September 05, 2012 09:10 PM UTC

Window Dressing With Scott Gessler

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• by: Colorado Pols

AP via 9NEWS–clearly this makes it all better!

Enter the newest announcement from Gessler’s office: an unprecedented $850,000 ad campaign on television, radio, and in print to encourage Coloradans to register to vote.

The ads promote a message that it’s simple to register to vote in Colorado, or to check your registration information for accuracy. These things can be done on the Secretary of State’s website.

Gessler says plans for the ad campaign have been in the works for the better part of a year, but he does hope this proves that he is as serious about registering eligible voters as he is about getting rid of ineligible voters.

“I think it does disprove some of these accusations that unfortunately I think have taken on real partisan tones,” Gessler said. [Pols emphasis]

In Gessler’s efforts to get non-citizens off the voter rolls, critics say he’s confused or scared voters who are eligible, especially among minority groups like Hispanics, who tend to vote for Democrats.

The story above leaves out a fairly important detail, 7NEWS adds helpfully:

The $850,000 outreach effort will be paid for with federal funds.

Because, folks, this appears to be a campaign paid for with Help America Vote Act voter education funds that are not new, and not unique to either Colorado or our embattled Secretary of State Scott Gessler. Meaning we really don’t know where the AP got the word “unprecedented” to describe any of this. In fact, were it not for the controversy Gessler finds himself embroiled in over his so-far unsuccessful but incredibly determined efforts to root out “noncitizen voters,” which has resulted in thousands of perfectly legal U.S. citizens getting nastygrams from Gessler’s office…well, this seems like the sort of thing Gessler and his conservative friends would consider wasteful spending under different circumstances, doesn’t it? After all, why do people need an ad to tell them to do their civic duty?

But for today, Gessler is only too delighted to put a smiley face on the “Honey Badger.”