Home addresses and other personal information about Colorado state lawmakers and other officials are now offline. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold temporarily approved the removal of public campaign information after recent politically targeted killings in Minnesota.
Last Saturday, Vance Boelter allegedly killed a Minnesota state lawmaker and her spouse at their home outside of Minneapolis. He shot another lawmaker in a separate attack. Federal authorities say Boelter had been planning the attacks for some time.
A spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office released a statement that read, “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 state and legislative leadership.”
The website for campaign finance, known as the Transparency in Contribution and Expenditure Reporting or simply as “TRACER,” now shows a message stating it is down for maintenance.
Campaign finance information is required to be public, but lawmakers can request to redact information if they believe that their safety or their family’s safety may be in danger. So far, more than 40 elected officials have requested that their information be redacted.
"I just think it's unfortunate that people have to do that because you don't think that's part of the job until you get in and find out that you have to take certain measures outside of just serving your community," State Senator James Coleman told KUNC.
Coleman serves as president of the Senate and represents District 33. He said fear of political violence is nothing new.
"It does have a mental impact on a lot of members, and you have members who have left the legislature, you have members who have termed out and just have to go get some therapy, because it is tough," said Coleman.
Coleman was far from the only lawmaker to take note of the change. But some lawmakers, such as State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer, mentioned it's also the lawmakers who could help with the situation.
"It's unfortunate, but you know, also as lawmakers we need to control our rhetoric as well, you know, and work in a civil way and lead the way, you know, this is how it should work," said Kirmeyer, who represents District 23.
The Secretary of State's spokesperson says they do not have a timeline for how long the website will be down, but they do expect it to return shortly.
