EXCLUSIVE: RI State Rep Calls Police Over Abortion Tweet
Friday, March 01, 2019
A former candidate for East Greenwich Town Council said that he was contacted by the East Greenwich Police Department following a Tweet in which he mentioned Democratic State Representative Justine Caldwell.
“Can we actually get our heads around the fact that people we are for murdering children are our “leaders,’ Tweeted Callanan. “My first instinct to anyone who would harm a child is to protect them with an appropriate response. ‘Cool moms’ don’t kill. @eg_gop @bridget4ri @justine4RI"
"What I was saying -- outside of this bill -- is any normal person's response to help a child in harm's way is to protect them," said Chad Callanan who ran for office as a Republican.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"So I offered an appropriate response for [Caldwell and others] to use, using her own tagline that she's a 'cool mom,'" said Callanan. "Just say, 'Cool moms don't kill.' Why does everyone have to take it to, 'You're going to kill me?!'"
Caldwell, when reached Friday morning, said she had no comment.
"I don’t have any comment on yesterday — all of this is public record," said Caldwell.
Tweet -- and Response
"I Tweeted it at 6:43 AM [Thursday] and I heard from the East Greenwich Police by roughly noontime. He was polite. I thought he was hitting me up for a donation. He let me know it was [Caldwell] who called," said Callanan.
"This is a not-too-subtle intimidation tactic. This is weaponizing police against someone who is vocal in their opposition. The average citizen might fold -- but I'm not. This does not intimidate me," said Callanan. "It points out further the fact she might be unfit for office. I'm not a random person. She knows me. She didn't reach out to me. This was a cold calculated hit."
"She knows I might run for office again, and if she calls the police enough, my next opponent can say, 'This guy's had the police called on him 20 times' without knowing the facts," said Callanan. "This is dangerous."
"I reported this threat to law enforcement, who found it credible enough to take action on it," said Caldwell in a follow-up statement. "As this is a law enforcement matter, it is in their hands and I will not comment further on it."
Updated 9:06 AM