The campaign of Rep. Betsy Markey (D-CO), a first-term Democrat from a Republican-leaning district, is firing back at her Republican opponent, state Rep. Cory Gardner, for attacking the wrong Markey in a recent ad.
As the ColoradoPols blog reports, a press release from the Markey campaign calls out an ad from Gardner, which accused Congresswoman Markey of voting for a budget — which she didn’t vote for. Indeed, the House roll call votes that are cited, if followed through, show that she voted no.
The truth: There was a Representative Markey who did vote yes — the more liberal Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA). Betsy Markey spokesman Ben Marter said in the statement: “I would point Rep. Gardner to a site on the ‘internet’ to research his claims a little better: www.google.com. If Rep. Gardner can’t figure out how this whole voting system works, how can he be trusted to actually read bills?”
Gardner spokeswoman Rachel Boxer gave TPM this comment: “Representative Markey can try to change the subject all she wants. But the fact remains that she has voted for Nancy Pelosi’s job-killing agenda 94% of the time, and within her first 50 days in Congress, Representative Markey recklessly spent a billion dollars an hour, approving $1.2 trillion in new spending.”
When asked a follow-up question of whether the Gardner campaign made an error in this latest ad, Boxer said she had to go, and invited me to send her follow-up questions via email. That email has been sent, but was not responded to immediately as of this posting.
Ed Markey put out his own statement: “As the other Markey in Congress, I’ve always admired and respected Betsy’s intelligence and political independence. The fact is, we don’t always vote the same way, and we don’t even look alike! I’m wondering whether all of the attacks Cory Gardner has levied against Betsy over the last several months were based on a fundamental confusion over exactly which Markey he is trying to attack.”
The ColoradoPols site also put together its own humorous guide to tell the difference between the two Markeys:
(1) Ed wears a tie; Betsy does not
(2) Betsy wears earrings; Ed does not
(3) Ed has big, bushy eyebrows; Betsy does not
(4) And if all else fails…Betsy is a woman; Ed is a man
Late Update: Boxer sent us a link to an updated version of the ad: “There is a plethora of bad votes to highlight, so it was easy to replace.”
