Comcast pulled a controversial political commercial Thursday, one day after an attorney for Republican state Senate candidate Matt Knoedler demanded the cable provider do so.
A spokeswoman for Comcast said the company pulled the ad, which attacks Knoedler’s record on illegal immigration, pending further review.
Knoedler said he felt vindicated. “They knew what they were writing was a lie.”
The ad, funded by Democratic group Clear Peak Colorado, said Knoedler voted against House Bill 1023, which requires that the state verify most residents’ legal status before providing services.
Knoedler, of Lakewood, said he voted against the bill in the House because it was too weak, a criticism echoed by Gov. Bill Owens. After the bill was strengthened in the Senate, he said, he voted to support it.
Knoedler, a freshman state representative, is running against Democratic Sen. Betty Boyd of Lakewood in Jefferson County’s Senate District 21.
John Willard, a spokesman for Clear Peak Colorado, said his group decided Wednesday afternoon to pull the spot. They plan to replace it with a similar but “much more hard-hitting ad,” he said.
“We didn’t feel like we’d broken the law. We felt that the controversy surrounding the legal action obscured our real intent, which was to highlight Knoedler’s lack of leadership on immigration,” Willard said.
The new ad, he said, will begin airing today.
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-954-1633 or cfrates@denverpost.com.
