Senator Brian Nieves Writes Insane E-Mails to Constituent Who Doesn't Want His Newsletters

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Don't mess with Brian Nieves.

We have to imagine that, as an elected official in Missouri who has experienced some controversy, State Senator Brian Nieves must be used to getting a fair amount of hate mail.

And we'd guess that this message he received last Friday is, relatively speaking, pretty mild: "Take me off your mailing list. Freak."

But after receiving that short seven-word e-mail from a constituent, Nieves fired off a series of lengthy, angry, incredibly bizarre e-mails in response -- which the recipient, Wildwood resident Bart Cohn, shared with Daily RFT.

We've pasted the full exchanges below, which include Nieves insulting Cohn's beard -- yes, his beard -- accusing him of being "in love" with him and having a "sick obsession" with him...and so much more. We'd say these e-mails fall under the must-read category.

"For a senator to be talking to anybody on that level was completely absurd," Cohn, 44, a former city councilman in Wildwood, tells Daily RFT.

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Cohn, who lives in Nieves' district, says he doesn't know why he was on the senator's e-mail distribution list to begin with, but after receiving last week's message about gun privacy, he decided he had enough. (The newsletter was about a Department of Revenue controversy, in which Republicans have accused the state of sharing gun owner information with the feds.)

click to enlarge

Courtesy of Cohn

Bart Cohn with his wife (and his beard).

Cohn, who says he strongly disagrees with most of Nieves' politics and did not vote for him, was tired of getting his e-mails. He sent the short message of "Take me off your mailing list. Freak." He didn't expect a reply from the senator himself.

But [email protected] responded with this:

Who are you? Is there something wrong with you? Are you incapable of communicating in a way that common, decent people do?

Tell me this, how did you ever even get on MY Distribution list?

The exchange continues on with Cohn responding to the senator (with some more insults) and then Nieves getting increasingly angry, finally laying it out with this incredible message (emphasis ours):

Wow. Your communications are so thought provoking, well written, and intelligent. Perhaps you secretly want to be on my distribution list because every time you send me a message, your email is recaptured and put on my distribution list. I'm tiring of taking you off every time you email me AGAIN so unless you are in love with me or have some other sort of sick obsession with me (sorry, I'm straight as an arrow) you should probably stop emailing me so that you don't keep getting put back on the list. Should I type these instructions slower? Are you having a hard time understanding? BTW - I archive ALL questionable emails like yours in case there's ever any doubt about who got ugly first. Go back to the grade school playground where people you can successfully bully and out smart are playing cuz junior... You are way out of your league with me.

Yeahhhhh.

After a brief break, at nearly 1 a.m., Nieves sent one more message:

BTW... You really don't look good with a beard.

Cohn says he has no idea how he even knew he had a beard, and that Nieves must have stalked him on Facebook for that detail.

He adds, "It's insane... I can't believe he said these things."

Daily RFT left a message for Nieves at his office and sent him an e-mail. We'll update if we hear back. In the meantime, continue on for the entire craziness.

Continue for the full exchanges forwarded directly to us via e-mail.

Here's the full back-and-forth, exactly as it was sent our way, though we've reversed it so it's in chronological order and a bit easier to read -- starting with the original newsletter from Nieves' office:

On Apr 12, 2013, at 8:30 PM, Brian Nieves wrote:

The Department of Revenue, Governor Nixon, and Chris Koster have jeopardized the people of Missouri's trust by failing to be candid with members of the General Assembly and the public about new procedures. I believe the public is entitled to know what the DOR is doing with our personal information, how it is protected, and how it will be used.

What is the New Procedure recently started by Dept. Of Revenue under Governor Nixon?

*DOR - is taking personal documents, birth certificates, Social Security cards, marriage licenses, etc., and scanning them - this includes driver's and nondriver's licenses and Conceal Carry endorsement (CCW) information

*Information is then sent to Morpho Trust - a third party company in Georgia which prints the new driver's and non-driver's licenses that reflect the CCW and mails them to the license applicant.

*In 2009 - The General Assembly made it illegal for the state to "comply with goals and standards" of the REAL ID Act.

*These new requirements almost exactly mirror the requirements of REAL ID and CLEARLY Violate the spirit of the 2009 Law! Attorney General Chris Koster should have immediately stepped in on behalf of Missouri Citizens but he did not and still has not!

*Parts of the new procedure were paid for by a Homeland Security Grant designated for REAL ID! Would DHS pay for stuff that does not meet the goals of Real ID?

*State law requires DOR to make a new rule with public input and legislative review to make the changes it did - the department did not make a new rule, claiming it would be an administrative burden. If DOR would have made a new rule, the Legislature would have known, the public would have known about the new procedure and would have had the ability to be heard. This is yet another law DOR chose to break and Atty. Gen. Chris Koster refuses to do anything about.

