Since publishing an Associated Press article on September 3 about Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (CO) reportedly leaving threatening voice mails for two constituents who accused him of accepting campaign contributions from the gambling industry, The Gazette of Colorado Springs had yet to independently report on the case or publish a follow-up article as of its September 5 edition. In contrast, The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News reported on the Colorado Springs congressman's apology to the couple in September 5 articles. In addition, the Post article reported that a government watchdog group has called for a congressional ethics probe into the controversy.

As the Post reported on September 2, “Rep. Doug Lamborn left two voice mails at the home of a couple who questioned his acceptance of campaign contributions from the gambling industry, saying there would be 'consequences' if the couple did not respond. Jonathan and Anna Bartha wrote a letter printed in the Aug. 24 Woodmen Edition, a community newspaper.” The Post further reported, “The couple raised concerns about Lamborn's receipt of $1,000 from International Game Technology PAC and a $500 contribution last summer from Marc Murphy, an executive of Bronco Billy's Casino in Cripple Creek. IGT makes gambling equipment.”

The September 2 AP article (which appeared in The Gazette's September 3 electronic and print editions) similarly reported, “A Colorado Springs couple are complaining that U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn left them two threatening voice mails after they wrote a letter criticizing his fundraising." The AP article published in The Gazette continued:

According to Jonathan Bartha and Anna Bartha, Lamborn said there would be “consequences” if they did not withdraw their letter.

“We felt very threatened and intimidated, and quite frankly, scared,” Anna Bartha told The Denver Post. “It was just not anything we would ever anticipate an elected official would pursue or a way that an elected official would conduct himself.”

Lamborn, in a call to The Associated Press on Sunday, said there was never intention to threaten anyone and that he had never accepted money from the gambling industry as alleged by the Barthas.

He said he would make his banking records available and that his spending reports show he never took the money offered by the industry.

[...]

Federal records confirm the donations were accepted, but Lamborn said he returned them. He did not say when and The Post said there is no federal record of them being returned.

The AP further reported that “Jonathan Bartha is employed by Focus on the Family. His wife, a board member of Falcon School District 49, worked for two months as a scheduler for candidate Jeff Crank during a bitter, six-way Republican primary race for the 5th Congressional District seat.”

Since September 3, however, The Gazette has not published an article or reported on the Lamborn controversy, despite reported new developments. For example, on September 4, the Post reported in an online article (a version of which appeared in its September 5 print edition) that a Washington, D.C., nonprofit ethics watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), “requested a congressional inquiry into” whether Lamborn, according to CREW's letter to the U.S. House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, “violated House rules by improperly threatening two constituents who revealed publicly that Rep. Lamborn had accepted campaign contributions from the gaming industry.” The Post also reported that “Lamborn said in the second [voice] message [he left for the Barthas] that if the couple was unwilling to meet, he would 'be forced to take other steps, which I would rather not have to do.' ”

Also in contrast to The Gazette's lack of reporting on the case, on September 5 the News and the Post published online articles that reported Lamborn's letter of apology to the Barthas in which he stated, “I apologize for any confusion my voice mail may have caused.” According to the article in the News, which was credited to Susan Crabtree of the Washington, D.C., newspaper The Hill, Lamborn also wrote in the letter, “Given our pre-existing friendship that we have shared over the years, which included my strong support for Anna's recent School Board campaign, I simply felt it prudent to privately attempt to clarify my record after it had been publicly misconstrued.”

The Post website also has posted copies of the Barthas' letter to the Woodmen Edition, the text of the voice mail messages left on their answering machine, and Lamborn's open letter to Greg Garcia, chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party, complaining about the Barthas' letter to the Woodmen Edition.