Election laws violated, Dems say
Anti-Udall ads, ties to Schaffer raise questions
By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published December 5, 2007 at 12:30 a.m.
Humorist Will Rogers said "Common sense ain't all that common," but it turns out Common Sense is pretty popular in Colorado.
Republican Patrick Davis found that out when he tried to name the group he heads "Common Sense Colorado."
Democrats call the organization "shadowy" and claim it's breaking election laws. Davis, of Colorado Springs, says it simply runs "educational" ads.
The controversy involves two TV spots launched last week by Davis' group. Each paints an unflattering picture of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall, who faces Republican Bob Schaffer in the 2008 race.
Davis said he wanted to buy the "Common Sense Colorado" Internet domain name early this year but got a shock when he found out who the owner is: none other than Bob Schaffer.
Under the federal tax rules that regulate Davis' group, he's not allowed to have contact with any candidate or political party, so Davis couldn't even make Schaffer an offer.
Davis ended up calling his group "Common Sense Issues Inc." or CSI. The group's ads, looking at two votes Udall has taken while serving in Congress, were called "false and misleading" by Udall's Senate campaign.
Schaffer said he knew nothing about the anti-Udall ads.
But a national Democratic group Tuesday cried foul, questioning whether there was illegal coordination among CSI, Schaffer's campaign and the Colorado Republican Party.
Davis was the political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2004, the group involved in helping Republican John Thune defeat Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle in South Dakota. Thune's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, is now the chairman of the Colorado Republican Party.
And Schaffer's political director, Walt Klein, worked with Wadhams on Republican Wayne Allard's senatorial campaigns.
"Bob Schaffer has been ducking questions on tough issues for months, and now we know why Â? because he may be relying on a shadowy interest group to do his dirty work for him," Matthew Miller, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a news release.
Wadhams last week said he knew nothing about the ads.
But Udall's campaign manager, Mike Melanson, believes election laws were broken. He noted that Schaffer's consultant, Klein, at an event last week in Boulder, questioned why Udall would introduce a bill that allows American companies to drill for oil off Cuba but would oppose drilling on Colorado's Roan Plateau.
Two days later, CSI aired an ad making the same point.
Klein couldn't be reached for comment, but Wadhams said Udall's position on drilling in the two locations has been discussed in GOP circles for weeks.
The other ad from CSI mocks Udall for supporting a proposed Department of Peace, a position he later changed.
CSI is registered with the IRS as a nonprofit, 501(c)4. Unlike the better known 527 political groups - named after the section of the tax code that regulates them - CSI does not have to reveal its donors. The group cannot advocate for or against a candidate but can "educate" voters.
And as for the popularity of "Common Sense," Schaffer registered a number of domain names, including CommonSenseColorado.org and CommonSenseColorado.net.
"Common sense is a (term) that becomes pricey real estate at election time, I suppose," Schaffer said with a laugh.
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