DENVER-
A state senator who received an e-mail threatening her grandchildren said Tuesday that investigators have some leads on who may have sent the message.
Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, said she notified the Colorado Bureau of Investigation after receiving the e-mail Saturday.
She said law-enforcement agencies in her grandchildren’s town as well as their schools have been notified about the threat. She declined to say where they live.
The message, reported Tuesday in the Rocky Mountain News, said Spence should “pay” after an embarrassing e-mail from a Democratic lawmaker that was posted on a conservative blog last month.
That e-mail, written by Democratic Rep. Michael Merrifield, said charter-school supporters should have “a special place in hell.” After it was posted on Face the State, Merrifield apologized and stepped down as chairman of the House Education Committee, also citing his battle with cancer.
The threatening e-mail to Spence read, “Nancy, we are going to take it out on your grandchildren (even the one from Darfur). We know where they live (we have contacts all over the country) and where they go to school.”
CBI director Robert Cantwell confirmed his agency is investigating but declined to comment on what agents have discovered.
“We are utilizing all of our resources available to try to identify the subject who wrote the e-mail,” Cantwell said.
The message to Spence was signed by “the edcation panthers” and sent from a Yahoo e-mail account that included “cea98” in the user name. CEA is the acronym for the Colorado Education Association—the state’s teacher’s union—but Cantwell said investigators don’t believe it the e-mail is connected to the organization.
The e-mail accuses Spence of being “the tip of the cranberg organization,” an apparent reference to oilman Alex Cranberg. It also claims that Cranberg finances Face the State.
In a written statement, Cranberg said he does not comment on where he donates money.
“Why is it that when someone is looking to shift attention from a special place in Hell or whatever, my name comes up? I’m not part of a vast right-wing conspiracy (they’re probably mad at me too),” he said.
Brad Jones, the owner of Face the State, declined to say who invests in his Web site, which he said is a for-profit company and is not organized as a political organization.
Jones said he is the former president of the University of Colorado College Republicans and designed the Web site used by the Senate GOP office.
Spence worked with Cranberg to support private school vouchers in 2003 but said she has not worked with him since. She is also a charter school supporter but said she has a good working relationship with Merrifield.
“Somehow maybe people that are out of the Capitol would think we have an adversarial relationship but we don’t,” she said.
