Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes, speaking on KHOW’s Caplis and Silverman Show Tuesday, touted the conservative leaning publication The Constitutionalist Today for its ability to help get the facts out in his race against Democratic candidate and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. However, Maes failed to disclose that the publication has donated advertisement space to his campaign.
During a discussion in which host Dan Caplis harangued the Denver Post for not forcing Hickenlooper to provide an itemized accounting of his charitable donations, Maes said that it would be nice for the Post to pressure his opponent but added that a number of publications could fill that roll.
“We also have some great conservative publications out there,” Maes told Caplis. “You know we have great bloggers out there. We have the Statesman out there… .The Constitutionalist Today is one of the fastest growing publications in southern Colorado. They have a great team there. Hopefully we can also count on these groups to jump in and get the facts out.”
According to Maes’ campaign finance reports, The Constitutionalist has provided nearly $1,200 in free advertising to Maes’ campaign during this cycle. The most recent filings show that board members Teddy Otero, creative director for The Constitutionalist Today, and managing director Julie Ayers gave Maes’ campaign a non-monetary donation of $595 each for July and June ad space respectively.
The Constitutionalist Today states on its website that it stands for a return to the tenants of the U.S. Constitution and the “basic principles and values” of our founding fathers. It notes that big government is not one of those founding plans.
Transcript below:
CAPLIS: … I just hope that The Post uses its prodigious talents to subject the mayor to that same scrutiny.
MAES: Well I certainly hope so too, and that is the challenge that everyone should issue to them, with letters to the editors and phone calls and whatever the case may be. We also have some great conservative publications out there. Not as ubiquitous as The Post. You know we have great bloggers out there. We have the Statesman out there, and hopefully this conservatively — we have a new — The Constitutionalist Today is one of the fastest growing publications in southern Colorado. They have a great team there. Hopefully we can also count on these groups to jump in and get the facts out.
CAPLIS: No, you’re right and obviously the new media is tremendously powerful, but I do submit to you that the Post is in a unique position. There is nothing out there that is like the Denver Post and no other media outlet has the same opportunity to put the kind of pressure on the mayor that it would take. But since it was their reporting in the beginning that revealed he is hiding all of this, it is really their thing. But you make a good point about people pressuring The Post to do it. But I would argue that it won’t be outside pressure that forces them to do it. This is one where the Post is going to have to decide internally to step up and do what needs to be done.
Comments are closed.