More Federal Hate Mail?

    If newly disclosed e-mails are any indication, employees at the US Justice Department appear to be very unhappy with the unholy bastion of liberalism that America has become.

    First there was there was an unhinged letter from a federal drug enforcement agent, assailing an opinion columnist for having the gall to write a pro-medical marijuana article for the Denver Post.

    And now it looks like Colorado Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group, has garnered the attention of another fuming public servant.“What a disgrace that high school students were required to hear the outrageous comments of these speakers,” reads a letter appearing to come from a man named Daniel R. Guzzo at a usdoj.gov address.

    The e-mail was received by Colorado Media Matters (CMM) in regards to Conference of World Affairs hosted by the University of Colorado in Boulder.

    One panel discussion dealing with sex and teenage drug use was held in the adjacent Boulder High School auditorium and attended by the building’s students. Because of the subject matter, conservative personalities were up in arms and, according to CMM, completely distorting panelist comments.

    “It is more disgraceful that Media Matters and other liberal media (Rocky Mountain News) condone the behavior,” continues the e-mail. “I symphathize [sic] with the parents whose children attend the high school and the residents of Colorado who are subjected to the secular progressive media there.”

    The message shares many similarities with the previously mentioned federal employee penned e-mail, including typos and the use of the word “liberal” as a derogatory term.

    But according to one official, Justice Department policy does not prohibit the sending of such e-mails because they can be looked at as being of “negligible time and monetary value.”

    Why are federal employees so determined to send their opinions from their government e-mail addresses? And more importantly, why don’t they create a free Yahoo account and vent from there?

    If you have any angry e-mails originating from a government address, please reply to erosa@coloradoconfidential.com.

    Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.