
August 21, 2008
4:48 p.m.
Suggest removal
DenverDan writes:
The white stuff was for Bush. Wrong address I bet.
August 21, 2008
4:48 p.m.
Suggest removal
wow writes:
hmmm, need more info.
Is taking people to the hospital a normal precaution when white powder is discovered?
August 21, 2008
4:56 p.m.
Suggest removal
Squatch writes:
Was it little Bush's Stash? Just kidding.
Neither Candidate's campaign offices deserve this kind of crap being done to them. This is one of the most Un-American things a person can do.
August 21, 2008
5 p.m.
Suggest removal
HolierThanThou writes:
I believe that illegal wire-tapping and running concentration camps are a lot more un-American than a Republican having a snoot full of cocaine after a rough day on the campaign.
August 21, 2008
5:11 p.m.
Suggest removal
johnson writes:
Didn't Obama state in his book he was fond of the white powder?
August 21, 2008
5:26 p.m.
Suggest removal
ou8one2 writes:
I heard a bunch of Dems showed up with straws to test the powder out.
August 21, 2008
5:32 p.m.
homeradam writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
August 21, 2008
5:35 p.m.
Suggest removal
HopiMedicineMan writes:
"The Secret Service says the letter had a return address from an inmate at the Arapahoe County Jail."
When the inmate's name and address become known, I'll post here his party affiliation if he has one. Anyone want to take a wild guess as to what may prove to be?
August 21, 2008
5:38 p.m.
Suggest removal
homeradam writes:
How hard would it be to write down a name and give the address to the prison. You must be a Dem to be that stupid. What if I put HopiMedicineMan, Arapahoe county prison. Does that means it's you?????????????
August 21, 2008
5:40 p.m.
Suggest removal
HolierThanThou writes:
Excuse me but... other polls show Obama ahead of McCain by at least 5 points. We call that a statistical "dead heat". In other words, there is no statistically significant lead for either candidate.
Lay off the crack.
August 21, 2008
6:13 p.m.
Suggest removal
GetReal writes:
Wouldn't it be interesting if the powder was identified as being cyanide?
Oh wait, that story was excused and covered up as being a suicide-
Lets recap that one...
A Somali Muslim with mental problems- Check
No passport, here illegally-Check
Been unemployed for years, no means of support,
but takes a "vacation" to Denver staying for weeks at a $200 a night hotel-Check
Posts are made online by a guy with an almost identical name calling for people to die-Check
The man is found dead in his room with over a pound of cyanide-Check
Story claiming suicide appears in back of paper on page 29-Check
Sounds more like a terrorist "work" accident to me.
This guy was up to no good and Ritter, Hick, the DNC and the state and fed authorities know it but don't want to panic the delegates and general public, causing a low turnout for their precious convention.
What if there were more than one, say 18 others are out there each with a pound of cyanide who didn't kill themselves and are still planning an attack during the DNC?
Now we have the McCain letters containing a suspicious white substance.
Whats next, the authorities claim it's all an isolated fraternity prank?
That would be about as crazy as the libs here inferring Repubs are behind it.
August 21, 2008
7:22 p.m.
Suggest removal
Gonzopozo writes:
We may never know what the powder really is or who really sent it.
Just another thing to distract us.
Tricky.
August 21, 2008
7:44 p.m.
Suggest removal
HopiMedicineMan writes:
Homeradam,
Sorry, I forgot to mention the individual would need to be found. I don't think that will be difficult. He's in the jail. When he's named, we'll have the opportunity to locate his address and his voter affiliation. Or am I still dumber than Hickenlooper and Ritter?
August 21, 2008
11:38 p.m.
Suggest removal
angryman1n writes:
The irony after yesterdays story on the DNC/I-25 debacle.
(Obviously an Obama supporter ****ing w/ McCain.)
August 22, 2008
4:12 a.m.
Suggest removal
disenchanted1 writes:
I think it was gold bond, sent by a fired caretaker in one of mcnobrains 7 or 8 homes that he can't remember.
August 22, 2008
6:54 a.m.
Suggest removal
Keith43 writes:
Nothing but fear monguring on the part of the government. It appears to be working on some of you too. And as usual, over kill, over kill, over kill. Reminds me of Britian. They're a bunch of paranoids!
August 22, 2008
7:05 a.m.
Suggest removal
ActualThinker writes:
"That would be about as crazy as the libs here inferring Repubs are behind it."