What about Conceal Carry Permits?

*DOR and Gov. Nixon claimed the list was not shared with the federal government. Senate now has evidence this is not the case.

*A list of approximately 163,000 Missourians with conceal carry permits (CCWs) was shared with the Federal Dept. of Social Services. An investigator made the request for the entire list of Missourians with CCW permits through the MO Highway Patrol, which gained access to the list from the DOR. The list was placed on a disk and sent - BY MAIL - to Social Services! There is reason to believe this happened more than once.

*Unauthorized sharing of that list violates the law - misdemeanor. Is our Atty. Gen. Chris Koster prosecuting these law breakers? NO!

Major Players.

*Governor Nixon has denied that any agency has given CCW information to the federal government. When a Navy Ship runs aground it is the Captain who is held responsible.

*Director of the DOR, Brian Long, claims the department is not complying with REAL ID. Long also says there is nothing in the current state law requiring the new procedure. Senate has asked him to stop multiple times. He told me he could stop it at any time, but at this point, he has no plans to stop using the new procedure.

Next Step

*The Senate is moving out of the phase of "what is happening" and moving now to "what can we do about this since the Governor & the Attorney General seem to be uninterested?" We will not be held hostage by a department that is breaking the law. The Senate is taking an extensive look at their budget. The Senate is waiting for members of the DOR to demonstrate they are worthy of being trusted with public tax dollars. At present their budget is $0.

From: Barton Cohn To: Brian Nieves Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 8:32 PM Subject: Re: Is Your Privacy Being Violated??

Take me off your mailing list. Freak.

Sent from Bart Cohn's iPhone

On Apr 12, 2013, at 8:53 PM, Brian Nieves wrote:

Who are you? Is there something wrong with you? Are you incapable of communicating in a way that common, decent people do?

Tell me this, how did you ever even get on MY Distribution list?

Brian Nieves Mo. State Senator Senate Majority Whip

On Apr 12, 2013, at 8:55 PM, Barton Cohn wrote:

Remove me from your list. I despise you.

Sent from Bart Cohn's iPhone

On Apr 12, 2013, at 10:14 PM, Main Yahoo wrote:

Tell me who you are and how you ever got on my list. I don't take we'll to some troll sneaking on to my distribution list.

-Brian Nieves Senate Majority Whip Missouri State Senate

On Apr 12, 2013, at 10:30 PM, Barton Cohn wrote:

I don't care what you take well to. Take me off your list. I don't know how I got on your list. And I don't sneak. I'll tell you to your face I think you're a freak. Now act like a big boy, senator, and remove me from your list as I've requested. And stop harassing me or I'll make an issue of it.

Sent from Bart Cohn's iPhone

On Apr 12, 2013, at 10:41 PM, Brian's main wrote:

Explain "issue"

Are you threatening an elected official? I'm sure your very Big & Bad & Tuff.

The ONE and ONLY way for you to have gotten on my list is by YOU having communicated with me via email. I guess your the type who wants to be able to throw something my way but not hear back?

You'll be removed but be Very Careful to NEVER Threaten me! Also, don't ever send anything to this email address again because every time you do, you automatically get put back on the distribution list. :-)

-Brian Nieves Missouri Senator Serving District 26 "The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance"

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 12, 2013, at 10:49 PM, Barton Cohn wrote:

I didn't threaten anyone, you tool. You are such a douchetard it's not even funny. Now go do some work on your insane conspiracy theories that everyone laughs about behind your back. You're a joke!

Sent from Bart Cohn's iPhone

From: Main Yahoo Date: April 13, 2013, 12:36:54 AM CDT To: Barton Cohn Subject: Re: Is Your Privacy Being Violated??

Wow. Your communications are so thought provoking, well written, and intelligent. Perhaps you secretly want to be on my distribution list because every time you send me a message, your email is recaptured and put on my distribution list. I'm tiring of taking you off every time you email me AGAIN so unless you are in love with me or have some other sort of sick obsession with me (sorry, I'm straight as an arrow) you should probably stop emailing me so that you don't keep getting put back on the list. Should I type these instructions slower? Are you having a hard time understanding? BTW - I archive ALL questionable emails like yours in case there's ever any doubt about who got ugly first. Go back to the grade school playground where people you can successfully bully and out smart are playing cuz junior... You are way out of your league with me.

-Brian Nieves Senate Majority Whip Missouri State Senate

And this one final message sent separately from Nieves:

From: Main Yahoo Date: April 13, 2013, 12:42:38 AM CDT To: Barton Cohn Subject: Re: Is Your Privacy Being Violated??

BTW... You really don't look good with a beard.

-Brian Nieves Senate Majority Whip Missouri State Senate

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