Former state Senate president Joan Fitz-Gerald was on the offensive again Tuesday as U.S. House opponent Jared Polis flew home from spending Thanksgiving week in the Middle East.
Fitz-Gerald, who had accused the fellow Democrat of visiting Iraq as a campaign stunt, lashed out at him for taking money from people who also donated to a group that torpedoed Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.
Polis, former chairman of the state school board, accepted five donations totaling $6,350 from donors who also gave to Swift Vets and POWs for Truth.
“How does Jared reconcile accepting money from people who not only support the war in Iraq, but did everything they could to destroy John Kerry’s honorable record?” asked Mary Alice Mandarich, Fitz-Gerald’s campaign manager.
Polis campaign manager Wanda James countered that Fitz-Gerald’s campaign looks more and more like “a front for the oil and gas industry.” She said Fitz-Gerald has taken more than $24,000 from Xcel Energy employees.
“The Polis campaign could demand that she return her oil and gas money, but these kind of political ploys are characteristic of her cynical approach to politics,” James said.
Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, formerly Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, spent $20.4 million criticizing Kerry’s Vietnam record during his 2004 presidential campaign. Kerry commanded a Swift boat in the Navy.
Fitz-Gerald’s campaign called on Polis to return “tainted donations” from Alex Meruelo of California, Alex Cranberg of Denver, Lee Beaman of Nashville, Tenn., William Fickling Jr. of Macon, Ga., and Arthur Gray Jr. of Haverhill, N.H., all of whom donated to the Swift boat effort.
Mandarich said accepting those donations is the latest in a a series of Polis blunders.
“Now he goes to Iraq to stop the war, but is funding his campaign from people who are perpetuating it,” Mandarich said. “Jared can’t have it both ways.”
The third Democrat in the race for the 2nd Congressional District seat, Boulder conservationist Will Shafroth, also took a jab at Polis.
“It’s a shame any Democrat would raise money from Swiftboaters,” said Shafroth campaign manager Lynea Hansen, adding that Shafroth is a “serious” Democrat “focused on ending the war in Iraq.”
The race to replace U.S. Rep. Mark Udall is becoming one of roughest — and most expensive — in the nation.
Fitz-Gerald and Polis have raised more money than any other candidate in the country vying for an open House seat, according to a new analysis from Congressional Quarterly. Shaf roth ranked fifth nationwide in dollars raised among all candidates for an open House seat.
Staff writer Christa Marshall contributed to this report.
