Police looking for source of hate mail

04/26/2006

Pioneer Press
April 26, 2006

Law enforcement investigators are looking into a letter received by state Sen. Satveer Chaudhary that criticized his vote against a gay marriage ballot measure and had a bullet hole drawn on a picture of him.

Tim Leslie, assistant commissioner for the Public Safety Department, said Tuesday that a State Patrol officer is working with a Fridley police officer to determine the origins of the mailing.

The hostile note was attached to a newspaper ad run by a group promoting the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions. Leslie said the return address on the mailing doesn’t exist.

Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, issued a news release Monday disparaging the letter as political hate speech.

“One anonymous coward does not change my mission as a legislator,” Chaudhary said. “It is my hope that Minnesotans will reject these blatant attempts to drive a wedge between the people of our state and not sink to their level of discourse.”

The organization that ran the ad, Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage, condemned the letter and said the group doesn’t condone threats of violence.