October 26, 2010 10:39 PM UTC

9News Pulls Frazier Attack Ad Off the Air

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• by: Colorado Pols

An attack ad by Republican Ryan Frazier that goes after Rep. Ed Perlmutter for “allowing convicted rapists to receive Viagra” — a claim that has repeatedly been found to be untrue — has been pulled by 9News and will no longer run on the station.

According to a press release from Perlmutter’s campaign:

In a rare move, KUSA – Ch. 9 decided to pull the false and misleading ad against Ed Perlmutter which asserted that because he voted for the new health insurance reform law, he supported the ability for convicted rapists to access Viagra.  Adam Schrager from KUSA did the fact check on this ad, declaring it completely FALSE and stated “Perlmutter never voted for it.”  Furthermore, the new health insurance reform law does not contain any provisions in it concerning this assertion.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE FACT CHECK

This is the second attack ad run against Perlmutter that Schrager and Ch. 9 declared false.  The ads, were funded by the shadowy, Republican-operative run American Action Network, which sunk more than $1 million into the false advertising.

“KUSA did the right thing,” said Perlmutter spokeswoman Leslie Oliver.  “These kinds of false and distorted ads are examples of what happens when these outside shadow groups aren’t required to disclose their donors.  This is an abuse of our political system and a disservice to voters who should be able to make a decision about the future of our country based on the truth – not lies.”

According to the Denver Post, one of Frazier’s donors,  Rich Beeson, who is a Republican political operative in Colorado, is connected to the consultants for the AAN, and was involved in the decision to run this ad attacking Perlmutter.

KMGH and the Denver Post have both declared the ad false as well.

As we wrote when Cory Gardner’s false ads were pulled in CD-4 for accusing Rep. Betsy Markey of taking votes that actually belonged to Rep. ED Markey, this kind of press is really damaging to the candidates behind the ads. When a station pulls an ad for being false, it leaves voters to question how much of your other assertions are really true.