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May 16, 2016 07:25 PM UTC

BREAKING: Keyser Breaks Silence...Badly

  • 22 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Jon Keyser.
Jon Keyser.

After nearly two weeks since a scandal over forged petitions broke in Denver media, embattled Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jon Keyser gave an extended interview to the Denver Post’s John Frank that went up a short while ago:

The former state lawmaker blamed an employee hired by a canvassing firm connected to his campaign and suggested the issue will not hurt his once-promising bid because he collected more than enough voter signatures to qualify for the race.

“It appears, in fact, that some of those signatures were turned in in an improper manner and that’s a very, very serious thing,” Keyser said in an exclusive interview with The Denver Post two weeks after questions enveloped his campaign. “It’s an extremely serious allegation. I think that speaks to why I was very measured and very disciplined in talking about this.” [Pols emphasis]

By “very disciplined,” we assume he means repeating the words “I’m on the ballot” over and over again while claiming the whole business is a Democratic plot. Repeating those words thirteen times between the Thursday debate and his confrontation with Denver7 reporter Marshall Zelinger during a break has become by orders of magnitude Keyser’s biggest-ever press hit–far bigger than the original shock that he had initially missed the ballot before his court challenge got him restored.

Meanwhile, Zelinger reports today on increasing law enforcement activity on the case:

On Monday, investigators with multiple District Attorneys offices met to discuss complaints received from voters who said they did not sign petitions for Keyser.

Two voters contacted the 18th Judicial District in Arapahoe County to complain about their signatures being forged.

Denver7’s online list of petition signers has reportedly produced many more tips to that news station, as well as the independent contacts by voters who found their names on that list to the Arapahoe County District Attorney. Sources tell us that the Denver DA’s office is taking the lead in the active investigation into the Keyser campaign’s alleged petition fraud, working with the Jeffco and Arapahoe DAs. Speaking to the Colorado Statesman’s Ernest Luning Friday, Arapahoe County DA George Brauchler sounds pretty serious about prosecuting:

“It is illegal to forge a name on a nominating petition that is filed with the State of Colorado,” Bruachler told The Statesman. “Under Colorado law,” he said, citing C.R.S. 1-13-106, “any person who ‘forges any name of a person as a signor or witness to a petition or nomination paper’ commits the crime of forgery,” which is a Class 5 felony punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. In certain cases, he noted, the potential prison time could increase to six years.

“We consider forgery of candidate petitions to be a serious matter that we would diligently investigate if an instance of it occurring in this judicial district was brought to our attention, and we will prosecute those cases where there is sufficient evidence,” Brauchler continued. “We encourage any persons with knowledge of this or any other election offense occurring in the 18th Judicial District to report it to us. If it happened outside of this judicial district, we encourage citizens to report violations to the appropriate District Attorney’s office.”

Looks like that’s happening all over the place, folks. The political questions and now criminal investigations into whether Keyser qualified for the ballot due to fraud have effectively ended Keyser’s U.S. Senate bid, helped in no small part by his worst-case-scenario initial reaction to them. But even as Keyser finally admits after nearly two weeks that he indeed has a serious problem, albeit taking no responsibility for it, he defends the part of the story that might have done as much to off-put potential supporters as the petition fraud. It certainly helped made him the butt of nationwide jokes. Frank:

Asked why he invoked his 165-pound Great Dane, Duke, in an interview with a local TV reporter — a comment some found menacing — Keyser pushed back.

He said the reporter crossed a line by knocking on the door of his home to request an interview in the middle of the afternoon.

“Like any father, I was upset that my privacy was invaded at my house while I wasn’t there,” he said.

The problem with this, of course, is that it’s totally ridiculous. Marshall Zelinger has reported that his attempts to contact Keyser for days to get a response were fruitless–and that the address given by the campaign went to a rental mailbox. After trying the state GOP and other intermediaries without success, Zelinger did what any reporter on a hot story would do. He knocked on Keyser’s door.

That is not an invasion of privacy. That does not rise to the level of threatening a reporter with your dog. If you don’t agree, the thing we would suggest to ensure you are not likely to be contacted by a reporter is this simple.

Do not run for the United States Senate.

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22 thoughts on “BREAKING: Keyser Breaks Silence…Badly”

  2. Whatever things Keyser is, or isn't, no one is ever, ever gonna' accuse him of being "fast on his feet" …

    … maybe there's a school board, or town council, somewhere in Colorado that could use the services of a war hero with a really big dog?!?

  3. The thing everyone is forgetting is that rookies make rookie mistakes.  This kid is so green, I think the Colorado GOP "elders" that saw another Cory Gardner in him were smoking some green stuff the same color as this kid.

