**Update–Former U.S. Senator Hank Brown has withdrawn his endorsement based on today’s news about discrepancies over Dan Maes’ record as a police officer in Kansas more than 25 years ago.
Next, a poll that revealed that all of Colorado’s gubernatorial candidates–John Hickenlooper (D), Dan Maes (R), and Tom Tancredo (ACP)–were losing ground to undecideds, with 25 percent of Coloradans dissatisfied with the current field.
Now comes the revelation that Maes embellished his record as a police officer in the 1980s, even as he dismissed the posting on his website as a “nonissue”:
A statement he wrote on his campaign website that was later removed said: ‘At one point in my 2 years there I was place [sic] undercover by the Kansas Bureau of Investigations [sic] to gather information inside a bookmaking ring that was also allegedly selling drugs. I got too close to some significant people in the community who were involved in these activities and abruptly was dismissed from my position. I was blindsided and stunned to say the least.’
Maes was asked about the statement that he was placed undercover after law enforcement sources in Kansas disputed the claim in interviews with The Denver Post.
‘Some people are probably taking that a little too literally,’ he said. ‘I was a city police officer providing information to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.’
Both liberal Kansas police personnel and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation dispute Maes’ recollection of his service, denying that the interdepartmental collaboration ever occurred. According to the Post, the personnel record cannot be accessed through open records requests, and the GOP candidate has not given permission for that file to be released.
While Maes has earned endorsements from prominent Republicans since his primary night victory on August 10, he has been defiant to repeated requests to step down, including an offer from Tancredo that proposed that both men exit the race in favor of a replacement Republican candidate to be selected by the state GOP’s vacancy committee.
The Republican nominee has faced numerous questions about his suitability for office due to campaign missteps, from incurring substantial campaign finance-related fines, alleging a United Nations link to a Denver bike-sharing program, calling for layoffs of thousands of state employees, and showing little understanding of Colorado and national water law.
The Republican Governors Association has reputedly abandoned Colorado in favor of assisting competitive races elsewhere.