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Coffman Demands Meaningless Pledge

by: Colorado Pols

Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 15:17:52 PM MDT

From the campaign of Republican CD-6 candidate Mike Coffman:

Highlands Ranch, CO - This past Friday, March 14th, the Coffman for Congress campaign sent a letter to all of the candidates in the race for the 6th Congressional District urging them to sign a pledge to disavow any and all negative 527 activities.
"The voters of the Sixth Congressional District deserve a campaign that is centered on issues and ideas, not petty personal attacks", said Coffman.
Coffman for Congress Campaign Manager, Dustin Zvonek added, "After what took place in the 2006 primary for the 5th Congressional District and in the primary for the U.S. Senate in 2004, we believe it's important for the voters and the Republican Party to have a clean and honest election. We hope our opponents agree and will sign the pledge".

Sign the pledge. Disavow away. Who cares? No candidate is supposed to "know" anything about 527 campaigns anyway. It doesn't take a lot of backbone to disavow something you aren't supposed to acknowledge anyway. Or perhaps this is Coffman's way of pre-emptively giving himself cover for 527 attacks that he knows will come against his opponents.

Full letter follows.

Colorado Pols :: Coffman Demands Meaningless Pledge

In recent election cycles we have become accustom to the growing and disturbing trend of vitriolic personal character attacks dominating political campaigns. The primary source of these negative attacks have been 527 groups that are not governed by the same transparency rules and regulations as our candidate committees.
In the 2006 GOP primary for the 5th Congressional District and in the 2004 U.S. Senate primary we saw just how nasty and petty the attacks from these groups can be. The slash and burn tactics that have absolutely no regard for the truth have no place in honest campaigning, and provide an enormous disservice to the voters and to the Republican Party.
It is my sincere hope to have a spirited, vigorous campaign that will inform the voters where each of us stand on the issues and how we will serve in the United States Congress. I believe the focus of campaigns should always be on issues and ideas, not half-truths, lies, and distortions. To this end, I am calling on each candidate in this important race for the 6th Congressional District to join me in signing a pledge to disavow any and all negative 527 activities.
I hope you share my concern and will join me in this effort. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Mike Coffman

Tags: mike coffman, ted harvey, wil armstrong, CO-6, (All Tags)

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Coffman Demands Meaningless Pledge | 20 comments

How about some more useless pledges?

1. Not to engage in any three-way sex - at least not with the spouse stuck in the middle.

2. Not to hire prostitutes for more than three figures per hour.

3. To take narrow stances in all bathroom stalls.

"Why not do the right thing for the American people, even though it's not exactly what we want." - Speaker Boehner

by: Half Glass Full @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 21:26:16 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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If you....

are alluding to McGreevy with comment #1, I wonder why you assume that his spouse was stuck in the middle. I think it more likely that she was operating the camera.

"But when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh, shut up!' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining." Glenn Beck

by: Arvadonian @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 23:03:42 PM UTC

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agreed......

I got a funny feeling that the former Luv Guv was stuck in the middle.
What I find amazing is that Ms. Matos McGreevy professed shock and awe when she learned that her hubbie was gay. Who could forget that wacked out smile she had on her face as her husband outed himself on national TV.
I haven't done much research on the subject, but I would imagine that most married women who have husbands who would welcome another man into their bed just might have cause question how straight their husbands are.
Now, on the other hand, it's common knowledge that MANY heterosexual men fantasize about getting it on with two women....but that's another story!

by: One Queer Dude @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 04:09:42 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

The first candidate to disavow negative campaigning wins points from the naive

Negative campaigning informs voters, and I support it. Candidates who claim that negative campaigning is bad are worried that they are the biggest targets.

Ironically, Coffman's not the biggest target in this campaign. The mortgage bankers, Armstrong and Harvey are. They don't have a chance in hell of being nominated, but their campaigns may help their mortgage banking careers, although I'm not sure how.

I think Coffman's just playing a PR game, getting some ink for something besides electronic voting machines.

That's politics. And it's ok with me.

by: Another skeptic @ Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:17:18 AM UTC

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Meaningless Pledge?

I guess trying to reunite his party and steer clear of the things that turn people off from politics is meaningless. Heaven forbid Coffman tries to do something good for the GOP. I know I thoroughly enjoyed the attack adds of 2006... Everytime I turned on the TV I saw Paccione or Musgrave going after the other. Makes me want to volunteer and go help those kinds of campaigns...not!

by: jimmypilgrim @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 21:37:20 PM UTC

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It would be different

If Coffman pledged that his CAMPAIGN wouldn't go negative. But disavowing 527s doesn't mean anything, because you aren't supposed to know what they do anyway (if you are a candidate). It's like promising not to accept contributions from Canadians - you can't anyway.

by: Colorado Pols @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 21:43:07 PM UTC

