{"id":12750,"date":"2007-09-02T15:00:09","date_gmt":"2007-09-02T19:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/12750.html"},"modified":"2007-09-02T15:00:09","modified_gmt":"2007-09-02T19:00:09","slug":"i-will-be-forced-to-take-other-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/i-will-be-forced-to-take-other-steps\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I will be forced to take other steps’"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a rule, members of Congress try to avoid threatening their constituents, especially on tape. It’s one of the reasons a new controversy<\/a> out of Denver is so bizarre. (via<\/a>)<\/p>\n

A local couple is complaining that U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn left them two threatening voice mails after they wrote a letter criticizing his fundraising.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Bartha and Anna Bartha told The Denver Post that Lamborn said there would be “consequences” if they did not withdraw their letter.<\/p>\n

“We felt very threatened and intimidated, and quite frankly, scared,” Anna Bartha said. “It was just not anything we would ever anticipate an elected official would pursue or a way that an elected official would conduct himself.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, Jonathan Bartha, who works for James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, and his wife Anna, were disappointed when Lamborn voted against stricter dog-fighting laws. They wrote a letter to the editor, identifying themselves as conservative Republicans, and noting that Lamborn accepted campaign contributions from the gambling industry.<\/p>\n

It prompted Lamborn to call the Barthas personally, leaving a message<\/a> that said, “[T]here are consequences to this kind of thing, but I would like to work with you in a way that is best for everyone here concerned.” Shortly thereafter, Lamborn left another message in which he said, “I’d rather resolve this on a Scriptural level but if you are unwilling to do that I will be forced to take other steps, which I would rather not have to do.”<\/p>\n

FEC records confirm Lamborn accepted the donations from the gambling industry, but the Colorado Republican apparently insists he returned the contributions. The Denver Post<\/i> added, “He did not say when and The Post said there is no federal record of them being returned.”<\/p>\n

One really has to wonder what on earth guys like Lamborn are thinking.
\n
\nFor the record, here’s the transcript<\/a> of Lamborn’s phone messages.<\/p>\n

FIRST MESSAGE: “Hello, this is Doug Lamborn calling for either Jonathan or Anna. Something very serious has happened. There was a letter to the editor that you both put in your names to the editor of the Woodmen Edition and there is something that is blatantly false in that letter.<\/p>\n

“I would like to get together with you and show this to you and appeal to you as a brother and sister in Christ. You didn’t give me that opportunity but I am happy to overlook that and deal with you on that level because I think that is the right thing to do and show you where you made a blatant, wrong statement.<\/p>\n

“Now there are consequences to this kind of thing, but I would like to work with you in a way that is best for everyone here concerned. So please call me at your earliest convenience. It is now 2:40 (p.m.) on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

SECOND MESSAGE: “Hello, this is Doug Lamborn again, I’m finishing up my message from a moment ago. I got cut off. It is critical that you get back to me as soon as possible on this because I’ll be going back to Washington here in a few days and I have to make sure that this is resolved one way or another. And like I said I’d rather resolve this on a Scriptural level but if you are unwilling to do that I will be forced to take other steps, which I would rather not have to do. So please call me. This is essential. Call me by tonight, Saturday night and we can get together sometime Sunday afternoon.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s one thing to make threatening comments in person, when someone can deny it. But to leave a recorded message?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a rule, members of Congress try to avoid threatening their constituents, especially on tape. It’s one of the reasons a new controversy out of Denver is so bizarre. (via) A local couple is complaining that U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn left them two threatening voice mails after they wrote a letter criticizing his fundraising. Jonathan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}