Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff told his colleagues on the House floor Friday that he was “profoundly disturbed” by a threatening e-mail sent to Democratic Rep. Terrance Carroll earlier this week.
“I have never in my six years here seen a message that comes as close to a death threat against a member of this body,” Romanoff said. Carroll, a black Denver lawmaker, received an e-mail that supported his lynching after he made a joke suggesting the state build a wall around its borders to keep out the Minutemen, armed citizens who patrol the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
“You are SOOOO lucky lynching and firing squad for treason aren’t available punishments, anymore,” the e-mail read. “I’d vote you in, in a heartbeat.”
Romanoff said he feared the debate on immigration has taken a dangerous turn and asked his colleagues to use their words and actions to help calm the tensions created by the debate.
“You and I are, at least in part, responsible for the climate we create in the discussion of public policy,” he said.
An interview was not granted when a reporter sent a message to the e-mail address listed for the sender. However, a response was later received from the e-mail address. In it, the sender said, “I have no membership affiliation with any group, yet support those who are doing the jobs our elected officials do not do.”
“My letter was not meant to be threatening, at all. … Walling up a state to keep out those who would protect us … now, THAT you can call threatening,” it said. “It may not have been the nicest letter ever written, either. … Yet, if the gentleman feels threatened, it would be only to himself it would seem, should guilt play a part in his assessment of it.”
Carroll said he was trying to make the point that the idea of building a wall around Colorado to keep out the Minutemen was just as silly as building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico to cut down on illegal immigration.
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-820-1633 or cfrates@denverpost.com.
