Watch VideoMay: I was drafted to run for D.A.
Story By: Mark Hanrahan
Source: KOAA
Published Fri May 16, 2008, 09:24 PM MDT
Updated Wed May 28, 2008, 07:01 AM MDT
In front of a crowd of supporters, Dan May announced Friday morning that he’ll run against 4th Judicial District Attorney John Newsome in the upcoming August primary. May told members of the media and his supporters that he was “drafted” to run against Newsome. May says, “I didn’t anticipate being where I am, here today.”
May says he was prompted to run by his colleagues and citizens following our News First 5/30 hidden camera investigation that showed Newsome drinking roughly 130 ounces of beer over the course of 5 hours and then driving his county owned vehicle.
Newsome later told the Colorado Springs Gazette that he wasn’t impaired.
May says, “When situations came up here recently I got called and I got a lot of calls and it was unexpected, it was sudden, it wasn’t something I was anticipating doing.” He went on to say those calls urging him to run came from both inside and outside of the District Attorney’s office and that many were from within the El Paso County Republican Party.
“I’m concerned about public trust; I do not way to be here, I feel I need to be here because these are important issue for our community to debate.”
District Attorney Newsome wasn’t available for an on-camera interview Friday, but told News First over the phone, “This is not unexpected and everyone has the right to seize political opportunities.”
Newsome’s critics, however, say May’s candidacy is not about politics. Will Bain, a former prosecutor for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s office says, “When I left the morale in that office was as low as it had ever been in my time serving there.”
At Friday’s press conference he and former prosecutor David Webster announced they’ll work as co-chairs of May’s campaign. They’re two of the 45 attorneys who’ve left the District Attorney’s office since Newsome took over in 2004. Bain says, “My departure from the office had absolutely nothing to do with money.”
On the issue of high turnover in the office, Newsome told News First, “Morale, I think is much improved as is attrition. I think morale in our office is fairly high.”
In order to get his name on the August 12th primary ballot, May must collect one-thousand signatures by the end of this month. Since he and Newsome are both republicans and no democrat is running the winner of the primary will run unopposed.