It was probably just some pissed off nut, no more representative of a democrat than abortion doctor killers are representative of Republicans. I wouldn't exactly call the inferrence "crazy" though, look up Karl Rove's past history he's done this type of thing before. I don't think thats what happened, but it wouldn't surprise me if it came out that way.
August 22, 2008
7:29 a.m.
Suggest removal
Katoom writes:
The liberal Center For Voting rights performed a study during the last election that proved beyond a doubt that liberals were responsible for virtually all campaign violence and intimidation. At least they had the courage to publish the study even after their stated goal to prove conservative violence was proven wrong. Liberals are for peace as long as you agree with them.
August 22, 2008
7:44 a.m.
Suggest removal
NotUrFriend writes:
Well I certain DO NOT support OBAMA in any fashion, clash of trust here, I would want an aggressive and determined investigation to punish the parties involved in such a case. I dont care WHICH party it is, or what the politician has done, people can not threaten public officials here.
I hope they catch and severely punish the parties involved.
I.
August 22, 2008
7:50 a.m.
Suggest removal
NotUrFriend writes:
Squatch
Your right, this is very un-American. Well I dont want Obama to Win, I respect him for running. Whoever this is will pay the price for this 'joke'.
I
August 22, 2008
8:29 a.m.
Suggest removal
buffsblg writes:
I notice that once it was published that the letter was from some whack job inmate, none of those who blamed Obama got on here to retract their statements. Facts, of course, being less important than the attack. Karl Rove politics, it does not matter if the attack is true, only if it works.
August 22, 2008
8:31 a.m.
Suggest removal
Cowboy63 writes:
The letter came from jail?
Are you sure it wasn't Tony Rezko? ...or Bill Ayers? ...or Bernadine Dohrm?
Haven't they all done time?
August 22, 2008
8:39 a.m.
Suggest removal
COLibertarian writes:
Buffsblg, You are correct in your assumption and that is tragic. But have you not seen the statements regarding the Arkansas shooting on different threads here? Are those acceptable to you?
August 22, 2008
10:38 a.m.
Suggest removal
viper4ram writes:
Man the Democrats can't even send a letter to the right place, let alone run our country. They were trying to give Obama the 'bump' he's gonna need to win the election, but sent it to McCain's office instead.
August 22, 2008
11:13 a.m.
Suggest removal
HopiMedicineMan writes:
His name is Mark Harold Ramsey, no age given yet.
August 22, 2008
11:14 a.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
I should say, the suspect named is Mark Harold Ramsey. He's not accused, not convicted.
August 22, 2008
11:15 a.m.
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buffsblg writes:
Colibertarian
Well, we do not know why that happened, which is more frustrating, but of course blaming the republicans for that was silly, just as blaming Ann Coulters loudmouth rants for the lunatic who shot up the church for being too liberal. There are enough nut jobs out there that to blame either side is silly.
However, I do and will stand by my criticism of recent Republican tactics. Rove and his acolytes (including D@ck Wadams) have continued the race to the bottom.
August 22, 2008
12:08 p.m.
Suggest removal
kmeissner writes:
Aren't the prisons in charge of reading all mail that comes in and out?
ALso, the comments that it was white powder meant for Bush.... Brilliant! haha
August 22, 2008
1:06 p.m.
Suggest removal
HolierThanThou writes:
Karma's working here.
If "Scooter" Libby had gone to jail for perjuring himself on behalf of Dǃck Cheney and Karl Rove then more conservative Republicans might have known that jailers read all incoming and outgoing mail. So, if Mark Ramsey had actually tried to send a powdered threat, the jail would have caught it.
So, this is a hoax being perpetrated by conservative Republicans who have illegal access to a law enforcement databases like Bob Beauprez did. Else how would they know the name of an obscure inmate to pin this on?
August 22, 2008
1:09 p.m.
Suggest removal
EBone writes:
HopiMedicineMan wrote: "When the inmate's name and address become known, I'll post here his party affiliation if he has one. Anyone want to take a wild guess as to what may prove to be?"
The guy's in jail. He's a criminal you nit wit. Don't you think that his criminal record has more to do with what he did than his political affiliation?
If this happened to the Dems...?
Boy, HMM you really aren't bright.
August 22, 2008
1:46 p.m.
Suggest removal
junglegymco writes:
Wow - this is shocking! He sent it in a letter? You mean McCain staffers can read?!