Bob Schaffer’s campaign is dead. It probably already was, what with a probable imbalance in D-R turnout this November (favoring the D’s), but now it’s really dead. Schaffer was already linked with FCI inmate number 27593-112, but now he’s linked with 27593-112 in a sleazy, slushy Congressional “fact finding” junket sort of way. Here’s the story out of the Denver Post. In 1999 Schaffer went on a vacation work trip that was partly paid for by the now-untouchable Jack Abramoff. The politically active upshot is this:
it links [Schaffer] to what Abramoff later boasted was an incredibly successful lobbying effort to quash reform by cashing in on ties to key House Republicans, including those on the House Resources Committee, on which Schaffer sat.
The Schaffer campaign and R repeaters will spin this 8 ways to Sunday but the hard reality is this:
“Given that many Republican members, including Tom DeLay, Bob Ney and Conrad Burns, have lost their seat or gone to prison based on their association with this criminal, it’s pretty remarkable that Schaffer seems to be proud of his association with these sleazy Abramoff-sponsored junkets,” said Taylor West, a spokeswoman for Schaffer’s Democratic opponent, Mark Udall.
It might take months to see this through, and the impact of this might not be readily apparent even through November, but it will be there. Bob Schaffer is done.
