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Man arrested for threatening Gov. Rauner’s life

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Illinois

An Elgin man accused of leaving a voicemail threat to Gov. Bruce Rauner faces felony charges of threatening a public official, Kane County prosecutors said Tuesday.

Jesse M. Kuzma, 31, of the 1100 block of West Highland Avenue, is accused of leaving the voicemail at about 11 p.m. Friday, according to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office.

The message said “if I ever see you consider this your death threat,” according to Kane County Assistant States Attorney Scott Schwertley.

The charge is a Class 3 felony, said Kane County Judge Judith Brawka. She set bail at $50,000, adding conditions that, if released on bail, Kuzma was barred from contact with the governor.

Ugh.

* Daily Herald…

If Kuzma is released, he is to have no contact with Rauner, be placed on electronic home monitoring and surrender any gun owner cards and weapons.

Schwertley could not specify what, if any, ties Kuzma had or has to Rauner or his office. Kuzma is a reservist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has a job in Elgin as a machine repairman and was arrested by Illinois State Police Tuesday, according to court records and testimony.

Kuzma doesn’t have any previous criminal arrests in Kane County, but was arrested in May 2002 by Wheaton Police and charged with the misdemeanor of carrying “objects containing noxious liquid or gas,” records show.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:01 pm

Comments

How’d this guy get Rauner’s phone number? Or, where did he leave this voicemail?

Comment by chi Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:06 pm
sorry, shoulda read the article first. It was left at the Gov’s office.

Comment by chi Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:08 pm
lots of death threats to delegates as well; it is depressing that it is not uncommon for disagreaments in our modern world to lead to such extreme behavior.

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:09 pm
This is an example of why we need better mental health care.

Comment by Enviro Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:16 pm
What is a reservist with FEMA and why was he carrying noxious liquid?

Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:17 pm
“In case of emergency, take a whiff of this popper”

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:27 pm
Too many nut jobs in this world.

Comment by Stones Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:48 pm
I think we are lucky it’s only been threats so far. As Rich mentioned in a previous Capitol Fax post:

“The rhetoric from folks like Lewis and some on the other side is so intense that I should probably repeat my worry that this craziness could gin up a nutball enough to take matters into his own hands and then something really bad could happen.”

https://capitolfax.com/2016/04/20/yeah-thisll-help/

Let’s hope Rich’s predictions aren’t too spot on this time.

Comment by Chicago_Downstater Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 5:15 pm
Rauner is an extremist. He provokes crisis and seeks to exploit that crisis, leveraging his extremist agenda to extort spineless lawmakers into supporting his agenda to alleviate the misery Rauner has inflicted on his enemy lawmakers supporters. The stress on those throw-away individuals is, well, extreme. My only shock is that it’s taken this long for Rauner’s smackdown to cause a nutcase to come out of the shadows.

Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 7:01 pm
==consider this your death threat==

Come on, be a little more creative! Jeez.

Comment by Moist von Lipwig Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 7:22 pm
I couldn’t DISagree with Public Servant more. I don’t like Rauner and I don’t like many of his extremist statements. I don’t like the extremist statements from Karen Lewis and others on the left any better. Nothing either of them say, or anything anyone says, creates a license for someone to silence someone with violence or threats of violence. That is wrong. Just plain wrong. And there is no justification for it, no excuse for it, none whatsoever.

Comment by Southside Markie Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 8:14 pm
When people like Karen Lewis equate our elected officials with being the same as terrorists who decapitate people and put the video on the internet, and there are no repercussions for that behavior, I think that means we can expect more of this inappropriate behavior as well.

Comment by Just Me Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 8:59 pm
We do need to tone down the rhetoric.

We have been fortunate in this country. Violence is seldom part of our political discourse. I hope we can keep it that way

Comment by Last Bull Moose Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 9:32 pm
I think some of you are a little quick to break out your “Jump to Conclusions” mats. There is nothing in the links that indicates what, if anything, motivated this guy to make the threat.

Sometimes a nut is just a nut. Time will tell, I imagine.

He made a threat and left his name on a voice mail. All we know for sure is that he ain’t Jason Bourne.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, May 12, 16 @ 7:44 am
PublicServant has a point though.

Regardless of the ethics of death threats (which are objectively wrong), the governor has chosen agitation as his primary means of action. When you agitate a large body of people you will shake the kooks out. This will continue until the rhetoric gets more civil. People, including seriously mentally ill people, are being hurt by the actions (or inactions) of this administration.

Comment by Hambone Thursday, May 12, 16 @ 8:11 am
Not surprising, given some of Mr. Ruaner’s policies.

Rauner’s polices have created program closing, municipal and private crisis’s and private industries doing business with the state to not be paid, along with a very real reduction in educational options, mental health and drug treatment counseling. In fact Rauner has affected every walk of life in this state.

This incident points the finger at why we need better mental health services.

Oh, I forgot, Mr. Rauner ain’t funding mental health services.

Comment by tinsel town Thursday, May 12, 16 @ 8:14 am