Antisemitic mail sent to two more advocacy groups

Nov. 5—Two more advocacy organizations that have been actively involved in this year's midterm elections have received threatening letters with antisemitic symbols, including images defaced with drawings of swastikas and Adolf Hitler.

Friday's report the New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and the Environmental Defense Action Fund had been targeted comes after Conservation Voters New Mexico said last week it contacted the FBI because it had received an envelope with a substance initial testing revealed "contained ingredients of a potent toxin used in terrorist attacks."

No one has been hurt, but the letters are the latest example of politically motivated threats, intimidation and violence, including an attack on the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ahead of Tuesday's elections.

"This type of hate speech and domestic terrorism simply have no place in our democratic process," Jon Goldstein of the Environmental Defense Action Fund said in a statement.

"Our country was built on a set of shared values, most importantly the freedom of speech and the freedom to participate in our democracy without fear of intimidation or retaliation," he said.

The letters also contained ripped-up mailers the organizations had sent in support of state Rep. Nathan Small, a Las Cruces Democrat running for reelection against Kimberly Skaggs, executive director of the Republican Party of New Mexico.

After Conservation Voters went public with the letter it received, Small, whose father is Jewish, called on Skaggs to denounce the act of "domestic terrorism," which she didn't do.

Steve Pearce, chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said in a statement Friday the GOP knows firsthand what it's like to be a victim of hate.

"We experienced it two years in a row when our headquarters was desecrated, vandalized with spray paint," he said. "We stood in horror when a comedienne decapitated President Trump as a joke. These types of acts cannot be tolerated. RPNM condemns any kind of hate speech, bigotry, discrimination or anti-Semitism."

Ashley Long, president of the New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which is supporting Small, as well as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said in a statement the organization is "undaunted" in efforts to drive turnout in Tuesday's election despite the "frightening" attacks.

"Terrorism is designed to instill fear and inaction and threatens public safety," Long said. "It is having the opposite effect for our staff and leadership team, working class New Mexicans who make up the ranks of our membership, and all those who believe in democratically run elections and peaceful transfers of power."

The labor organization received two separate threatening letters.

The first arrived about two weeks ago and was addressed to its political action committee, New Mexico Workers First. As was the case with the letter sent to Conservation Voters, "Nazi Party" was written in red on the outside of the envelope. Inside was a torn-up mailer that had been sent to Small's district, as well as what was initially believed to be dead bugs.

Since the letter was thrown into the trash and disposed of, it's unknown whether the substance was toxic.

The second letter was delivered last week. It mirrored the first and also was discarded but without being opened. It sat in the trash until the labor organization notified authorities after Conservation Voters went public with the letter it had received.

Lujan Grisham condemned the letters in a statement Friday.

"New Mexico will not stand for these deranged attempts to inflict injury on and intimidate advocacy groups that are working for the betterment of our state," she said. "My thoughts are with all of the groups targeted by these threats. These violent attempts to harm them and disrupt their participation in our free and fair democracy are deeply disturbing and a clear consequence of escalating political extremism."

FBI spokesman Frank Fisher wrote in an email he couldn't "say much" at this point.

"We are aware of the incidents ... but have no further comment," he wrote.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.