HiddenMysteries: GOP Mafia - Lamborn the Hitman - Attacks GOPpers that Question his Ethics (as if a GOP could have any!)

Jonathan and Ann Bartha's letter to the editor of The Woodmen Edition

GOP MAFIA eats the Sheeple Foolish Enough to be RepubliKons and tries to smother their expose with Khristian Puke.

Editor,

We are conservative Republicans and believe in the individual freedoms granted to us by our Founding Fathers. However, there are moral limits that caring individuals can embrace without sacrificing the value of personal fiscal responsibility.

Recently, we have discovered that earlier this year 5th District Congressman Doug Lamborn accepted a $1,000 campaign contribution from International Game Technology PAC. IGT is one of the largest manufacturers of gambling equipment in the world. Last summer, Congressman Lamborn also accepted a $500 campaign contribution from the operator of Bronco Billy's casino of Cripple Creek.

As a congressman who ran of a platform of fiscal responsibility and traditional family values, we're hard pressed to understand why he has accepted money from an industry that tears at the social fabric of our country.

Congressman Lamborn also showed a lack of discretion earlier this legislative session when he voted against Sen. Wayne Allard's (R-Colo.) bill to stiffen penalties against the practice of dog fighting. (He was the only member of the Colorado delegation to do so.) This bill passed by an overwhelming margin and has been signed into law by President Bush.

Evidence of assertions in our letter:

$1,000 IGT contribution (http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_give/2007_H6CO05159)

$400 contribution from Marc Murphy of Bronco Billy's Casino (http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_ind/C00420745/)

Title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to strengthen prohibitions against animal fighting, and for other purposes. (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00137:@@X)
Jonathan and Ann Bartha

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Doug Lamborn's letter to Greg Garcia, chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party
By The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 08/31/2007 07:44:45 PM MDT

An Open Letter for Chairman Greg Garcia to Republicans of El Paso County:

An unfortunate incident has just occurred that calls for your immediate attention as soon as you return to town from vacation. I want to set the record straight with good people in the Republican Party without waiting for your return, however.

It's wonderful that you have recently stated, both to the Gazette in an interview dated August 16, and in an open letter to the citizens of five area counties dated August 8, that "Our party will no longer tolerate false or misleading statements or innuendos." Your timing is perfect.

In a letter to the editor published in the August 24, 2007 Woodmen Edition, Ann Bartha, an Bonus Member, and her husband Jonathan stated that I had accepted a campaign contribution from the PAC for a company that manufactures gambling equipment (International Game Technology).

This is completely false.

My Federal Election Commission filing for that quarter showing all PAC contributions is attached for your review. In addition, in a few moments you or anyone else on their own can access FEC filings with a few easy clicks, including individual contributions, other time periods, etc.

A simple review of my FEC filing shows that I have NEVER accepted a contribution from this company, or any similar company. In fact, my opposition to gambling is well known throughout my legislative career. I was the one who sued the State of Colorado when Powerball was first introduced in an attempt to stop it. To try to say otherwise about my record is a misrepresentation, especially by using a falsehood that says I accepted a contribution I never did. (In the same letter, the Barthas say I received a contribution in 2006 from a Cripple Creek casino employee without revealing that I later returned it, which is also misleading.)

You go on to say, Greg, in both your newspaper interview and your press release, that you will set up an investigative process to get to the bottom of allegedly false statements, in addition to possible punishment. This applies, you say, to candidates, their campaigns, and their supporters. This undoubtedly refers to Ann Bartha because she was a paid political operative of Mr. Jeff Crank in the last election, and presumably is still his supporter.

Greg, I stand by to assist you however I can as you set up an appropriate investigative process, and contemplate an appropriate punishment. Also, because you require in the newspaper interview "that candidates disavow any statements that are made by their campaigns or supporters and are found to be untrue," we should all call upon Mr. Crank to denounce the false statements of the Barthas.

I don't see how there could be a more clear case of making a "false or misleading statements" — when someone says an elected official accepted a campaign contribution which he actually did not. This is especially so when it is done with an apparent intent to impugn the elected official's judgment and integrity.

It's good to try to be reconciled with people wherever possible. That's why I attempted to contact the Barthas before making this statement to my friends in the local Republican Party. However, I got no response. This kind of personal reaching out can be quite helpful — had the Barthas bothered to ask us before publishing their accusations they would have learned that we were indeed sent a check by this company, but that due to our objections to gambling we sent it right back and did not even deposit it.

In conclusion, Greg, I'm glad that you intend to hold candidates, their campaigns, and their supporters to "a high standard of integrity." I'm confident that you would agree with me that falsely stating someone has accepted a contribution they really did not fails the "high standard of integrity" test.

