Freda Poundstone, well-known Colorado conservative political figure, appears in a Tom Tancredo campaign ad released Tuesday in which she calls embattled Republican candidate for governor Dan Maes a con and a liar.
“Dan Maes not only conned me out of my money, he lied to me about his background, and he deceived my friends and myself about his conservative principles,” says Poundstone, brimming with emotion. “I’ve had so many people call me and ask: What kind of a man would do that to an 83-year-old lady? and I don’t want that to happen to the voters of this state.”
An exchange last November that ended in Poundstone giving $300 cash to Maes has dogged the campaign for months. Poundstone, who formerly supported the Maes candidacy, said he asked her for the money to help him pay his mortgage. Maes said he didn’t ask Poundstone for help with his mortgage but for a campaign donation. Yet the donation in cash violated campaign finance limits, which restrict cash-donations to $100. The contribution also never showed up in campaign finance filings, which Maes said was due to an accounting error that he can’t for now resolve because the “treasurer who operated with us then hasn’t been with us now for about eight months.”
Poundstone has challenged Maes to take a lie-detector test. It’s unclear what she means in the ad when she says Maes “deceived my friends and myself about his conservative principles.”
Former Republican Congressman Tancredo is running for governor as the American Constitution party candidate. He has mocked Republican efforts to win the governor’s office this year as amateurish and hopeless. He has called on Maes to step out of the race. Maes is a political novice who has been caught repeatedly fudging his resume and who was found guilty of campaign finance violations already once and fined during his run for office.
Tancredo has also maneuvered to push aside Maes with similarly frustrated Republican party notables, including state party chairman Dick Wadhams.
Meantime, a Denver District court judge is set to rule today on a Republican challenge to Tancredo’s eligibility to run. The complaint argues Tancredo had not been registered with the American Constitution Party long enough to receive the party’s nomination.
Comments are closed.