Law enforcement in Colorado has not received reports of any of the “threats” that a nonprofit group cited as the reason for canceling a Sarah Palin appearance.
“We’ve had no problems,” Glendale, Colorado Police Chief Victor Ross told The Denver Post. “We are not aware of any specific threats.”
On Friday, The Sharon K Pacheco Foundation re-announced that Palin would keynote its Patriots & Warriors Gala on May 2 in Glendale — and that ticket prices had been reduced by half. (Earlier reports stated that the event was announced Friday, but the Post reports that it was first announced on the group’s Facebook page on Jan. 10.) The event was to serve as an awards banquet and a fundraiser for military families and children who have lost loved ones in combat. But on Saturday, the foundation abruptly canceled, blaming an “onslaught of negative feedback.” In the Facebook post announcing the move, the group said that although no specific threats had been made, an “increase in negative rhetoric against the former Alaska governor” after the Tucson shooting “raises concern for her safety and the safety of others despite the call for civility in America.”
“I really did not want the families that we honor, that have been through some traumatic experiences, to have to deal with people’s ill intentions just as it relates to Sarah Palin,” Foundation director Leo Pacheco told KCNC on Saturday.
In addition to the Glendale police, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, the Denver Police Department and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation also told the Post they hadn’t received reports of any threats related to the Palin appearance. Meanwhile, the foundation’s website has been shut down for “revision,” and all comments have been deleted from its Facebook page. The posts announcing Palin’s appearance, as well as the one announcing the cancellation, also appear to have been removed from the group’s Facebook wall. (The cancellation post is available here.)
IRS documents reviewed by the Post show that the foundation held only $2,204 total assets in 2009.
