Maes: $45,000 Pocketed for "Mileage" Nets "Parking Ticket"

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by: Colorado Pols

The Grand Junction Sentinel’s Charles Ashby reports on GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes’ deepening chutzpah issues–apparently the $45,000 personal campaign cash machine he is alleged to have repeatedly tapped is no big deal at all. Thanks for clearing that up!

About $27,000 in fines that gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes has agreed to pay for various campaign-finance violations are akin to paying parking tickets, the Republican told his supporters in an e-mail Friday.

In that e-mail, sent to Sheryl Fernandez, volunteer coordinator for the Dan Maes for Governor campaign, the Evergreen businessman said his opponents would manipulate facts and bend the truth with “blatant lies” as the Aug. 10 primary nears.

“This suit is timed to be publicized in conjunction with the primary vote,” Maes wrote in the e-mail. “It is our judgment to agree to the claims, which amount to parking tickets in the grand scheme of things. An example is as minor as not correctly listing the occupation of a donor correctly.”

Maes was responding to a complaint filed by Grand Junction resident Christopher Klitzke, who alleged the candidate violated campaign-finance laws when he reimbursed himself nearly $45,000 for mileage, accepted a contribution from a corporation and failed to note occupations for several donors.

So, um, yeah, the $45,000 is kind of the big deal here, not so much the “as minor as” example cited. We’ve noted previously how Maes’ campaign seems to be a weird personal indulgence rather than an actual campaign, with the GOP primary success he’s enjoyed so far a reflection of frontrunner Scott McInnis’ glaring weakness–not Maes’ strength.

Well, $45,000 for “mileage” is certainly indulgent.

12 thoughts on “Maes: $45,000 Pocketed for “Mileage” Nets “Parking Ticket””

Froward69 says:

July 7, 2010 at 7:49 pm

Arrogant Gimcrack.

Certainly NOT someone to elect dog catcher or much worse Governor.

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Ralphie says:

July 7, 2010 at 9:37 pm

His “parking ticket” is $5000 more than his cash-on-hand.

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1. Half Glass Full says:
  
  July 7, 2010 at 9:42 pm
  
  From the Governor’s race, that is.
  
  I would just love to see detailed records from this huckster of exactly where, when and how he traveled to truly justify paying himself $45,000 in “mileage.”
  
  It just seems like something an arrogant private CEO with a compliant board might do to pad his salary. Not the actions of someone we’d want as our chief public servant.
  
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  1. Half Glass Full says:
    
    July 7, 2010 at 9:43 pm
    
    I meant “apparent” huckster. If he can come up with the records to substantiate approximately 90,000 miles of mileage, then he’s just guilty of shoddy reporting.
    
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2. Tea Party Skeptic says:
  
  July 8, 2010 at 12:24 am
  
  Maes pockets at least $45,000 from gullible donors. Than he pays a fine and still comes out ahead. Maybe he is a businessman after all. Help the Unemployed: Donate to Dan Maes.
  
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  1. Say Hey Kid says:
    
    July 8, 2010 at 12:42 am
    
    I’m glad that through some creative and talented lawyering this con artist Maes was exposed.
    
    It also shows how weak Scott McInnis is. How can you lose at anything to a guy like Dan Maes.
    
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Tea Party Skeptic says:

July 8, 2010 at 12:22 am

Erik Groves did some really good lawyering to expose this huckster. Too many of these Tea Party guys are little more than con artists who care more about making a fast buck than with advancing any poltiical agenda. It is not easy to accomplish what Attorney Groves accomplished. At the end Maes was like a pitiful witness on Perry Mason lamely admitting that “he did it”.

I hope the Colorado Democratic Party is just as skillful in going after any Tea Party candidate on the ballot in November who is engaged in similar chicanery.

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1. ClubTwitty says:
  
  July 8, 2010 at 2:30 am
  
  The Colorado Independent has two stories up about candidates at some Tea Party event–one on the the Gov on on the Senate,
  
  From the one on the Gov race we get…
  
  http://coloradoindependent.com…
  
  “A year ago a fine young woman did her job. A woman came in with her anchor babies and she applied for food stamps,” Maes said with admiration of the public officials. “That young lady stood up and said, ‘Your ID is not legal’ and denied her those benefits. That is the way it is supposed to work.”
  
  Maes said that he knows of a Colorado legislator who has already created an Arizona-like immigration bill that he said he would sign if elected.
  
  McInnis said he was proud that Maes had switched to opposing amnesty, but said he (McInnis) was the only candidate endorsed by Tom Tancredo.
  
  Opening his speech by reminding the crowd that he had won the most delegate votes at the Colorado Republican Assembly, Maes quickly transitioned into a deluge of promises to cut taxes on businesses, cut subsidies to the environmental energy industry in the state and further cut the size of government in an effort to create a surplus for the state and generate more jobs.
  
  …Downsizing state government, bringing in strong energy and small business sectors, were the main features of Maes’s plan. He went on to say if Coloradans want to drill on the Roan Plateau, then “we can drill on the Roan Plateau, and Washington can come talk to me about it.”
  
  These guys will say anything to get elected–that anyone believes they are actually running because they don’t want power and because they want to ‘take the country back’ almost deserve someone like Maes.
  
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  1. ClubTwitty says:
    
    July 8, 2010 at 2:33 am
    
    Not pissant.
    
    Who even thinks Dan Maes could locate Roan Plateau on a map? Although with $45,000 in mileage ‘reimbursement’ perhaps we should assume he drove his fleet of Hummers up and down the JQS numerous times…
    
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gaf says:

July 8, 2010 at 4:45 am

is just a “parking ticket” to this guy. The Tea Party group must be proud.

The constitution also says, “Candidates shall be personally liable for penalties imposed upon the candidate’s committee.” Unfortunately, somehow this has been interpreted to allow the penalty to be paid by the campaign committee. So for anyone who can raise enough to pay the fine, the penalty is no financial deterrent–just a “parking ticket.” I don’t think “personally liable” should mean “paid by the campaign committee.”

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Tea Party Skeptic says:

July 8, 2010 at 7:41 am

Dan Maes is a dead beat one step out of Bankruptcy Court.

Great lawyering exposed this huckster. Make him pay the fine cash up front or keep the case alive. Dan Maes is a deadbeat who will gladly promise to pay you Tuesday for a burger today. Make the unemployed deadbeat deliver cash on the barrel head.

The funniest thing is that McInnis lost to this guy who by all accounts had a better speech, a better organization and a better message.

According to the latest finance reports mMcInnis is spending money not on TV, mail or radio but on the losers who got his ass kicked at the Assembly.

Glad that con artist Maes may have to finally pay up

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1. TCU2011 says:
  
  July 8, 2010 at 8:30 am
  
  I think that hardly constitutes ass kicking. And might I remind you that Maes’ base was the same as Buck’s. Buck won over 75% and Maes just barely over 50%. I attended the Assembly and the people that go to the Assembly are not representative of the Republican Party in Colorado. The people at the Assembly are those that are ultra-conservative and are so upset about something that they are blinded into thinking that Dan Maes wasn’t the joker that he is. I’m just glad that people can now see that. And to think this guy had people convinced he could be Governor.
  
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