31 Colorado officials seek to scrub addresses after Minnesota shootings, as campaign finance site goes offline

Thirty-one elected officers in Colorado have petitioned to remove their personal contact information from a state campaign finance database in the wake of Saturday s shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers The state s TRACER website was taken offline Saturday after the attack reported Jack Todd a spokesman for the Secretary of State s Office which oversees the website The decision was jointly made between the office and legislative leadership Todd explained so that state lawmakers and other elected leaders could file new requests to strike their addresses and phone numbers from the publicly accessible database Thus far at least elected functionaries have filed the requests In light of the weekend s tragic events in Minnesota and out of an abundance of caution for the safety of Colorado s elected leaders the Department of State made a determination to take the public-facing campaign finance reporting website down briefly after consulting with legislative leadership Todd revealed The website s temporary removal was first disclosed by Axios The decision came shortly after two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota were shot in their homes early Saturday morning Rep Melissa Hortman a former House Speaker and her husband Mark were both killed Sen John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were earlier shot by the same gunman also in their home and survived Minnesota Gov Tim Walz called the attacks a politically motivated assassination and police uncovered a list of other lawmakers and elected leaders in the suspect s car On Sunday police arrested -year-old Vance Luther Boelter late Sunday in connection with the shootings Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie announced Monday that she knew Hortman both had served as Democratic speakers at the same time and that the news of her death was a devastating moment for me personally and professionally Hortman she mentioned was the epitome of what a populace servant should be On Saturday morning legislative leadership reached out to Gov Jared Polis office to the state Department of Society Safety and to the Colorado State Patrol which provides prevention to the state Capitol McCluskie noted Lawmakers of both parties were also provided information about how to redact their information from TRACER Elected representatives and candidates for state- or county-level office are required to publicly file their personal information to TRACER An existing campaign finance rule allows candidates and leaders who believe their safety or the safety of an immediate family member may be in jeopardy to apply for that information to be redacted Todd disclosed Related Articles U S Sen Michael Bennet holds decisive lead in Democratic primary for Colorado governor poll shows Jury begins deliberations in Mike Lindell defamation trial in Denver over electoral contest conspiracies Colorado Sen Cleave Simpson picked to lead GOP caucus Colorado Rep Gabe Evans other GOP lawmakers raise concerns to ICE about targeting non-criminals Latest budget draft in Congress would put various Colorado general lands up for sale McCluskie disclosed state legislators were reported to reach out to state patrol if they had measure concerns and particular had done so She explained she had reached out to her local sheriff in Summit County about her own measure State patrol spokesman Trooper Gabriel Moltrer declined to comment on any additional safeguard offered to or requested by lawmakers or other elected personnel It s too early to say if the Minnesota attack will lead to more permanent shield changes McCluskie commented This situation is still very fresh and raw but it lingers with us she disclosed from a House Democratic caucus meeting We ll continue to prioritize measure we will continue to look to CSP and the Department of Residents Safety for recommendations on any additional measures we should be taking I haven t talked to any elected official who isn t touched by this she continued We sign up for these jobs to do good things in the world and the hate and the vitriol we hear in our sphere in our communities and in society that s unacceptable Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot