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Last week, The Denver Post called on former Congressman Scott McInnis to step out of the governor’s race following an investigation that raised questions about plagiarism.
If McInnis had (and he hasn’t), Republicans would have been left with one legitimate candidate on the ballot: businessman Dan Maes. Now, the Post is scrutinizing him.
While Maes has claimed his business prowess as a strength, his income has fallen below the federal poverty level for a family of four at least twice in the past five years.
Maes—who has been starting his own business, Amaesing Credit Solutions, in recent years—says he earned just $11,000 in 2008 because of problems in the mortgage industry. Asked how he and his family, including his stay-at-home wife, make ends meet, Maes says there “are other ways to pay yourself than salary,” but he does not elaborate.
In an editorial entitled “Governor? Maes has no business,” the Post explains why it won’t endorse him in the GOP primary. While McInnis and Democratic candidate John Hickenlooper have publicly released information from their tax records, Maes has declined. (Data from the returns was released to a potentially friendly website, The Consitutionalist Today, but the Post could not otherwise verify that information.)
The Post writes that Maes may be “a small-business owner struggling to get his start” and there’s “nothing wrong with that” since “the entrepreneurial drive is part of the fabric of our state.” But Maes, who apparently has overstated his biz acumen, nonetheless “strikes us as someone without a reasonable grasp of the mechanics of state government.”