Schaffer campaign boss defiant over his choice of words

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 5, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated August 5, 2008 at 12:33 a.m.

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Dick Wadhams said he would have "no apologies" for Democrats.

Two Democratic groups ripped Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's campaign manager Monday for using foul language when talking about Democratic opponent Mark Udall.

But campaign manager Dick Wadhams said he has nothing to apologize for.

Wadhams was quoted in a Saturday Rocky Mountain News story about Udall, a congressman from Eldorado Springs, missing the initial vote in Congress on whether to adjourn for the summer.

"We're going to shove a bunch of 30-second ads up his a-- on this issue over the course of the campaign," Wadhams said.

The Colorado Democratic Party called on Schaffer to "clean up the sleaze in his campaign."

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which helps elect Democratic candidates, described Wadhams' comment as a "bizarre, vulgar outburst."

"We can only assume that Bob Schaffer's friends on the far right will be disappointed with his campaign's sleazy comments," the senatorial campaign committee said in a release.

Wadhams laughed Monday when he heard that Democrats were criticizing his potty mouth.

"I embrace what I said Friday," he said. "I have no apologies.

"I won't back down at all.

"If Democrats want to embrace Boulder liberal Udall, who missed votes in Washington so he could fundraise in Colorado, let's have that debate."

Udall had promised during a debate with Schaffer to vote against the adjournment until Congress considered energy legislation.

He missed the initial vote but voted "no" during the official vote two days later.

Udall also skipped a day of work in Washington to handle meetings in his district and attend a fundraiser.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee on Monday released a blistering video on the Web called "Udall's Day Off."

The backdrop shows a gas tank and gas prices increasing.

Udall's campaign, for its part, released a column by David Broder in Sunday's Washington Post.

Broder identified Udall as one of five Senate candidates who are "centrists who have been tested in real-world politics and have little tolerance for ideological extremes."

Broder also identified Schaffer as "more conservative than the retiring" U.S. senator, Wayne Allard, R-Loveland.

bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5327

• August 5, 2008

  12:48 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  SL10 writes:

  Sounds like the manager has a thing for Udall. Talking about shoving stuff up his arse. Hmmm. lol.

• August 5, 2008

  12:49 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  JohnSmith2 writes:

  Schaffer's campaign is unabashedly sleazy. If Schaffer doesn't fire D--- Wadhams, that will show that as a Senator, Schaffer would be just as sleazy. Is sleaze what Colorado needs in the US Senate?

  I say we need a Senator who, as the Rocky Mountain News said of Mark Udall, "embodies a vanishing breed on Capitol Hill: a congressman who routinely reaches across the aisle to forge legislation on a bipartisan basis. The genial, hard-working Democrat has been able to ally successfully with every Republican in the delegation to support various initiatives important to Colorado."

• August 5, 2008

  4:57 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  fatdog writes:

  Schaffer has proven himself to be sleazy since his unwarranted 'RINO hunting' attack against Ramey Johnson, H.D.23, a few years ago. He did manage to put the Democarts in control of the State House. He is an on going embarrassement to his party. It is a shame what he, and others, have done to what was a great party. Let us hope that the next generation of leaders will be better. jkd

• August 5, 2008

  6:25 a.m.

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  AlanAardvark writes:

  In her attempt to campaign for Udall, Lynn Bartels missed the opportunity of pointing out that if Udall had voted against Congressional adjournment as he promised to do, it would hardly have mattered, since Udall doesn't have any answers for high gas prices anyway. He's a pea in the pod with Ken Salazar, who said recently on the floor of the Senate that he objects to drilling to open up domestic oil supplies even if gas goes to $10 a gallon.

  Udall seems to feel that high gas prices are a good thing and that we should all just ride bicycles while waiting for engineers to come up with a corn oil car.

• August 5, 2008

  6:52 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Joe_Lunchbucket writes:

  "A**" is vulgar? Oh please. Since when did Uhaul Udall's camp get religion? I thought they were of the "free bodies, free minds," I'll say what I want and do what I want ethos? Now, suddenly they're all pious. Just like their candidate -- PHONY! And SL 10 should stop fantasizing and learn how to read. BTW, isn't it cute how the Rocky's internet censors won't allow you to print Mr. Wadhams' first name. LOL!!!

• August 5, 2008

  10:40 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  MikeaLoeb writes:

  Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman used colorful words on a regular basis. This hyper-sensitive political correctness is offensive to me. If you want something to be offended about you should be offended by the fact the Barack Obama wants your kids to be in sex education in Kindergarten. Now thats "vulgar".

• August 5, 2008

  10:49 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Troywithme writes:

  While I don’t agree with Wadhams choice of language, I can understand his annoyance with the Udall campaign. To the public, mark Udall comes across as this charismatic, accomplished Congressman. However, at a closer look, he is not who Colorado needs this year. His energy policy is awful, he supports the EFCA legislation and big labor, and he is going to increase our taxes. I am going to do everything I can to make sure he is not our next senator.

• August 5, 2008

  12:56 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  zivo24 writes:

  I find it interesting that the Rocky hasn't even picked up on the story of Shaffer's son's now infamous Facebook web page which displayed several offensive comments ("Slavery gets sh** done!" and images of Obama with offensive captions.

  The kid has written an apology...now that he is caught and his dad, of course, is saying that he is no way responsible for the way his 19 year old kid thinks, acts or behave and he won't be answering any questions about it.

  A little GOP affirmative action going on here, RMN? Or just some sloppy reporting?

• August 5, 2008

  1:13 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  zivo24 writes:

  Hey Ezekiel777...

  Got some names for you to think about...

  Larry Craig

  Mark Foley

  Glenn Murphy Jr.

  Guess what they all have in common?

• August 5, 2008

  3:18 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Ian74 writes:

  Troy, I agree. I think Mark Udall has a lot more on his shoulder's than Schaffer's supervisor's big mouth. The energy policy is debatable but his position on efca certainly is not. And this article on Wadhams really is not that big of a deal compared to the issues.

• August 5, 2008

  8:05 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  HopiMedicineMan writes:

  Wadhams use of common language, common to all of us, is not an issue in this campaign. The issue this reporter is avoiding is drilling.

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