Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill Congressman

File this under “you can never be too careful.” A California man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly leaving threatening, obscene phone messages for Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) last month. Federal authorities said Charles Turner Haberman, 32 years old, of Palm Springs called McDermott’s office late Dec. 9 and early Dec. 10 and left two messages, each about four minutes long. Haberman left his name and phone number, and threatened to kill the congressman and his friends and family over McDermott’s opposition to extending tax cuts for the wealthy, according to a transcript of the phone call. FBI officials met with Haberman on Dec. 10, and a Seattle FBI spokesman said they’d been drafting the complaint before this weekend’s shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Haberman also previously threatened an unnamed congresswoman and California Assemblyman V. Manuel Perez, a Democrat from Palm Springs.