June 17, 2013 01:46 PM UTC

Al Sharpton Busts Down Gessler

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• by: Colorado Pols

Back during the legislative session, a mail piece attacking Republican county clerks for their support of House Bill 1303, this year's election modernization bills, drew nationwide condemnation after it photos in the piece were determined to have been altered to remove African-American faces from a line of people waiting to vote. Among those who called out this botched attempt to frighten rural Colorado voters was NBC News' Al Sharpton, who noted the connection between that mailer and the former law firm of Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler. Gessler was the foremost opponent of the bill in question, and the incident helped reinforce his reputation as a shady partisan player–whether or not he personally approved the mailer.

Rev. Sharpton circled back Friday after Gessler was ruled by the state's Independent Ethics Commission as having "breached the public trust for private gain," after using funds from his office's discretionary account to pay for his trip to the Republican National Lawyers Association annual conference last year in Florida, which was scheduled just ahead of the Republican National Convention.

We'd say the "Honey Badger" has met his match…