BUTLER — Butler County Treasurer Diane Marburger said that state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe has launched a “full-blown” investigation into her to discredit her husband, Gordon, who is running against Metcalfe in the May 20 Republican primary.

Marburger, who has been treasurer since 2000, said Metcalfe issued veiled threats against her and her husband several times since November even before her husband’s announcement to run.

Those threats were realized, Diane Marburger said, when several people filed Right to Know requests for her election and campaign finance reports from both 2000 and 2007.

Marburger said she understands all of those documents are public record. She also added she has nothing to hide, but that doesn’t mean she’s happy about it.

“We knew it was going to be brutal,” Marburger said about her husband’s efforts to unseat Metcalfe, R-12th. “But this needs to be told. This is bullying. This is intimidation. This is threats. This isn’t leadership.”

She said the people who filed the Right to Know requests “wanted to know my salary, all of my expenses, all of my votes, everything.”

She said they also wanted to know what her pension would be if she was not re-elected in 2015.

Metcalfe didn’t deny Marburger’s accusations and said she should understand the “political repercussions” of being so involved in her husband’s campaign.

“Diane has been out knocking on doors on behalf of Gordon, and she is neck-deep in his campaign efforts to try to unseat me,” Metcalfe said.

“I don’t think many Republicans who voted for her knew she was as liberal as she is. She certainly is involved in a campaign effort to unseat me so I don’t know what she’s complaining about.”

Metcalfe added that it is a “political battle she is engaged in” and made no apologies for looking into her records.

Diane Marburger, also a Republican, said the threats didn’t stop there. She said the first threat came late last year delivered by a “well-known individual within the county GOP.”

“The message relayed was this: If somebody in the Marburger household runs against me, I will find Republicans to run against every row officer in the county,” Marburger said.

“The intention was to cause a rift between me and the other row officers and to ruin any professional relations or friendships we have.”

The second threat, Marburger said, came just after Christmas when someone relayed another message.

This time, Metcalfe allegedly said he would “dig up” a candidate to run against her in 2015 “with deep financial pockets.”

It wasn’t long after that when someone filed a Right to Know request concerning Gordon Marburger’s campaign records.

Diane Marburger said she understands why someone would do that because her husband is running against Metcalfe.

However, she still doesn’t understand why she’s being dragged into the fray.

“That’s politics, I guess,” she said.

“But I would never try to do that to anyone who wants to run for treasurer. I’d run on my own record, run on my own merits and try to state my case. I wouldn’t try to clear the ballot for me to have a free waltz to the general election.”

Marburger said the people who filed the requests are David Root, a former Cranberry Township supervisor; Jim Powers; and Paul Whitehouse.

Marburger also criticized Metcalfe’s attempt to get her husband kicked off the ballot.

Gordon Marburger failed to file financial interest statements with the state Ethics Board, which was required before March 11.

An appellate court recently ruled that Marburger can stay on the ballot, although Metcalfe is appealing that decision to the state Supreme Court.

“We have heard the threats; they’ve been delivered,” she said. “But this is America, and my husband feels he has the opportunity to run for office if he cares to. And nobody should be an obstructionist and stand in the democratic way. They should let the constituency of the 12th District have a choice in this election.”

The 12th District covers Adams, Clinton, Cranberry, Forward, Middlesex and Penn townships as well as Callery, Mars, Seven Fields and Valencia.