June 01, 2012 09:05 PM UTC

Lamborn Campaign Banking Badmouth May Be Illegal

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• by: Colorado Pols

In every election cycle we all hear and read about paid advertisements that activists on both sides of aisle claim are illegal because they go too far in stretching the truth. Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn is in the midst of a surprisingly-difficult Primary battle with Colorado Springs businessman Robert Blaha, and he may have violated a law in one of his ads that we haven’t heard of before.

As The Colorado Springs Independent:

on May 18, the law firm of Stinson Morrison Hecker sent a letter to Lamborn, on behalf of the bank, demanding that the congressman pull all ads that make claims about its client.

“We understand you have claimed that Integrity Bank ‘is currently rated below average by the widely cited BankRate.com,'” the letter reads. “This assertion about Integrity Bank & Trust is simply false.”…

…The letter continues by demanding that the false information be taken down from Lamborn’s website, as “its continuing appearance there poses a threat to the public’s sense of confidence in the bank.”

And just for some added incentive, the letter points to a Sec. 11-102-508 of Colorado Revised Statute, which makes it a class 2 misdemeanor to make false and damaging statements about a state bank (who knew?) [Pols emphasis].

The Independent kindly supplied the wording in the statute:

Any person who willfully makes, circulates, or transmits to another any false statement, written or oral, that is directly or by inference derogatory to the financial condition of any state bank and that results in an extraordinary withdrawal of funds from such bank or that results in impairing public confidence in such bank and any person who shall counsel, aid, procure, or induce another to start, transmit, or circulate any such statement knowing the statement to be false commits a class 2 misdemeanor and shall be punished as provided in section 18-1.3-501, C.R.S.

All you legal Polsters out there, what say you? Is there a real claim to be made here?