Last week: Lawmakers kill a labor-backed bill and called police after some lawmakers got an e-mail indicating that elected officials would get "not one more dime" from labor until they passed it.

This morning: The head of the State Patrol says the e-mail wasn't a crime. He says he's sending the info to the state's campaign-finance watchdog, the Public Disclosure Commission, at its request.

This afternoon: Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender calls lawmakers' move "a gross overreaction."

“This whole thing should never have happened,” he said. Someone mistakenly forwarded the e-mail to several lawmakers, he said, all of whom already supported the bill.

“To characterize this internal e-mail as some kind of threat to legislative leaders -- or a possible crime -- is absurd,” said Bender.

This evening: Um, we never asked to see any of this stuff, the Public Disclosure Commission says.

“The Commission did not ask for materials concerning the State Patrol investigation or request that the State Patrol send this matter to the PDC for review,” said PDC Executive Director Vicki Rippie.

---

---