Udall snubs Schaffer's call to return funds

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 19, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Congressman Mark Udall on Thursday rebuffed a call from Bob Schaffer, his Republican opponent in the U.S. Senate race, to return campaign donations he has received from a congressman who is coming under increasing scrutiny.

Rep. Charles Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has admitted he failed to report $75,000 of rental income from a Dominican villa on tax returns and financial disclosure reports since 1988. The House ethics committee is reviewing the matter, and Republicans tried unsuccessfully Thursday to get the New York Democrat to give up his chairmanship while he is under investigation.

Udall, an Eldorado Springs Democrat, received $10,000 of campaign contributions from Rangel's leadership political action committee this year and $2,000 in 2000. He, like most other members of his party, voted against ordering Rangel to give up his seat.

Schaffer campaign manager Dick Wadhams called for Udall to return the $12,000, saying the money is tainted.

"If he wants to take money from a guy who rips off taxpayers while writing tax laws as chairman of the tax-writing committee of the Unites States House of Representatives, then let him keep that money," Wadhams said.

Udall campaign press secretary Tara Trujillo scoffed at that suggestion, pointing instead to what she called a litany of tainted campaign contributions Schaffer has accepted during this and previous races.

Those include: $4,924 from the PAC of indicted former House Majority Leader Tom Delay in 1996 and 1997; $5,000 from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2000; and $8,900 from the family of David Brennan, whose company won a controversial contract from the Colorado Board of Education, of which Schaffer is a member.

"Bob Schaffer may be the most ethically challenged candidate ever to run for office in Colorado," Trujillo said. "When Jack Abramoff's candidate rattles off about campaign contributions, he's getting really desperate."

Udall and Schaffer are seeking the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Wayne Allard.

sealovere@RockyMountainNews.com

• September 19, 2008

  7:23 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  JohnSmith2 writes:

  Let's not forget the thousands of dollars Schaffer took from the sweatshop industry in the Northern Mariana Islands as a thank-you for intimidating a witness in the sham investigation of labor practices there, including indentured servitude, forced abortions, and child sex workers--a system which Bob Schaffer now calls a "model" for what U.S. immigration policy should be.

  And let's not forget the $13,000 parasailing junket that Schaffer took as part of this "investigation," arranged by Jack Abramoff and paid for by Abramoff's front man Lou Sheldon.

  And let's not forget the tens of thousands Schaffer has taken from Club for Growth, which is known to be funded by Swift Boat financier Bob Perry to the tune of at least $400,000.

• September 19, 2008

  7:40 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  yaakovwatkins writes:

  Much as I dislike Rangel, $75,000 over 20 years simply isn't that much money for someone in his bracket. As Chairman of the Ways and Means committee, he is arguably the second most powerful person in the house. In some ways, when it comes to financial issues, he is more powerful than Pelosi. While I don't necessarily believe he is honest, I believe his price is, or would be, considerably higher than $3,750 a year. If he wanted to, he could probably get away with millions per year without getting caught.

• September 22, 2008

  10:36 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Beavis898 writes:

  I just wonder how much money (from Unions) Udall is going to get when he helps pass EFCA.

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