Buescher “Favored”? Deceptive Attacks on Cancer Survivor Say Maybe Not

Today the Rocky Mountain News highlights the hottest state legislative race on Colorado’s Western Slope, as Republican challenger Laura Bradford faces down Democrat incumbent Bernie Buescher in HD55:

“I think her chances are great,” said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, who was among Republicans who stopped in Grand Junction while on an RV tour of the state. “One thing she said was, ‘Gov. Ritter will not be whispering in my ear what to do.’ People loved that.”

Buescher, however, says he doesn’t hew that closely to Gov. Bill Ritter.

“They’re going after me on some issues, but it seems to me the fundamental attack is that I’m too close to the administration,” he said. “The fact is I pushed the administration as much as any Democrat in the House or Senate.”

Bernie Buescher certainly hasn’t challenged Bill Ritter on their unauthorized property tax hike, an issue unpopular in the Mesa County district.

And the Rocky‘s headline conclusion that the incumbent Buescher is “favored” to win is belied in part by the nature of the desperate (and debunked) 527 attack ads launched against Laura Bradford on Buescher’s behalf.

As Gene Kinsey notes, the anti-Bradford ads flat out lie by saying she is “against health insurance policies that cover cancer screenings.” (Similar kinds of deceptive nonsense ads have been thrown like mud at my local candidate, John Bodnar, who I’m glad to say has chosen to take the high road in this campaign.) The deception sinks even lower when you realize, as Kinsey explains, that Bradford is herself a cancer survivor.

The poorly-named Colorado Values, the 527 that bought and produced the attack ad, is funded in part by significant contributions from Left-wing billionaire Tim Gill, liberal Rockefeller heir Alida Messinger, and the unsuspecting K-12 employees who belong to the Colorado Education Association (CEA). (Source: Colorado Secretary of State reports) Gill and the CEA are also members of the Colorado Democracy Alliance.

Bernie Buescher has said he “opposes all negative advertising from so-called 527 committees”. Yet the same CEA funding “Colorado Values” also has endorsed and given the maximum allowable contribution to Buescher. Maybe he could ask them to stop funding such malicious 527 deception.

All this, of course, is made possible in part by campaign finance reform. To that I say, “Thank you, liberal Democrats, and thank you, John McCain.”