May 11, 2006 08:00 AM UTC

Lamborn and Crank Duke it Out

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• by: Colorado Pols

The dust-up over CD-5 candidate Jeff Crank’s Web site follies continues. From the Rocky Mountain News:

A $1,000 donation provoked the latest dust-up among conservative Republicans in southern Colorado’s 5th Congressional District, with only eight days until party activists choose their top-line candidate for the August primary. The $1,000 check was written to candidate Doug Lamborn by GOP operative Curt Cerveny, who said the contribution “doesn’t mean a hill of beans to me.”

“I’ve donated thousands of dollars over the past couple of years, and it’s all public record,” said Cerveny. He said his bipartisan largesse has extended even to Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat.

But the donation has prompted one of Lamborn’s opponents to renew a charge of dirty politics. Cerveny’s partner in a Denver political strategy firm, Rob Fairbank, last month blew the whistle on what he called plagiarism by candidate Jeff Crank, another of the seven GOP candidates trying to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., whose district includes Colorado Springs, the rest of El Paso County and Park, Lake, Chaffee, Fremont and Teller counties.

Fairbank charged that Crank’s Web site copied position statements from Hefley and other GOP politicians. Crank, who once worked for Hefley, promptly removed the position statements on such issues as health care and the war on terror from his Web site. A campaign volunteer took responsibility for drafting them.

Jim Banks, Crank’s campaign manager, contended Wednesday that Cerveny’s donation and Fairbank’s whistle-blowing make them Lamborn’s lackeys. The party operatives said they do not have a contract with any of the seven GOP candidates in the race and are simply concerned Republicans working to keep the right wing of their party strong.

Crank and Lamborn, Cerveny said, “are the two guys who are probably the most logical winners. Or, they could dilute themselves and a moderate could slip in.”

He said he wasn’t “doing anything for Lamborn,” but, in the next breath, challenged Crank “to take responsibility for the plagiarism.”

Banks contended that “Jeff continues to talk about issues with delegates,” while Lamborn and his camp “continue to sling mud and play dirty politics.”

John Hotaling, Lamborn’s campaign manager, countered that Crank’s questioning of Cerveny’s $1,000 donation “is a hilarious spin from a desperate and flailing campaign.”

“If Jeff Crank wants to keep bringing up his plagiarism on this issue, we will let him,” Hotaling said.