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Anyone Remember

the Beauprez Case files or the Holtzman coordination? Thanks to the negative attacks of these two campaigns, my governor Bill Ritter was easily elected. My greatest fear is that this happens in the Presidential race and somehow McCain comes out the winner. I could be wrong but I thought that was the whole purpose of the pledge; Coffman saying he wasn't going negative and neither should his other primary candidates. I hope they do, because if so, Mike Collins is a shoe in.

by: Heather L @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 22:25:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good for Coffman

It's about time someone runs a campaign based on what they stand for. I'm so sick of hearing why the other guy isn't the man for the job. Mike wants to tell me about Mike and that's what I want to hear.

by: samsnead @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 21:42:49 PM UTC

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He knows it's coming

There is no question that Coffman is the clear frontrunner in this race, and he probably realizes that the same people involved in the 04 and 06 races are already involved in this race. If Armstrong or Harvey want to have a snowballs chance they have to start attacking Coffman, so the question is not if, but when.

by: CR GOP @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 21:43:18 PM UTC

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You're right

John Hotaling and Bill Armstrong were the two main culprits behind the nasty mudslinging and 527s of the 04 and 06 races. My guess is one of Bill's good friends drops some of his own cash and lets Bill call the shots.

by: fathawk @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 21:53:40 PM UTC

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Since when is taking the high road...

... a bad idea?

What's wrong with disavowing "scorched earth" tactics before they even get started? Do you honestly think that adhering to such a pledge would be considered offensive to GOP voters in the 6th CD? I doubt it.

As one of those voters, I would be delighted to see a primary that honored Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of fellow Republicans." I would be absolutely thrilled to see Gerald Ford's 11th Commandment put in place afterwards: "Thou shalt always help fellow Republicans, or at least, do them no harm."

The cynicism of the Colorado Pols post may be something Democrats are used to, i.e. the Obama-Clinton presidential race, Colorado's Democratic 2nd CD contest, but we Republicans want better in our primary contests.

Nobody is perfect and nobody needs to be.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

by: DrewKerin @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 21:48:47 PM UTC

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Oh you sanctimonius Republicans.

My computer is now full of coffee...thanks for the laughter!!

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble and reclaim the commons. Stop the militarization of America.

by: Sir Robin @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 22:07:45 PM UTC

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Courage to do something about it

"HOPE has two children. The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it." -- St. Augustine --
by: Sir Robin @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 16:07:45 PM MDT

So we hope to do something about it and, after 2004 and 2006, have gotten angry enough to do something about it and you call that sanctimonious? No wonder Democrats would never have the courage to propose such a pledge in their own races. It's also precisely why we could care less about what you think of Republican primaries.

Nobody is perfect and nobody needs to be.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

by: DrewKerin @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 23:06:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Agreed

The Republican Party would be wise to get back to its Reagan roots. After the last couple elections, you'd think they would have learned something. Doug Lamborn probably will loose as an incumbent. Attacking members of your own party works, if your only goal is for that person not to be elected. However, if one wants to get elected and stay elected they should take the high road. Leave the "dirt" and mud to me.

by: Joe Dirte @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 22:07:52 PM UTC

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Honestly?

Sure they're not "supposed" to know, but does anybody honestly believe that garbage anymore? Give me a break. Coffman is smart to do this, we all saw what Armstrong and his buddies were willing to do in 2004, now with his son as the candidate I wouldn't be surprised to see him double his efforts. Hopefully I'm wrong.

by: Devo @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 22:06:11 PM UTC

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We've had this crap since our country started

Hamilton and Jefferson wrote incredibly nasty anonymous "news articles" tearing into the other. We've had this from the birth of our country.

Why? Because it's effective. And while there's a lot of lying and general garbage, there is also a lot of truth that comes out of it. Swift-boats hurt Kerrey largely because he didn't respond and a lot of voters wanted a president that will fight back.

This will happen regardless. And it does serve a purpose. Keep in mind that democracy is a messy business.

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

by: DavidThi808 @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 23:02:42 PM UTC

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Jefferson...

Jefferson was a total asshat. He actually tried to overthrow the Adams administration, while he was veep.

The rivalry between Hamilton and Madison was much more heated than anything conjured up with Jefferson.

I knew a stripper named Skyler once. --TaxCheatGeithner

by: Skyler @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 02:50:12 AM UTC

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Does the "pledge" hold for the general?

No doubt candidate Coffman will preserve this high minded clean-politics approach through the November election. Anticipating a hard fought general election face-off this year in CD-6, it seems unlikely that this amounts to much more that primary grand standing by Coffman.

by: Genway543 @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 00:03:55 AM UTC

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Here's an Idea

Maybe Coffman can hire Rick Renzi to look after his campaign funds during this run. Word is that Rick's available pretty quick.

by: rocco @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 03:20:28 AM UTC

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Let's All Get Together

And comply with campaign finance regulations! Woo Hoo! C'mon, who's with me?