{"id":46798,"date":"2021-05-13T09:44:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T15:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/threatening-an-elected-official-in-colorado-may-soon-land-you-in-prison\/"},"modified":"2021-05-13T15:44:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T15:44:00","slug":"threatening-an-elected-official-in-colorado-may-soon-land-you-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/threatening-an-elected-official-in-colorado-may-soon-land-you-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Threatening an elected official in Colorado may soon land you in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it illegal to harass or threaten elected officials. (Courtesy of The Colorado Sun)<\/span>The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After state Rep. Kyle Mullica introduced a bill last year to make it harder for Colorado parents to opt their children out of school vaccinations, he received a threatening email.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou deserve death,\u201d the person wrote. \u201cThe world would be better if your home burned down with you and your family in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police came to Mullica\u2019s home to ensure there was no threat. When his son saw the flashing lights from the patrol cars and asked what officers were doing, Mullica said he didn\u2019t know how to answer. Many other lawmakers and elected officials in Colorado have similar stories.<\/p>\n

Now a bipartisan group of lawmakers is attempting to tamp down the threats by creating a specific crime in Colorado that would make it illegal to harass or threaten an elected official.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 64, which is one vote away from being sent to Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 desk, would make it a misdemeanor to harass or retaliate against an elected official or their family, and a Class 6 felony to make a \u201ccredible threat\u201d against them. It\u2019s among a slate of legislation being debated at the Capitol this year to protect public health and safety workers and others who work in high-profile government jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t run to put my family\u2019s life in jeopardy or put their safety in jeopardy. I ran because I cared about my community,\u201d said Mullica, a Northglenn Democrat and prime sponsor of the measure. \u201cIt\u2019s not appropriate to come to somebody and say, \u2018I\u2019m going to burn your house down with your children inside of it because of a bill that you ran.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mullica\"
Mullica<\/span>Kathryn Scott\/Special to the Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Class 6 felonies are the least serious kind of felony in Colorado, punishable by a year to 18 months in prison and\/or a fine ranging from $1,000 to $100,000.<\/p>\n

The measure comes as elected officials and public health workers in the state and nationwide have faced harassment and threats of violence over restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s already a Class 4 felony in Colorado to threaten or retaliate against a judge. The idea is simply to broaden the existing protections to cover other public officials.<\/p>\n

Already on Polis\u2019 desk awaiting his signature is an anti-doxing measure aimed at protecting public health workers. The legislation, House Bill 1107, which passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support, makes it illegal to post the personal information of a public health worker online if the information poses an \u201cimminent and serious threat\u201d to that person\u2019s safety or the safety of their family.<\/p>\n

State lawmakers are also on track to approve another measure, House Bill 1015, that would create the same doxing protections for public safety workers, which includes jail and prison staff members, prosecutors and public defenders.<\/p>\n

SB 64, which is also sponsored by Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, and Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, cleared the House 44-20, and in the Senate 32-3, with broad bipartisan support.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s also been bipartisan opposition.<\/p>\n

Two prominent Democrats, House Speaker Alec Garnett, D-Denver, and Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, D-Commerce City, joined 18 Republican members of the House in voting against the measure Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Garnett\"
Garnett<\/span>Andy Colwell, Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When an unsuccessful bill was proposed last year, Garnett, who has received threats when sponsoring gun legislation, said he doesn\u2019t think lawmakers should get any extra protections under the law.<\/p>\n

Rep. Rod Bockenfeld, R-Watkins, who also voted against SB 64, said some constituents are \u201crough-talking\u201d and what\u2019s perceived as a threat can be subjective.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t stand in front of a group of people who are upset over a particular bill or policy position that you\u2019ve taken, call you a crook, shake their fist at you, tell you that you\u2019re going to get thrown out of office, then I think you have to evaluate what role you\u2019re playing here,\u201d Bockenfeld said.<\/p>\n

But Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, who worked on last year\u2019s version of the legislation, said threats against elected officials can have a chilling effect on government. He said the threats are aimed at \u201cstopping us from carrying or sponsoring or voting a certain way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that has an impact on our democracy,\u201d Soper said.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, after state Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron, used a racist term on the House floor to refer to a Democratic colleague, Littleton Rep. David Ortiz, both Holtorf and his family, as well as Ortiz, received death threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not OK for this country, it\u2019s not OK for this state,\u201d said Holtorf, speaking in support of the bill.<\/p>\n

SB 64 is now awaiting Senate approval of House amendments before being sent to the governor\u2019s desk. Polis, a Democrat, has not indicated whether he will sign SB 64 or HB 1015 into law.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Similar laws exist for judges; another measure may cover prosecutors and public defenders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1544,394,233,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-us-national-football-league-nfl-north-american","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46798"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}