As a trial lawyer, @JasonCrowCO6 cashed in while veterans got ripped off, defending a corporate executive who stole millions from a veterans’ hospital. pic.twitter.com/Cpq6et9lKZ

— Congressional Leadership Fund (@CLFSuperPAC) September 10, 2018

This is the second of similar attack ads against Democrat Jason Crow, who’s challenging incumbent Republican Mike Coffman for the 6th Congressional District seat. The Congressional Leadership Fund has launched numerous ads like this against Democrats across the country.

This video repeats accusations from the previous ad that Crow was somehow responsible for the national VA scandal over wait times for treatment, and the Aurora VA hospital cost overruns. The ad also repeats allegations that Crow was frequently absent from meetings of a state veterans affairs advisory board. The ad raises new allegations of Crow, a lawyer, defending a Texas veteran accused of stealing from the Veterans Administration.

Allegation 1: Jason Crow turned his back on veterans during the VA scandal.

This is a repeated allegation that as a member of the Colorado Board of Veterans Affairs Crow was negligent in working to resolve the national VA Scandal and problems with the Aurora VA hospital being obscenely over budget. In reality, this board frequently worked to compel Congress to improve health care for all veterans. It also lobbied for Congress to exert control over the out-of-control Aurora VA hospital project. The state VA board was only advisor in nature, and all of its advisory positions focused on the benefit of veterans.

Verdict: False.

Allegation 2: Jason Crow didn’t show up for work while on the Colorado Board of Veteran Affairs

Crow served on the Colorado Board of Veteran Affairs from 2009 through 2014, where he missed 35 percent of 51 board meetings held during that time. Those numbers were calculated by Channel 9 News. The Crow campaign provided attendance numbers that show out of 47 meetings he was excused from 14 meetings and absent from three meetings.

Minutes from that time could not be provided to media by the state, but were obtainable through the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Crow campaign.

Channel 9 News points out that another board member missed eight of 41 meetings, another missed five and a third missed three of 42 meetings.One board member missed eight of 41 meetings (20 percent)

Ralph Bozella, who chaired the board for much of Crow’s tenure, said in a statement that the ad is “politics at its worst” and that Crow was “indispensable member of the Colorado Board of Veterans Affairs.”

Verdict: Based in fact

Allegation 3: Crow ignored the mismanagement of the Aurora VA hospital, costing taxpayers nearly two billion dollars

The problems of the VA on a systematic, national scale are well documented. Crow, a member of the Colorado Board of Veteran Affairs, would have been limited in his ability to dictate what was happening with the VA hospital construction or planning. He was therefore unable to control the cost nor the timeframe in which it was built. The board he sat on was meant to be an advisory board to Gov. John Hickenlooper.

The problems with the VA were not indicative of the time that Crow spent on the board.

Verdict: False

Allegation 4: Crow defended a corporate executive who stole $2 million from veterans

The ad uses the case U.S.A. v Saunders. The case involved a business owner, himself a veteran, who defrauded the VA for about $200,000 in a host of fraudulent billings by falsely declaring to be a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, according to the indictment. Jason Crow was employed by Holland and Hart, a national law firm, and was assigned as legal counsel to Saunders for what appears to be 13 days, from March 6, 2013 to March 19, 2013, according to the court docket. The Texas lawyer for the remainder of the case was John R. Disrud starting March 19, 2013. The case took years to resolve, with no further involvement from Crow. Court records show Crow made no court appearances on Saunders’ behalf during those 13 days.

Saunders did not steal $2 million, according to court records. The allegation was for intent, because that was the value of the contract. He was convicted of stealing approximately $200,000. Saunders was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution and serve 1 year and 1 day in prison.

The allegation of that ad is that Crow worked to defend someone who stole from veterans. There is no evidence Crow did anything but get assigned the case as a lawyer for a national law firm for a matter of days. Technically, he could have actively defended Saunders, but there is no proof he did, nor did the veteran actually steal $2 million.

Verdict: Misleading

THE BOTTOM LINE: Like the first similar ad, the video seeks to discredit Crow’s allegiance to veterans and is wildly untruthful. While there are legitimate questions raised about Crow’s attendance numbers, they have no bearing on allegations made in the ad. Like the previous ad, it’s wrong to say this board had any power or influence over catastrophic malfeasance of the national Veterans Affairs department and system. If anything, it was Congress that failed veterans through the VA system. What the ad fails to mention is that Crow is himself an Army Ranger veteran, and has a record of supporting issues that benefit all veterans.

In addition, the ad tries to mislead voters by erroneously tying Crow to a perpetrator of fraud. The ad paints an unrealistic and inaccurate picture of Crow regarding veterans issues.

Compiled by Sentinel Colorado staffers Dylan Roberts and Kara Mason