  4. Elusive Keyser finally talks. Late in the game, and frankly I don't see any remorse for the voters whose names and signatures were forged. I'm glad that District Attorney Brauchler confirmed, as I and others have said here, forgery is a felony and will be prosecuted depending on the conclusion of the investigation. I commend Progress Now Colorado and Marshall Zelinger for probing these petition signatures. Zelinger did exactly what any good and professional journalist would do when you can't get a response from Mr. Keyser, his campaign or petition collector, Clear Creek Strategies (Republican operatives Andy George and Michael Fortney). You go to the candidate's house and knock on the door. Keyser quit claiming you were victimized by Democrats and/or Zelinger.  You were victimized by Republicans George and Fortney who took your money and then subcontracted the petition work to a less than reputable firm for a cut rate price. Face facts!

    1. Black Diamond Outreach is "less than reputable?" Please do go on.

      And by go on, I mean, please provide one prior example that calls into question Black Diamond’s competence and/or integrity. Please be as specific as possible, and don’t turtle up and hide, because you did, in fact, lob the accusation.

    2. Crickets. Noted.

      You might not have a master’s degree in evasion (or international affairs, or anything else), but you’re pretty good at hiding behind a keyboard.

  5. So Mr. Keyser finally admits some of the signatures were forged. In the Denver Post article he said he waited to respond because he wanted to get his facts right. I'll take him at his word on that. Since he now has his facts straight that must mean he knows how many signatures were forged beyond the ten identified by Marshall Zelinger of 7News. Since he has his facts straight would he be so kind to tell us how many signatures were forged on his petitions in CD-1. Counting the ten found by Mr. Zelinger are there eleven or more additional forgeries in CD-1? If there are, Mr. Keyser did not legally qualify for the ballot. In that case, is he willing to end his senate campaign because he didn't have enough valid signatures? The news media should ask him those questions and since he now has all the facts, he can certainly answer them without hesitation. 

    1. On the proverbial other hand, r-36, it's not quite that simple.   A court still might find substantial compliance and leave him on.  Yes, he should step down, but I'm not sure the law forces him too.   Admittedly, Zapatero and I are both Bennet men, some have a vested interest in drawing this thing out.

      1. We await DA investigations, any charges, and even then, where the heck is the Secretary of State? Hands tied by the last sympathetic judge who was probably a Democrat who ordered Keyser on the ballot. That shoots a hole in Keyser's silly stories about being victimized by Democrats.

        1. As for the Secretary of State, I heard a report on CPR last night that indicated Secretary of State Williams stated that Mr. Keyser is on the ballot because he didn't have any prior knowledge about the forgeries. So I guess the new rule at the SOS' office is if a candidate doesn't have any knowledge about gathering illegal signatures then he is in substantial compliance regardless of whether he met the 1,500 signature requirement in each congressional district. Under the SOS' interpretation someone could turn in signatures in one congressional district totaling 1,505 but even if 300 were forged he or she would still be in compliance as long as they didn't know about the forgery.

          1. Keyser is on the ballot because he's been certified to be there – by a court order, no less – and it's too late to change the ballots.

            One of his fellow candidates could force his withdraw by challenging the signature count, but there's no proven harm unless he wins the primary. What are the chances of that?

      2. Forged signatures are invalid and can't be counted. The statutes require 1,500 valid signatures in each congressional district. The substantial compliance standard does not relieve a candidate from that requirement.

  6. So it looks like that Jon Keyser has gotten Buckley AFB to remove the link for his Bronze Star citation. When you click on the link now, you get a "Server Error ~ 404; file not found" message.

    Undoubtedly this is a vain attempt by Jon Keyser to cover the truth of his continued fabrication and sensationalizing of his military career, in order to sway gullible voters.

    Big Brother would be proud of him for that move.
    Maybe he should drop out of the race and get a job at the Ministry of Truth.

     

     

    2. Are you referring to the news story they had up?  If so. it's available here at the archive of all things web.  Jon Keyser Bronze Star, just to help the search engines 🙂

    1. Yea.. Look at his record. Keyser is the very definition of an "empty suit". Was the fact that he was recruited because he has no record to speak of supposed to scare Bennet? Keyser blames the "vast left wing conspiracy" for all of his woes, and as stated earlier, a Democrat judge rules in his favor for a place on the ballot? So much for "Mr. Big" Bennet and Soros, or did Soros forget to write the judge a check? As a matter of fact, Bennet is probably praying every night and twice on Sunday that Keyser DOES win the primary. At this point, could there possibly be an easier opponent for Bennet to go up against than Keyser? He's done all the dirty work for Bennet! If the CO GOP had any brains in its brain trust, they'd kick Keyser to the curb and start coalescing behind one of the other 3 guys. However, they are too stupid and self-righteous to figure that out.

  8. The signature gathering firm claims they have internal controls to avoid fraud. I wonder if they will be offering a refund to the Keyser campaign.

    1. JID, there is at least one shill for Black Diamond posting in this thread: pharris1882. You should address your question to pharris:

      Will Black Diamond be offering a refund to the Keyser campaign?

      Also, pharris, this is the kind of stuff I love to dig into – if there are any connections between Black Diamond's board and the boards of other shyster Republican polling / canvassing companies such as Sproul, Strategic Allied Consulting, etc., I will find those connections…after school is out for the summer.

      Unfortunately, this is the last we

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