Grand Junction, CO Colorado

GRAND JUNCTION — Democratic Rep. Bernie Buescher of Grand Junction said Tuesday he’s not sure what motivated a hacker or hackers to link pornographic references to his Web site last week — and the culprit is still unknown.

“I can’t tell you that it was or was not a political thing. It could have been a random hacker,” Buescher said.

Buescher discovered Friday the first item that appeared after a Google search of his name connected searchers to his site. It also had a subhead full of lewd words.

Computer experts spent hours Friday afternoon trying to get the words disconnected from Buescher’s site. They quickly learned the words were encoded into the site in a way that allowed the words to pop up on a Google search as associated with the site www.berniebuescher.org, but not appear to the average viewer on the site itself. The site subhead returned to normal over the weekend.

Buescher said he’s talked to other legislators. He said none claimed the same type of activity on their Web sites.

The person or people responsible for the hack job have not been identified. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation have contacted Buescher about the incident, he said.

Laura Bradford, Buescher’s opponent this fall in the race for his House District 55 seat, claimed Monday she had no involvement in the Web site issues. Also on Monday, Bradford questioned Buescher’s commitment to Mesa County interests and protecting TABOR. Buescher, a two-term representative, responded that he helps approve a TABOR-compliant budget each year and has helped get money for Mesa State College and a new Colorado Bureau of Investigation building that will open this year in Grand Junction.

Buescher also voted for the 2007 School Finance Act. Although it’s more widely known as the act that froze mill levies, the act also secured more money for School District 51 by lifting the district’s funding to 94.3 percent of the state average. District 51 is ranked 178th out of 178 school districts in funding.

Buescher said his goals in office are to create quality jobs, improve health care and improve education. He’s currently working on bills to align with Gov. Bill Ritter’s education proficiency guidelines and teaming with Rep. Joe Rice (D-Littleton) on creating jobs.

“My job over here is to do the best I can for the state. I’m going to avoid the political junk. I’ll finish here in May and then talk about the next two years,” Buescher said.

Reach Emily Anderson at eanderson@gjfreepress.com.