Embattled Idaho state Rep. Mark Patterson, R-Boise, is now threatening to sue Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney for revealing Patterson’s 1974 guilty plea and withheld judgment for assault with intent to commit rape, the Idaho Statesman reports today. The freshman lawmaker told KIDO radio that the sheriff wants to “write me off as some kind of criminal and a nut job,” the newspaper reported. Raney revoked Patterson’s concealed weapon permit after determining that he twice lied on his application by failing to disclose the 1974 case. Raney told Statesman reporter Dan Popkey, “We had a duty and followed it. Any suggestion otherwise is false.”

Popkey reported that Patterson also said during the radio interview that he may not seek re-election in 2014, and didn't rule out resigning from office; the Statesman article is online here.