March 19, 2008 12:17 AM UTC

Coffman Demands Meaningless Pledge

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• by: Colorado Pols

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.

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