George Soros wants to buy a district attorney in Jefferson County. At the end of September, he penned a check for $100,000 for just that purpose. And the downright deceitful mailers he is running against current DA Pete Weir prove he’ll say anything to get his money’s worth.
To put Soros $100,000 into perspective, Weir and his opponent Jacob Lilly have raised a little under $70,000 in contributions. Combined.
Now, I’m a longtime free speech advocate when it comes to elections and it would be astoundingly hypocritical of me to lament Soros for spending whatever he wishes on campaign activities. The sky-is-falling because there is “too much money” in politics crowd lack perspective in my opinion. In fact, as a country we will spend nearly twice as much on Halloween the week before the election than we will on every election across the country put together. But that is an issue for another day and another column.
Soros’ spending spree got my attention instead because of the pure nastiness of his mailers and because the accusations contained therein run diametrically opposite to what I know about Weir. Over the past 20 years, I’ve helped run many campaigns, advised organizations on campaign finance and election law, run for office, and been the target of vicious attack mailers myself. With the exception of one or two political ads, I’ve never been as taken aback as I was by Soros’ ads against Weir.
The dark, grainy mailers attempt to tie Weir as closely as possible to sex offenders and child predators. One literally claims, in bold font, that “WOMEN & CHILDREN AREN’T SAFE from sexual violence WITH PETE WEIR as district attorney.” Another states that he has gone easy on pedophiles.
Soros is banking on a Pavlovian offense by tying Weir’s name to the most vile and revolting crimes anyone can commit. He hopes that most voters will not get past the initial shock and disgust the mailers are meant to ingrain by doing their own research on the validity of these absurd claims.
Now, I have known Weir for years and I support his campaign. So I did the research. And there simply aren’t enough puppets in the world to give the appropriate number of Pinnochios to these mailers.
First, the very “sources” cited by the mailers only quote Weir supporting judicial discretion in punishment — which may be lenient or severe, but is the presiding judge’s choice based on the case facts — and stating that “significant consequences should be imposed on” a repeat sex offender who violated his probation.
But my research didn’t stop there. I actually looked into Weir’s record as district attorney because I know that he has been an innovator in the office, implementing award-winning programs and specialty courts, including those for veterans and those for drug offenders. And the record speaks for itself.
Under Weir’s guidance, his district attorney’s office became the first in the state to empower a unit specifically tasked to track down, arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate anyone involved in child sex trafficking. Not only that, but his office helped draft new state statutes to combat the epidemic. And since he started that program, his office has convicted more than 900 individuals putting our children at risk.
Against Weir’s record, Soros’s mailers are not just lies, but damn lies.
Pete Weir made Jefferson County and Colorado safer from sex offenders and child predators. That is a simple fact. And while I don’t have Soros’s checkbook to combat his free speech, I have this column. And I have just less than a month to knock on every door I can to expose his lies.
