Democrats are trying to use the turmoil at the Jefferson County school board against four Republican state Senate candidates, launching a TV ad Thursday .
The 30-second spot from the Democratic Senate Campaign Fund — backed by a paltry media buy on cable channels — starts by comparing the school board to North Korea and Soviet Russia for what Democrats call “censorship.” Itap a reference to in promoting patriotism in the Advanced Placement U.S. History curriculum, rather than civil disobedience — a move that sparked student and parent protests.
The board but the broader curriculum review will go forward.
Titled “They Embarrassed Us,” the ad ties school board member Julie Williams to Republican candidates Tim Neville, Tony Sanchez, Laura Woods and Larry Queen. The kicker: “Letap stop Julie Williams radical agenda before it spreads to the state Senate.”
Williams is , her brother-in-law. And Neville, Sanchez and Woods are connected to the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, a conservative political group that backed their campaigns in the June Republican primaries. But the ad makes leaps that Williams is “behind” the campaigns in ways it doesn’t justify.
Andrew Short, the executive director for the group, which is part of the Colorado Democratic Party, said it is putting $40,000 behind the ad on cable channels to target the state Senate races in Jefferson County. Short hopes to add to the ad buy in coming days. Republicans said media tracking data shows just a $26,000 buy in advertising time.
