GOP lawmaker threatens two of his constituents

Like a growing number of politicians these days, Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) is unable to tolerate his opposition.  After a couple wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper criticizing Lamborn for receiving contributions from the gambling industry, the lawmaker left two messages on their home answering machine.  In one of the messages, Lamborn said there would be "consequences":

In his messages, Lamborn said he wantedto appeal to the couple as "brothers and sisters in Christ" andimplored them to call him back to discuss their "blatantly false"letter.

"We felt very threatened and intimidated, and quitefrankly, scared," Anna Bartha said. "It was just not anything we wouldever anticipate an elected official would pursue or a way that anelected official would conduct himself."

When asked whether his messages were threatening,Lamborn said: "No, that is ridiculous. My hope, I failed, but I hadhoped to meet with them privately and confidentially because lying is aserious matter. "

When asked what he meant when he said there would be"consequences," Lamborn said: "When someone tells a lie, it just hasbad consequences."

Three days after leaving the messages onthe Barthas' voice mail, Lam born wrote an open letter to Greg Garcia,chair of the El Paso County Republicans, asking him to investigate.

It's really a stretch to call the threatening phone calls appropriate.  Lamborn knows a lot about stretches -- like earlier this month when he proclaimed, "If we want to win this war, we can."

Interestingly enough, the two people Lamborn threatened were registered Republicans.  The husband is employed by James Dobson's Focus on the Family.