Rocky continued pattern of omitting political affiliation of Republicans accused of wrongdoing

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

The Rocky Mountain News reported on November 14 that newly elected Centennial councilwoman Betty Ann Habig “will not be prosecuted on allegations that she distributed false information during her campaign,” but it failed to identify Habig as a Republican official. As Colorado Media Matters has pointed out, the News repeatedly has omitted the party affiliation of Republicans accused of wrongdoing, despite identifying as Democrats officials facing legal or ethical questions.

In a November 14 article reporting that a “newly elected Centennial city councilwoman will not be prosecuted on allegations that she distributed false information during her campaign,” the Rocky Mountain News failed to identify the councilwoman, Betty Ann Habig, as a Republican, despite having reported her political party affiliation in previous articles on topics unrelated to the allegations.

As Colorado Media Matters has documented, (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), the News repeatedly has failed to identify as Republican elected officials accused of wrongdoing, while including the party affiliation for local Democratic officials who were facing legal or ethical inquiries.

According to the News article, by Ivan Moreno, a Centennial resident “filed a complaint with the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office” accusing Habig of using campaign mailings to misinform voters about city expenditures. The News reported:

The complaint against Betty Ann Habig stemmed from campaign postcards in which she stated that the city had spent $75,000 to survey residents about how they felt about the council's performance.

Habig also stated that the city manager's total compensation had increased in the past two years from $168,700 to $262,000.

[...]

“From our vantage point, they were not true,” Sherry Patten, a Centennial spokeswoman, said about the figures Habig used. “After we pointed out to her that they were not true, she took them off her mailings.”

Patten said the city manager's salary is actually $148,000 and the city spent $15,000 on the survey, not $75,000.

But Habig stands behind the figures she used, saying she got them from city contracts, the city budget, and City Council meetings.

The article also reported that “Kathleen Walsh, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office,” stated in an email that "[a]fter reviewing the case, the team of attorneys from the DA's Office decided that no criminal charges were warranted in the matter."

The News failed to identify Habig as a Republican, despite having noted her GOP affiliation in past coverage about topics unrelated to the allegations. On August 23, 2006, the News identified Habig as “Republican Betty Ann Habig, of Centennial” in an article about the dwindling number of elected Republican women in the state. The article further noted that Habig “lost her primary bid in House District 37 race to [state Rep.] Spencer Swalm.”

Furthermore, a November 25, 2006, News article about the failure of the “Republican Party's efforts to boost the number of women in the Colorado legislature” also reported Habig's GOP affiliation, noting that “Republican Betty Ann Habig is hoping to be appointed to a fill a vacancy that will occur when Republican Sen. Jim Dyer steps down to become an Arapahoe County commissioner.” Steve Ward (R-Littleton) replaced Dyer in December 2006.