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LUZERNE &mdash; Police Monday said they identified the person responsible for leaving anti-Semitic messages scrawled on a campaign mailer left at the office of state Rep. Aaron Kaufer and have been in contact with the Luzerne County District Attorney&rsquo;s Office.
				In an email Luzerne Police Chief Michael Kotwasinski said &ldquo;we are working with the DA&rsquo;s Office as far as charges go and if any can be filed.&rdquo;
				Kaufer, who is Jewish, provided police with the mailer after being alerted about it by the owner of the coffee shop next to the lawmaker&rsquo;s office on Main Street.
				&ldquo;It was entirely unsettling,&rdquo; said Kaufer.
				In addition to swastikas it mentioned Hitler, Nazis and fascists, Kaufer said. &ldquo;The messaging on there didn&rsquo;t make sense,&rdquo; he said.
				Kaufer said he stopped at his office at approximately 9:30 a.m. before going to The Lands at Hillside Farms for an event.
				&ldquo;My door was locked and the coffee shop owner could see something sticking out. He said there&rsquo;s something in your door that has swastikas on it and I think you should come by,&rdquo; said Kaufer, a Republican seeking a fourth term in November.
				Kaufer said retrieved the piece that was a mailer sent out by his campaign and took it with him.The three-term Republican representative for the 120th District is running for re-election in November.
				Kaufer said he showed the mailer to state Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, at the event and notified police before he returned to meet them at his office.
				&ldquo;They got there right when I returned,&rdquo; Kaufer said, estimating they met at 10:15 a.m.
				Security cameras were recently installed by the landlord of the building where Kaufer&rsquo;s office is located, he said. One them faces his office door, he said.
				But Kaufer said the police chief had a suspect in mind almost immediately, telling him,&rdquo;I think I know who this is.&rdquo;
				Kaufer, 32, said he has not dealt with anything like this while in public office. Still, it rattled him.
				&ldquo;I was in Poland and went to the gravesite of my ancestors who died in the Holocaust. That&rsquo;s the first place my head went,&rdquo; Kaufer said.
				Through his office he also issued a statement condemning the messaging:
				&ldquo;As a Jewish elected official, I cannot think of too many things that could be more highly offensive than being compared to the perpetrators of the Holocaust. It is truly sad that we cannot move past the hateful rhetoric that casts a negative shadow on our region. It is one thing to express your disapproval of something, whether it be politics, laws, actions, etc., but it is another thing to spew disparaging messages in the name of disapproval. I strongly condemn this hate-filled speech &#8211; there is absolutely no place for this kind of offensive rhetoric in today&rsquo;s society.&rdquo;

Police investigating anti-Semitic message left at State Rep. Kaufer’s office