Markey hits back at Musgrave accusations with new attack ad

Congressional candidate Betsy Markey: Campaign PhotoFourth Congressional District Democratic nominee Betsy Markey, after a week and a half of being put on the defensive by incumbent U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's attack ads, hit back Tuesday with an attack ad of her own.

"They say the only things you can count on are death and taxes -- add Marilyn Musgrave's lies," begins Markey's new ad, which is airing on broadcast television.

Musgrave's campaign answered with a point-by-point response to Markey's ad.

The ad answers a television ad released about 10 days earlier by Musgrave questioning whether Markey used her former position as a U.S. Senate staffer to enrich her company through no-bid government contracts.

Markey's new ad cites a CBS4 report stating Musgrave's ad offered "no evidence" for a "highly misleading" charge.

Markey's ad then takes aim at Musgrave, asserting the Fort Morgan Republican "voted to let lobbyists wine and dine her and took $14,000 in pay raises."

The "wine and dine" phrase referred to votes Musgrave cast on two House bills: against a motion to recommit for the Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act, and for an earmarking reform resolution.

Musgrave's campaign responded that while Musgrave voted "no" on the motion to recommit the Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act, she voted "yes" on final passage.

The ad then repeats an earlier claim by the Markey campaign that Musgrave is co-sponsoring a bill that would save her coin-collecting husband thousands in capital gains taxes.

The ad concludes by stating that according to a Fort Morgan Times article, Musgrave "was named one of the most corrupt in Congress."

The 527 group Defenders of Wildlife made the same corruption reference in an anti-Musgrave ad earlier this year; media analyses of that ad found that allegation to be false.