Thanks for your attention to this serious matter. I'm so glad you want to keep local elections clean and positive. You have just been given a golden opportunity to show us exactly how you intend to do that.

Yours truly,

Doug Lamborn

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Doug Lamborn's voice messages to Jonathan and Anna Bartha
By The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 09/01/2007 05:52:52 PM MDT

The following is a text of two voice messages that Rep. Doug Lamborn left on the home telephone of Jonathan and Anna Bartha.

FIRST MESSAGE: "Hello, this is Doug Lamborn calling for either Jonathan or Anna. Something very serious has happened. There was a letter to the editor that you both put in your names to the editor of the Woodmen Edition and there is something that is blatantly false in that letter.

"I would like to get together with you and show this to you and appeal to you as a brother and sister in Christ. You didn't give me that opportunity but I am happy to overlook that and deal with you on that level because I think that is the right thing to do and show you where you made a blatant, wrong statement.

"Now there are consequences to this kind of thing, but I would like to work with you in a way that is best for everyone here concerned. So please call me at your earliest convenience. It is now 2:40 (p.m.) on Saturday afternoon.

SECOND MESSAGE: "Hello, this is Doug Lamborn again, I'm finishing up my message from a moment ago. I got cut off. It is critical that you get back to me as soon as possible on this because I'll be going back to Washington here in a few days and I have to make sure that this is resolved one way or another. And like I said I'd rather resolve this on a Scriptural level but if you are unwilling to do that I will be forced to take other steps, which I would rather not have to do. So please call me. This is essential. Call me by tonight, Saturday night and we can get together sometime Sunday afternoon."

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Lamborn message has couple in dismay
By Erin Emery

Colorado Springs - Rep. Doug Lamborn left two voice mails at the home of a couple who questioned his acceptance of campaign contributions from the gambling industry, saying there would be "consequences" if the couple did not respond.

Jonathan and Anna Bartha wrote a letter printed in the Aug. 24 Woodmen Edition, a community newspaper.

The couple raised concerns about Lamborn's receipt of $1,000 from International Game Technology PAC and a $500 contribution last summer from Marc Murphy, an executive of Bronco Billy's Casino in Cripple Creek. IGT makes gambling equipment.

Jonathan Bartha, 34, is employed by Focus on the Family. His wife, a board member of Falcon School District 49, worked for two months as a scheduler for candidate Jeff Crank during a bitter, six-way Republican primary race for the 5th Congressional District seat.
In his messages, Lamborn said he wanted to appeal to the couple as "brothers and sisters in Christ" and implored them to call him back to discuss their "blatantly false" letter.

"We felt very threatened and intimidated, and quite frankly, scared," Anna Bartha said. "It was just not anything we would ever anticipate an elected official would pursue or a way that an elected official would conduct himself."

When asked whether his messages were threatening, Lamborn said: "No, that is ridiculous. My hope, I failed, but I had hoped to meet with them privately and confidentially because lying is a serious matter. "

When asked what he meant when he said there would be "consequences," Lamborn said: "When someone tells a lie, it just has bad consequences."

Three days after leaving the messages on the Barthas' voice mail, Lam born wrote an open letter to Greg Garcia, chair of the El Paso County Republicans, asking him to investigate.

In an open letter to the party on Aug. 8, Garcia said the local party would not tolerate false or misleading statements in campaigns.

"That's a lot of what I'm thinking of when I talk about 'there are consequences,' because Greg Garcia had said earlier that there is going to be a punishment if people tell lies in the course of a campaign," Lamborn said.

As a private citizen, Bartha has the right to question an elected official's actions.

Federal records show that Lamborn received a $1,000 check Jan. 30, 2007, from the IGT PAC. Records also show receipt of $500 from Murphy last summer.

Lamborn said he has returned both contributions, but he could not say when that was done.

Nancy Brown, a spokeswoman for Jones Vargas, a law firm in Reno, Nev., that represents IGT, said the company's PAC sent a $1,000 contribution to Lamborn in January. She said Lamborn returned the check, although she could not provide the date of the return.

Federal records do not show that the check was returned.

Murphy could not be reached for comment.

http://www.denverpost.com

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"That's a lot of what I'm thinking of when I talk about 'there are consequences,' because Greg Garcia had said earlier that there is going to be a punishment if people tell lies in the course of a campaign," Lamborn said.

Why didn't Lamborn punish Bush and Rove and Cheney and Rice for their LIES?

He's a HYPOCRITTER!

GOP Mafia - Lamborn the Hitman - Attacks GOPpers that Question his Ethics (as if a GOP could have any!)

Sunday, September 02 2007 @ 12:42 PM CDT