November 02, 2018 02:53 PM UTC

Hopefully They Kept Their Receipts

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE (3:49 pm): That didn’t take long. Here’s what happens now when you go to the URL below:

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We were recently alerted to digital ad that has been running in the last week in Jefferson County promoting the seven Republican candidates on the ballot for county government races. It is…not good.

This digital ad cycles through seven similar images that all point to the same website. The ads are promoting JeffersonCountyUnited.com, which doesn’t actually work as a standalone link but does work if you include a slash and a candidate’s name at the end, like so:

jeffersoncountyunited.com/tina-francone/

Now, the problem with this ad — aside from its grade-school production value and the silly qualifications listed for the candidates — is that it misidentifies 5 of the 7 people it is meant to promote.

Faye Griffin is running for re-election as Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder, but is identified as a candidate for Jefferson County Commissioner (this error is easier to forgive, since it is hard to keep track of which office Griffin is seeking in a given year).

Jeff Shrader is running for re-election as Sheriff — which should be obvious from the SHERIFF’S UNIFORM he is wearing — but is identified as a second candidate seeking the office of Jefferson County Assessor. Brian Cassidy appears earlier as a candidate for Assessor.

*Also, Bob Hennessy apparently has both “Public Sector Experience” and “Private Sector Experience.” This is a less egregious error but hilarious nevertheless. 

We looked up the domain name registration for JeffersonCountyUnited.com. The site is owned by Rearden Strategic, the consulting firm founded by Joe Neville (son of State Sen. Tim Neville and brother of House Minority Leader Pat Neville).

It isn’t common for political strategy firms to offer refunds to their clients, but in this case, that might be a good idea.