Posted on 10/26/2004 9:06:45 AM PDT by Semi Civil Servant
Allegations are again flying against Michael Merrifield, the Democratic incumbent in House District 18, where Republicans on Monday showed a video of his wife removing about a dozen GOP campaign signs.
Merrifield quickly responded by charging the GOP with concocting any reason to defeat on Nov. 2 the only Democratic legislator from El Paso County. State Republican Chairman Ted Halaby showed film shot by a private investigator hired by the state party who Thursday and Saturday afternoons captured Merrifield’s wife, Ginger Spencer, removing signs promoting GOP candidates.
She pulled the signs as traffic passed, did not wear a disguise or appear to be trying to remove the signs undetected. She drove a short distance and put the signs in a trash bin.
The signs were posted in common areas of the townhome complex where Merrifield lives. Halaby said the removal demonstrates Merrifield is unfit to hold office because it violates Republicans’ right to free speech and reflects Merrifield’s lack of ethics.
Merrifield said he had the signs removed because they were placed without permission from homeowners. Merrifield said he got the OK from complex residents adjacent to where he staked his signs.
John Simpson, a Republican who placed the signs that were removed, said the complex’s covenants didn’t allow political signs at all until the board voted Sept. 21 to let people post signs. Simpson said notification of the board’s action, however, hasn’t been mailed to residents yet.
The party didn’t report the alleged theft to authorities, Halaby said, because the GOP is more concerned about the “political ramifications” of the disclosure days before voters decide between Merrifield and Republican challenger Kent Lambert, who’s never held elected office.
“It’s most important that the voters be informed of what occurred and make their own conclusions,” Halaby said. “They would be the best jury at this point in time.”
Merrifield, speaking at an impromptu news conference from his doorstep on Manitou Springs’ Crystal Park Road, said the claims are groundless but represent further proof of the extreme measures Republicans are willing to take.
It’s another in a string of attacks, none of which have led state and local officials to file charges or issue sanctions. Previous allegations have involved campaign spending and Republicans portraying Merrifield as a lawbreaker, even though the district attorney found no basis to prosecute. “I’m the No. 1 target,” Merrifield said. “The Republicans are bound and determined to take me out.”
He said the sign dispute represents “the pettiness and depths of desperation the Republicans are reaching to defeat me.”
The campaign for the district, which includes Manitou Springs and the west side of Colorado Springs, has been marked by superficiality. Merrifield and Lambert have not debated, and none of the campaign’s flashpoints has involved a public policy issue.
Halaby, during a news briefing in response to Merrifield’s media session, challenged the House member’s ethics and integrity and called for him to resign.
Merrifield has said he was willing to debate until a recent emergency eye operation caused him to sharply curtail his activities.
This is a microcosm of the way Democrat "leaders" do business nowadays.
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