Posted: October 25, 2022
In case you missed it, political outsider, successful business leader, and Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Joe O'Dea's campaign recently sent two Cease & Desist letters over two false and intentionally misleading TV ads from Michael Bennet's campaign and his allies. The letters were sent to the station managers at TV stations in Denver demanding they pull these false ads.These ads deliberately attempt to mislead Colorado voters about Joe O’Dea’s position on abortion in a variety of ways.“You have the responsibility to exercise independent judgment to not only protect the American marketplace of ideas, essential to the health of our democracy, but also to avoid willful or negligent defamation of private persons. Such obligations should not be taken lightly,” wrote O’Dea campaign attorney John Zakhem. “Based on the documentation provided, and given the errors and misstatements of fact and Sen. Bennet’s apparently deliberate attempt to mislead viewers, [Local TV Station] should not hesitate to take down such a stunningly false and deceptive attack. The O’Dea campaign and Joe O’Dea are prepared to pursue all available legal remedies under state and federal law in the event compliance with this demand is not evidenced by the close of business tomorrow.”"Michael Bennet's entire campaign is a fraud," said Zack Roday, O'Dea campaign manager. "On issue after issue Michael Bennet and money allies distort or outright lie about Joe. This is what desperate politicians do when their power is threatened, they deliberately lie to the voters.”Background:Several of the provably false claims addressed in the Everytown Ad Cease and Desist letter include: “Voted for a measure to ban abortion” [Everytown Ad: MAGA (Colorado)]As reported by The Colorado Sun’s Jesse Paul in his article U.S. Senate candidate Joe O’Dea believes abortions should be legal through 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions after, O’Dea believes abortion should be “legal through 20 weeks of pregnancy, after which the procedure should be allowed only in cases of rape and incest or when a mother’s life is at risk”. As any reasonable person would extrapolate from the above statement, O’Dea supports the right to access abortion and supports exceptions in the case of rape or incest. In fact, O’Dea further explained: “Before viability, in that first 20 weeks, there should be a law that protects the right of women to make the decision for herself — and she shouldn’t have to travel across state lines to do it” (Paul). Furthermore, although O’Dea did sign a petition and vote for an unsuccessful ballot proposition to limit late-term abortion in 2020, the ballot proposition in question would only limit access after 5 and a half months of gestation. Again, this was not a statewide ban.“Could help MAGA Republicans pass a national abortion ban” [Everytown Ad: MAGA (Colorado)]There is no evidence that would suggest that O’Dea has in the past or will in the future vote or take other actions to pass a national abortion ban. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Nicholas Riccardi of AP News, reports, “O’Dea has spoken publicly about his support for abortion rights…he backs a ban on late-term abortions and government funding of abortions. But, he said, the decision to terminate a pregnancy in the initial months is ‘between a person and their God.’” Riccardi continues in the same article entitled In Colorado, a GOP rarity: An abortion rights candidate, “If O’Dea were to be elected, he would join Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski as the only Republican senators who publicly support Roe v. Wade” (Riccardi). In addition, O’Dea has publicly denounced a bill presented by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham that would have banned abortion nationally telling Nick Coltrain from The Denver Post, published in an article entitled, Colorado Republican Joe O’Dea responds to new federal abortion ban proposal, that O’Dea think a ban goes too far stating, “Congress should pass a bill protecting a woman’s right to choose early in pregnancy, whether a woman lives in Mississippi or Massachusetts, and there should be sensible limits on non-medically necessary late term abortion and parental notification for minors. I don’t support Senator Graham’s bill.” (Coltrain). Furthermore, O’Dea was quoted in Fox News, Aubrie Spady’s article, Several GOP Senate candidates reveal they do not support 15-week federal abortion limits: “If Washington, D.C., were half as interested in addressing inflation, reducing the debt, and securing the border as they are waging partisan fights over abortion, the American people would be better off.” O’Dea criticizes both Democrats and Republicans alike for allowing the abortion debate to overshadow what O’Dea considers more pressing issues impacting the nation. Several of the provably false claims addressed in the Michael Bennet Ad Cease and Desist letter include: "I know Joe O'Dea is against the law that protects abortion access in Colorado” [Bennet Ad: Horrifying]
“Joe O'Dea has no right to tell me what to do with my body. We cannot go back." [Bennet Ad: Horrifying]Whereas it is true that Joe O’Dea has in the past and presently supports measures that limit elective, non-emergency late term abortion; this is in no way tantamount to O’Dea supporting a total ban on all abortions. During the GOP Primary, O’Dea was attacked by an undisclosed group opposed to be O’Dea’s candidacy for being “pro-choice.” This completely contradicts the Commercial which asserts O’Dea would enable a nationwide abortion ban.O’Dea specifically supported Proposition 115, which was introduced to the Colorado ballot in 2020. This measure would have limited late term abortion after 22-weeks. Opposing the Reproductive Health Equity Act (HB22-1279) because it authorizes late term abortion does not constitute opposition to the law that protects a woman’s right to choose. A woman’s right to choose is protected by a more responsible statute that has been on the books for decades.“Joe O’Dea would give Mitch McConnell the majority he needs to ban abortion nationwide” [Bennet Ad: Horrifying]First, as we demonstrated, O’Dea has stated repeatedly he would oppose a federal abortion ban. Nick Coltrain from The Denver Post published an article entitled, Colorado Republican Joe O’Dea responds to new federal abortion ban proposal, which reported that O’Dea think a ban goes too far stating “America wants balance on the abortion issue, not a forever cold war between the far left and the far right...Congress should pass a bill protecting a woman’s right to chooseearly in pregnancy, whether a woman lives in Mississippi or Massachusetts, and there should be sensible limits on non-medically necessary late term abortion and parental notification for minors. I don’t support Senator Graham’s bill” (Coltrain). O’Dea’s innumerable public statements on this matter should lead any reasonable person to doubt the Commercial’s assertion that O’Dea’s mere membership in the Senate Republican caucus could enable a nationwide abortion ban. Nonetheless, that is precisely what this Commercial brazenly argues.Secondly, what the Commercial neglects to mention is that U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated the majority of the Senate Republican caucus supports keeping abortion regulated at the state level as reported in New Day by CNN (New Day). There is no way O’Dea’s presence as the 51st Republican in the Senate (or 50th under a future Republican administration) could possibly facilitate a nationwide abortion ban, given the widespread opposition to the policy within the Senate Republican caucus. The Commercial’s assertion to the contrary is a willful lie divorced from all logic and reason.The statements in the Commercial grossly mischaracterize Joe O’Dea’s position on abortion and related voting patterns. Accordingly, this must be taken off the airwaves as it is a violation of Colorado statute.
Learn more about Joe O’Dea’s campaign here.
Original source can be found here.
