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New Musgrave Ad Makes Stunning Claim About Markey

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Oct 22, 2008 9:42 pm US/Mountain

New Musgrave Ad Makes Stunning Claim About Markey

Reporting
Raj Chohan
(CBS4) The 4th Congressional district race has gotten about as ugly as it gets. Republican Marilyn Musgrave has a recent ad that makes a stunning claim that Democrat Betsy Markey could spend "five years in prison."

Ad: Like the worst on Wall Street, Betsy Markey gamed the system, and got rich with taxpayer money.

This claim is highly misleading. There's no evidence Markey did anything unethical or illegal when she served as a staffer for Senator Ken Salazar. While the Musgrave campaign has tried to make the argument that Markey got rich from no-bid government contracts won by her family's business, the no bid deals accounted for a small portion of the company's federal government work. In fact, most of the government contracts were won through the competitive bidding process. Markey explains the no-bid contracts were for the renewal and maintenance of existing contracts.

Ad: Markey broke the rules.

There may be some truth to this claim. When Markey went to work for Sen. Salazar, she divested her interest in her family's company. But even after the divestment, the company still accepted a number of government contracts under the designation of a woman-owned business, when at the time, it technically wasn't woman-owned. Did that help the company win any contracts? It's certainly possible, but no one's proven a specific instance where it has made a difference. The Markey campaign says the company's failure to remove the woman-owned designation was an oversight.

Ad: the Justice Department has been asked to investigate whether Markey broke the law.

Here's the spin. The Justice Department has been asked to investigate, but that request comes from a Republican operative and surrogate of the Musgrave campaign. The Musgrave campaign acknowledges its role in helping the complainant fill out the paperwork.

Ad: She could spend five years in prison

This claim is almost certainly false. Even if the Markey family's company did commit some kind of infraction, it was likely very minor. No one is likely to go to jail for any of the outrageous claims made in this campaign by either side: not Betsy Markey, not Marilyn Musgrave, not the spinmeisters who write the tv ads. .

Bottom line: Each candidate has filed criminal complaints against the other, either directly or through surrogates, over claims each has made in their TV ads. Hand-wringing aside, the "offensive" claims will likely be construed as opinion-based political speech protected by the First Amendment. My prediction: none of it will go anywhere.

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