After Minnesota shooting, some states are more tightly guarding officials’ home addresses

LOS ANGELES AP Lawmakers in several states are moving to delete their home addresses from online directories and Wisconsin legislators are seeking added guard for a session this week after one Minnesota legislator was killed and another wounded in their suburban Minneapolis homes last weekend in what Gov Tim Walz described as a targeted political attack Vance Boelter is in federal custody facing murder and stalking charges in the shooting death of former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Functionaries say he also shot and wounded Sen John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Boelter also faces state murder charges Agents mentioned Boelter had a list of dozens of state and federal elected authorities in Minnesota and meticulous notes on the homes and people he targeted early Saturday He also stopped by the homes of two other legislators that night according to police Bureaucrats say he exposed their addresses in a variety of internet searches The Minnesota Legislature s website lists the addresses of members offices in the state capital of St Paul not their home addresses On Saturday the North Dakota Legislature s staff agency removed lawmakers addresses from their biographical webpages as a product of the targeted attacks in Minnesota Legislative Council Director John Bjornson mentioned Most of North Dakota lawmakers opt to give a home business or postal box address on their webpage where the constituents also can find their email addresses and phone numbers Removing addresses of elected administrators is a complicated decision because they have to be approachable open and transparent declared Burleigh County Sheriff Kelly Leben whose county is home to North Dakota s capital city I think it s a balancing act between being a general official and the safety of myself and my family the elected county sheriff noted All home addresses for New Mexico legislators were also removed from the Statehouse website as an immediate precaution commented Shawna Casebier director of the Legislature s legal office Personal information on the website already had been limited at the discretion of individual lawmakers in the aftermath of drive-by shootings at the homes of four Democratic state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque in and In Colorado at least elected agents have filed requests to remove their personal contact information from a public-facing state campaign finance database called TRACER which was briefly taken down Saturday so those requests could be fulfilled We did so out of an abundance of caution for the safety of elected bureaucrats in an unprecedented political situation Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold explained in a announcement The Colorado advancement was first published by Axios Lawmakers in Wisconsin requested additional protection for when the state Assembly meets on Wednesday commented Luke Wolff spokesperson for Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos Wolff did not detail what was requested or what changes may be made The Wisconsin Capitol is one of the bulk open in the country with populace access seven days a week no metal detectors screening checkpoints or shield badges required to gain entry There are galleries in both the Senate and Assembly where the population can view legislative debate Even before the Minnesota shooting states in latest years have stepped up efforts to shield the personal information of bureaucrats in response to high-profile attacks Oregon One day before the Minnesota killings Oregon lawmakers passed a bill that would prohibit the Oregon Secretary of State from making the residential addresses of those associated with a candidates campaign committee viewable by the masses on its electronic filing system The campaign filings would still be viewable online but home addresses would be redacted unless the person asks the Secretary of State s office to publish it A populace records request would need to be filed to obtain such addresses Louisiana Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill last week that adds statewide elected authorities and legislators to the list of people who can ask that their personal information be removed from populace records and the internet Certain judges were already on the list Representatives can seek to have home addresses phone numbers email addresses date of birth marital status school or daycare of their child their place of worship or employment location of their spouse removed Under current law if person does not comply with the removal request they can be sued and face up to days in prison or fine for the misdemeanor The measure still requirements final approval from Gov Jeff Landry one of the Louisiana administrators whose private information would be protected Georgia Georgia legislators passed a law earlier this year to require that home addresses of candidates who file campaign finance reports including themselves be redacted from by the state Ethics Commission from citizens view The action came after a number of Georgia personnel were targeted by swatting incidents in December Lawmakers also passed a second law which removes the personal phone number home address and property or tax records of a judge or their spouse from populace view Records covered include voter registration and corporation records Illinois The Illinois State Board of Elections stopped publishing the street addresses of candidates for political office on its website last year spokesperson Matt Dietrich declared Lawmakers had raised concerns after protestors picketed the home of Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias the state librarian over act he pushed through the General Assembly that would cut state funding to libraries that ban books Candidates addresses remain on elections board documents that are no longer published on the web but accessible via populace records request New Jersey In a gunman posing as a delivery driver shot and killed the -year-old son of U S District Judge Esther Salas in New Jersey and injured her husband at their family home The state legislature passed a law later that year by that exempted the home addresses of current or retired judges prosecutors and law enforcement officers from disclosure under community records laws The measure called Daniel s Law in honor of the judge s son also allowed executives to ask websites to remove their home addresses Maryland Maryland enacted a law in preventing individuals from publishing judges personal information online after a circuit court judge was shot by a man hours after the judge ruled against him in a divorce incident Judges can submit requests to cabinet entities and private websites to remove information like phone numbers social protection numbers and personal emails Associated Press reporters Claire Rush in Portland Ore Jack Dura in Bismarck N D John O Connor in Springfield Ill Jeff Amy in Atlanta Scott McFetridge in Des Moines Iowa Sara Cline in Baton Rouge La Scott Bauer in Madison Wis Brian Witte in Annapolis Md and Morgan Lee in Santa Fe N M contributed to this statement The post After Minnesota shooting specific states are more tightly guarding personnel home addresses appeared first on MinnPost