August 14, 2024 |
Photo – Mailers not authorized by candidates – By Matt Copeland Bigfoot99
You may have received a political mailer apparently addressed from a Carbon County Commissioner this week. The primary election is this coming Tuesday. Three such mailers arrived at the radio station in Saratoga this week. The incumbent Carbon County commissioners featured in the mailers deny sending them, and they are not happy.
The mailers were not cheap. They feature full-color photographs of the candidates and are printed on heavy, high-stock paper. The print copy is typical of any political advertising sent in the mail—generic phrases campaign. You may have received one and thrown it away as people often do with unsolicited junk mail.
The mailer supports Carbon County commissioner candidates Sue Jones, John Espy, and Garrett Irene. All three commissioners are running for reelection this year. The mailers were sent by the Colorado-based political action committee Western Way Action.
In a written statement to Bigfoot99, Commission Chairwoman Sue Jones said she and commissioners Espy and Irene were not involved in the creation of the campaign mailers in any way.
Jones said Denver-based Western Way Action PAC used photographs from the social media pages of the three candidates without permission and added its own generic political slogans to the flyers.
Jones writes that sending out last-minute mailers can potentially give the candidates an unfair advantage in the upcoming primary election. The commission chairwoman reiterated that all three candidates deny having anything to do with the flyers. They spent no money on their creation.
Commissioner Garrett Irene called Bigfoot99 reporter Matt Copeland to personally deny any involvement with the mailers.
According to the Federal Election Commission, the Western Way Action PAC was formed on July 25th of this year in Denver. Repeated attempts to contact the PAC via the listed phone number and email address have been unsuccessful. Phone calls and emails went unanswered.
Bigfoot99’s reporter contacted the Federal Election Commission and was told that the state is responsible for handling issues with local elections.
Bigfoot99 then contacted the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Election Division. Reporter Matt Copeland was informed that a member of the press team would contact him. As of the reporting of this story, that hasn’t happened.
Bigfoot99 also reached out to Colorado Secretary of State Communications Director Jack Todd for a statement about the incident. We have not received a return call yet.
Carbon County Commission Chairwoman Jones said she denounced and condemned the unsolicited mailers. Jones said, “fairness is trampled by out-of-state dark money.”
