Disturbing

Mike Kaszuba of the Star Tribune has been doing an excellent job following the ongoing saga of Satveer Chaudhary, who represents Senate District 50 and is now in the fight of his political life. He picks up the story here and his reportage provides some news that ought to disturb anyone who is involved in politics:

William Krueger, the Senate District 50 DFL chair, said he has had multiple anonymous death threats through telephone calls and an e-mail over the past month and had informally asked Ramsey County sheriff's deputies to patrol his home. He said the threats were "very explicit" and involved "me and my family," and said he's been concerned enough to take his family to an undisclosed location on weekends.

"I don't know how valid it is, but it was such that I wasn't going to take a needless chance," said Krueger.

Whether it's valid or not, it's terrible. Our politics shouldn't matter that much to anyone. If the person issuing the threat is a Chaudhary supporter, that individual ought to know that such threats hardly benefits the senator's cause. I hope that the Ramsey County sheriff's deputies find the person responsible and that the individual is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Meanwhile, I'll say a prayer for Mr. Krueger and his family and I'd encourage everyone else to do the same.