Suspicious Letters to Maine Offices Are a Bipartisan Warning

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said her office received a suspicious letter on the morning of October 20, days after a similar letter arrived at Sen. Susan Collins' Portland office, WGME reported. The FBI, along with Portland police and fire departments, responded. Both incidents are under investigation, and it is not yet clear whether the envelope sent to Pingree's office contained anything.

The partisan reflex is the wrong one here. Pingree is a Democrat and Collins is a Republican, and federal investigators are examining similar letters containing unknown substances mailed to dozens of politicians from both parties, according to the report. Whatever the sender or senders intended, the effect does not sort by party.

The response also is not free. Each letter pulls in federal agents and local police and firefighters, and that work is paid for by the public whether or not anything hazardous is found.

Maine's congressional delegation is small and its offices are close to the people they serve. That access is worth defending, and defending it starts with treating these mailings as what the evidence so far shows them to be: a problem aimed at both parties, deserving a response from both.

This story was first reported by fox23maine.com.