“THE DENVER POST ED BOARD COULD SMACK SANDERS”
by Sharon Rondeau
(Oct. 21, 2016) — An email released by WikiLeaks on Friday suggests a working relationship between Hillary Clinton supporters and the editorial board of The Denver Post during the presidential primaries earlier this year.
The email is part of a batch designated as #14 by Wikileaks on Friday morning. The organization has been releasing emails exchanged with or sent by Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, a longtime Democrat operative who was president Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff.
Dated February 23, 2016, the email exchange was responding to an advertisement aired by then-Clinton opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders. By that time, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley had suspended his campaign, leaving just Sanders and Clinton in the primary contests.
The referenced ad depicted Sanders as rejecting all hydraulic fracturing to produce energy, a position Clinton aides described as “extreme” among each other as they strategized as to whether or not to issue a response.
In a message sent at 4:07 p.m., Clinton strategist Bradley Komar observed of Sanders’ ad, titled “Frack,” “The Denver Post Editorial Board could really smack him for this. This is tricky waters for caucus goers but his language may leave him vulnerable.”
A later message sent at 6:09 p.m. to Kristina Costa, with Podesta and others copied in, stated, “I think the Denver Post Ed Board could smack Sanders if we want them to but that makes it a bigger fight.”
Two paragraphs later, Komar asked his colleagues, referring to Colorado Rep. Jared Polis and a Colorado environmental group, “So should I line up validators in Polis and local LCV while holding off on the Denver Post Ed Board until Sanders engages?”
The Post & Email did not locate a piece by the Editorial Board about Sanders and fracking during that time period.
On Thursday night, WikiLeaks tweeted that “there is no US election,” citing “rigging” of the media, the primary process, and the consolidation of political power in “pied piper” fashion.