September 19, 2014 08:30 AM UTC

Pueblo Chieftain Smears "Bo" Ortiz for Political Revenge

• 2 Comments
• by: kwtree

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Poor Bo. He just can't catch a break from the Pueblo Chieftain.  To inform the public,  Gilbert "Bo" Ortiz voluntarily advised the Pueblo Chieftain about  faulty driver's licenses distributed by  a Colorado Revenue Department vendor, MorphoTrust. The state IDs and licenses were supposed to have a black band across the top, identifying those ineligible to vote, but 524 of these IDs were sent out without the flag. 

The Chieftain chose  to run the ID story on page one, next to a photo of Ortiz, with the banner headline, "Faulty ID Cards Issued", on September 16, 2014. . The teaser subheading on the online edition read, "No concern for voter fraud." Who issued the faulty IDs? Who is unconcerned about voter fraud?  Judging by his photo under the headline, a reasonable reader would infer: Gilbert "Bo" Ortiz.

The Chieftain is endorsing Ortiz' opponent, Victor Head, in the County Clerk race.  In their endorsement, the editor notes:

We also worry that Mr. Ortiz’s vociferous defense and promotion of extensive mail-in balloting has opened the door for increasing voter fraud here.

There has been no evidence of impersonation voter fraud in Colorado in the last ten years, and very little evidence of non-citizens voting. This didn't stop the Chieftain from "worrying" about voter fraud, and it hasn't stopped  the  usual suspects from beating the drums about possible voter fraud by illegal immigrants. Voter fraud has been proven to be a nonexistent problem in Colorado, in spite of the best efforts of Secretary of State Gessler.  Ortiz has also instituted a pilot program for a voter to be able to track his/her own ballot from the time it is mailed, to the time it is received in the election office, a program which the Chieftain wrote about 8/7/14. The program was instituted in response to concerns about election fraud via mail-in ballots.

In the last paragraph of page 2, hidden by the paywall for online readers, Ortiz is quoted: “All the data on the cards is accurate, so anyone trying to use them for voter registration will immediately be flagged by the state database as ineligible."

So to recap:

An out of state contractor to the Colorado Department of Revenue, Morphotrust, screwed up by sending out 524 incorrectly tagged  IDs and licenses to non-voters.  There is no possibility of the license holders ever voting in a Colorado election, as the statewide database would catch them and flag them as ineligible. If a "bad ID" holder somehow managed to vote, it would be a "provisional" vote, which would not count if the voter was not a citizen.

Morphotrust is attempting to clean up its own mess, and it has nothing to do with Pueblo voters, or with Clerk Ortiz. This is a Colorado Department of Revenue story, not a Pueblo news story. Morphotrust is not a vendor for either the electoral or motor vehicle divisions of Pueblo County.Morphotrust is investigating, and taking responsibility to retrieve the IDs.

The Denver Post ran an unbiased story about the Morphotrust driver's license error, together with factual information about how Morphotrust plans to retrieve the bad licenses. The Department of Revenue spokesperson, Daria Serna, is correctly quoted, and there is no photo nor mention of Bo Ortiz.

The Chieftain instead chose to run the story the way that they did, with the net effect of connecting Bo Ortiz  with driver's license and voter fraud, even though there is no factual link between Ortiz' office and the bad IDs. Bo did the Chieftain a favor, in alerting them to a story of civic importance. Few will read the entire story. It is the picture which will linger in the minds of readers, and that's the way the Chieftain wanted it.

Why would the Chieftain smear Bo Ortiz this way? A. It's an election year. B.  Ortiz's opponent, Victor Head, endorsed by the Chieftain, is a Republican. C. Bo is a Democrat.  D. Bo has defended the rights of voters in the recall elections. The recalls were strongly backed by the managing editor of the Chieftain, Steve Henson. E. Bo also chose to issue marriage licenses to 40 same-sex couples in Pueblo, which Head opposed.  F. And, recently, Bo Ortiz sent a strongly worded op ed piece to the Chieftain, criticizing managing editor Steve Henson's coverage of the Commissioner Candidate Ready/ Sandy Hook truther story.

To say that the Chieftain's treatment of the Morphotrust ID story to smear Ortiz is unethical, is putting it mildly. Once again, the Pueblo Chieftain has shown why it is not a trustworthy source of political news in Pueblo.

UPDATE: September 23, 2014 On I25 Talk Radio, Clark Vickey's "On Target" show, Victor Head admitted that he never even had to interview to get an endorsement from the Chieftain. The Chieftain's editorial board apparently came to the decision to endorse a 28 year old plumber with no elected office experience as a candidate for County Clerk and Recorder, by just "worrying" about potential voter fraud.

The Clerk and Recorder is responsible for recording deeds, registering automobiles, issuing marriage licenses, registering voters, administering elections and maintaining records for the Board. The Clerk and Recorder's Office is made up of several divisions, which includes Motor Vehicle, Elections, Recording, Liquor Licensing and Clerk to the Board.

But hey, surely Victor "Everyone Loves" Head  has shown the maturity and judgement to handle all of these bureaucratic responsibilities.

There is no way that this is a considered political endorsement. It is purely political payback, and the Chieftain's editorial board should be ashamed.