CUT condemns Norton attack ad
Posted by Richard on July 16, 2010
On Tuesday, the Colorado Union of Taxpayers issued a press release condemning Republican senatorial candidate Jane Norton's negative ad against her primary opponent, Ken Buck — an ad I called a sleazy smear. Now that I've finally noticed it, here is the text of the CUT press release (emphasis added):
The Colorado Union of Taxpayers called for U.S. Senate candidate to cease her personal attacks on Greg Golyansky, who serves on the CUT Board of Directors. Golyansky was first elected to the CUT Board in 2003, and has served continuously since then.
In negative ads against Senate candidate Ken Buck, Norton calls Buck a "A government lawyer who doesn't follow the rules"-a charge that the Denver's Channel 7 News labeled "misleading." http://www.thedenverchannel.com/politics/24087213/detail.html
The Norton ad darkly claims that "Ken Buck was investigated for ethics violations; improperly undermining the prosecution of pawn shop owner Gregory Golyansky."
The Norton attack omits some key facts: Henry Solano, who had been appointed United States Attorney by President Clinton, determined that his office should not bring a case against Golyansky. But in 1999, the new U.S. Attorney, Tom Strickland, decided to make the case into a prop for his future Senate campaign, and ordered that felony charges be filed against Golyansky and two of his relatives. Every career prosecutor in the Colorado U.S. Attorney's Office, including Ken Buck, refused to prosecute the case. So the case was given to two new lawyers whom Strickland had hired. The case was so obviously weak that it ended up with Golyansky pleading guilty to one misdemeanor, and being sentenced to a single day of probation.
CUT President Marty Neilson said, "Jane Norton's attacks on Gregory Golyansky are outrageous, mean-spirited, and misleading. Norton claims that she is the taxpayer's friend, but she is practicing character assassination against a genuine taxpayer advocate. The Colorado Union of Taxpayers calls on Jane Norton to cease these malicious and misleading advertisements."
Thank you, Marty Neilson. Thank you, Ken Buck, for having the courage to resist Tom Strickland's efforts to persecute the Golyanskys in order to further his career. And shame on you, Jane Norton!
David Bryant said
I guess Greg’s still mad about it. According to the Denver Post, Golyansky got pretty excited at a candidates’ forum the other day.
rgcombs said
Good for him!
Some interesting comments on that article. Some really ignorant ones, too.