No charges for false campaign ad in Springs

Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 31, 2007 at midnight

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A Democratic state senator said he's disappointed that a Republican who distorted his record on the campaign trail won't be charged.

Sen. John Morse, of Colorado Springs, said he thinks the El Paso County district attorney should have prosecuted Alan Philp, who last year oversaw a Republican organization called the Trailhead Group.

"I am absolutely convinced that the district attorney conducted the most complete and thorough investigation, but I disagree with their conclusion," -Morse said Tuesday.

The investigation centered on an ad by Trailhead - formed to help elect Republicans - concerning Morse's record when he was police chief of Fountain.

The ad said that because of Fountain police errors in a case, 14 felony charges were pleaded to one charge of menacing, a misdemeanor. In fact, they were pleaded to a single felony.

"It was an honest mistake, and we admitted we made a mistake," Philp said.

He said Tuesday that several Democrats told him that they didn't believe he should be charged.

Colorado law makes it illegal to "recklessly" or "willfully" make a false statement intended to influence an election. In September, Morse filed a complaint with El Paso County Attorney John Newsome, a Republican.

Philp was told last fall that he would be charged, but the DA's office then said it was reviewing new information.

Prosecutors announced Tuesday that Trailhead acted "negligently" by relying on a researcher and not double-checking the information but that "there was no evidence to show that Trailhead acted recklessly."

"We have decided that this crime, applied to these facts, cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt," Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa Kirkman said, in a statement.

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