BOULDER, Colo.—Congressional candidate Jared Polis began a town hall meeting Wednesday to discuss his trip to Iraq by taking issue with an attack from a rival Democrat.
Joan Fitz-Gerald, who is running against Polis for Rep. Mark Udall’s seat, questioned why Polis accepted contributions from former supporters of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The criticism Tuesday came just as Polis returned from Iraq.
“I say, ‘How dare they,'” Polis told the crowd of about 100, calling the attack “hypocritical.”
Polis did not deny taking more than $6,000 from five people who also gave to the Swift Boat group that attacked John Kerry in the 2004 presidential campaign, but said, “My vote is not for sale.”
He said after the meeting that “even many conservatives are fed up” with the war in Iraq, leading to a change of heart. If that is the case with the five people in question, Polis said, he was “happy” to have their support.
He added, “I did a lot more to support John Kerry than Joan Fitz-Gerald did.”
His comment followed a second day of criticism from the Fitz-Gerald campaign.
“The simple fact remains that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth elected George Bush to a second term to continue the war,” vice president of Colorado Veterans for America, Jim Hudson, said in a release from the Fitz-Gerald campaign.
Polis faced a largely friendly audience Wednesday that clapped at suggestions—by Polis and others—that American troops should leave Iraq. No one in the group questioned him on the contributions.
Polis had just returned from an Iraq he found to be dysfunctional, and he said the American effort there only serves to worsen the situation.
He refuted claims that the latest troop “surge” had been a success.
“The surge was a tactical success, but a strategic failure” because it isolated Baghdad neighborhoods from one another, he said.
Fitz-Gerald recently stepped down from her post as president of the state Senate to campaign for the seat held by Udall, who is running for Senate.
Polis is a billionaire high-tech entrepreneur and former member of the state Board of Education.
Will Shafroth, another Democrat vying for the 2nd Congressional District seat, is executive director of the Colorado Conservation Trust.
