Republican congressional candidate Bentley Rayburn lashed out at opponent Jeff Crank Wednesday for what he said was a political dirty trick.
On a recording that popped up on YouTube, Rayburn, who is running against Crank and incumbent Rep. Doug Lamborn in the 5th Congressional District, implies that if he is lagging in the contest, he will drop out.
“If I am the weakest guy, I am not going to be the guy responsible for getting Doug Lamborn re-elected,” said Rayburn, a retired Air Force Major General who was legally taped without his knowledge ( In Colorado, only one party must consent to taping a conversation).
Rayburn said he was referring to the congressional race two years ago, where he, Crank and three other candidates split up the vote, giving Lamborn a win with only 27 percent of voters backing him. Rayburn said he believes he was taped during a conversation with Crank or one of his supporters more than a year ago. However, he said he is “appalled” someone would tape a private conversation.
“It is strange and disturbing that someone running for Congress would have these kind of ethical standards,” Rayburn said.”Even if (Crank) says he doesn’t know who did it, he is the leader and he ought to know.”
Additionally, Rayburn denies he is the weakest link, even though a recent poll shows him trailing Crank by double digits. The two candidates commissioned the poll with the understanding that if either was more than 4 percentage points ahead, the other candidate would drop out.
Errors by the polling company led Rayburn to disavow its results.
Alan Philp, the campaign manager for Crank, said they didn’t put the tape up on YouTube and could not vouch for where it came from. “It is consistent, however, with what Bentley has said for the past year,” Philp said.
