Saturday, May 18, 2013
Congressional clatter
by Chet Hardin
While other local races haven't sunk to the level of the Looper-Stephens fight, they are notable in their own right.
Take, for example, the competition for U.S. Congress in the 5th Congressional District. Robert Blaha has taken the offensive against his Republican primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, even setting up therealdouglamborn.com to catalog these claims.
As far as accuracy is concerned, Blaha's claims have held up well. Lamborn's, not so much.
As Blaha loves to point out, not a single piece of legislation sponsored by Lamborn has made its way under a president's pen. And, as the Gazette chronicled in 2011, Lamborn did rely on the use of earmarks prior to the process being banned. And yes, some of that money has been awarded to Lamborn's campaign contributors.
Blaha's also trying to make political hay out of Lamborn's well-documented travels, including stays at five-star hotels and dining on expensive meals, all paid for by private organizations.
Lamborn, on the other hand, recently attacked Blaha's business record, with a television ad that the Denver Post concluded "leans deceptive."
At issue was Blaha's bank, Integrity Bank and Trust, which Lamborn claimed was fined by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and rated one of the worst in the region. While the Post found that it was true that an employee at the bank was fined, the insinuation that the FDIC generated the "poor" rating was false. That rating came from a private firm, bankrate.com.
Lamborn's ad, which you can see online at his attack site, theblaharecord.com, also claims that eight of Blaha's companies were in delinquency, and that he failed 26 times to file annual business reports.
This, the Post found, is untrue.
Only one company owned by Blaha was found to be in delinquency — and it was dissolved this year. And Blaha was late in filing business reports 22 times, but as the Secretary of State's Office explained, once you file, you're in the clear.
Still, Lamborn has continued to throw punches. Late last week, he claimed that Blaha doesn't have a plan to fix the economy; Blaha responded by pointing to a series of videos online that feature him talking job-creation at the local GOP headquarters. Over the weekend, the Lamborn campaign again attacked Blaha's business history, with another TV ad as well as mailers.
For an examination of these new claims, visit our blog at csindy.com.
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