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Mailers flood race for House

Outside groups target voters aggressively

DENVER – If you haven’t received any mailers for the House District 59 race in Southwest Colorado, then your postal address probably reads, “Lives under rock.”

The stacks of campaign fliers building up on voters’ kitchen counters across the district for and against Democratic incumbent Mike McLachlan and Republican challenger J. Paul Brown can be overwhelming.

It’s not so much the candidates themselves, as much as the special interests that have been flooding the district with advertising.

On the one side, left-leaning groups such as Priorities for Colorado have been hammering Brown over reproductive rights issues, a common theme in the “war on women” painted by Democrats.

On the other side, right-leaning groups such as Colorado Citizens for Accountable Government are pounding McLachlan by suggesting that the Durango attorney is disconnected from rural Colorado and only serves the interests of Denver, where the Legislature convenes.

McLachlan has been beaten up for supporting a package of gun-control measures and a rural renewable energy standard, among other bills loathed by some in rural Colorado.

“It’s more than just with Denver, it’s more the difference between voting for rural Colorado and the liberal Denver,” Brown said of the advertising against McLachlan.

But the irony is that the same group which is bashing McLachlan for being too Denver is registered with a Denver mailing address. Colorado Citizens for Accountable Government did not return calls by The Durango Herald seeking comment.

“It’s just part of what they call the soft side, which I call the dark side,” McLachlan said of the ads attacking him, noting that the special interests are able to funnel money through a network of groups and committees to keep donors anonymous.

The nonprofits can spend unlimited amounts of so-called “dark money” on independent expenditures and electioneering communications.

In one ad, Colorado Citizens for Accountable Government says, “Mike McLachlan thinks Southwest Colorado thinks and acts like Denver.”

Another ad shows scenic shots of rural Southwest Colorado and asks, “Does this look like Denver?”

Another ad by the group says: “Mike McLachlan sided with Denver politicians. Our schools suffered.”

And yet another ad by the committee says: “Mike McLachlan helped the Denver politicians take away money from our schools.”

The mailers come in what is expected to be the most expensive legislative House race of the campaign season. McLachlan is in a heated rematch against Brown, who he unseated in 2012 by only 917 votes.

Advertising attacking McLachlan has even made it to CNN and ESPN during Monday Night Football, paid for by the Freedom Team political committee.

Brown, an Ignacio sheep rancher, has not been immune to attacks himself.

One ad by Priorities for Colorado features a sheep with “Property of J. Paul Brown” shaved into it. “J. Paul Brown thinks women are just like his sheep,” the ad says.

Another ad by the group says: “J. Paul Brown is a politician who wants to control women.”

Priorities for Colorado did not return calls left by the Herald seeking comment.

Brown said he never voted for a bill that aimed to make common forms of birth control illegal or criminalize doctors for performing emergency procedures, as his opponents state.

But he backed a measure in 2012, House Bill 1130, that opponents said would have enacted personhood, with unintended consequences such as banning abortion and criminalizing mothers.

“I can understand now looking back where some people might have those concerns, but it certainly wasn’t the reason that I voted for the bill,” Brown said.

Both candidates said they would rather not see the unlimited spending by special interests.

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me, ‘I get those things, and I just throw them in the trash,’” McLachlan said.

But House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, said the mailers are simply a reality of politics. House Democrats believe the HD 59 race is the most important race for them this election.

“There’s a lot of interest in the race from both sides. It was the closest race in 2012, and it’s a rematch,” said the term-limited Ferrandino. “Ultimately, it’s going to come down to who better represents the district.”

pmarcus@durangoherald.com



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