AURORA | The seemingly random, unmistakable grin of GOP Gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton plastered to a traffic pole in Aurora, may not be so random at all.
“MISSING,” the flyer reads over Stapleton’s tux-clad mug, “ State Treasurer Walker Stapleton.”
The flyer goes on to list familiar Democratic criticisms of Stapleton, who have been posting ‘milk-carton’ photos of Stapleton’s empty parking space at the state Capitol for weeks now to paint Stapleton as a negligent treasurer.
The Colorado Democratic Party posted the flyers, but don’t expect to see Stapleton smiling out at you from just any Aurora street corner.
“We were very strategic in our placement of the flyers,” said Eric Walker, a spokesman for the Colorado Dems. Walker wouldn’t say if the flyers were anywhere else around Aurora, and emphasized “strategic” placement when asked if the flyer had specifically been posted near Sentinel offices.
Stapleton’s campaign did not immediately respond with a comment – which is precisely the point the Dems are trying to make by canvassing a lone Aurora streetlight, apparently hoping that a Sentinel reporter would stumble across it and partake in the online echo chamber.
Stapleton has gained a reputation at some media outfits as an opaque candidate, especially after reportedly running away from Westword editor Patty Calhoun during a would-be encounter last month.
Walker, the Dems spokesman, said he’d seen other reporters post photos with the flyers on social media. When asked if other metroplex newsrooms had been targeted with the flyer campaign, Walker doubled-down on “strategic placement of the flyers.”
He said it is also possible that other folks have put the flyers up.
The flyers are part of a Democratic effort to paint Stapleton as an absentee treasurer and general loafer who hasn’t showed up to work in three weeks. Stapleton has reportedly missed over half of meetings related to pensions for teachers, state troopers, and other retired public servants.
Stapleton’s rebukes to Democratic opponent Jared Polis have also centered on the latter’s missed votes in Congress.
In a three month period this year, @jaredpolis missed one third of votes in Congress because he was too busy buying his next political office. He claims these votes were not important. #copolitics pic.twitter.com/7TMlWX0CiE
— Walker Stapleton (@WalkerStapleton) September 5, 2018
There’s little hope that the Dems, who appear to be looking for a friendly ear in Aurora, will retire this argument against the Stapleton campaign any time soon.
“The props are gonna get more elaborate,” Walker said.
— GRANT STRINGER, Staff Writer
