Betsy Markey wants to set the record straight and expose Marilyn Musgrave’s lies.

Marilyn Musgrave is running TV ads that lie about Betsy Markey's record as a successful business woman.  Our "Lie Detector" will look at each individual lie and give you the truth!

If you hear or see more lies from Marilyn Musgrave please lets us know by emailing info@Markeyforcongress.com

 Read the facts. Know the truth!

Fiction:

“Betsy Markey actually got rich on non-competitive Halliburton style contracts,”

Truth:

News outlets have completely discredited this claim.  In truth, the vast majority of contracts awarded to Syscom Systems, the small business that Betsy and her husband Jim built from their basement up, were won in an open, competitive bidding process. 

The CBS4 Reality Check actually noted:  “This claim is highly misleading. First, it implies that Markey's family-owned company, Syscom Systems-which sells data processing equipment, benefitted from the kind of alleged cronyism associated with Halliburton during the Iraq war. Yet, the Musgrave campaign offers nothing more than innuendo to support this contention.”
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Fiction:

 “"if Betsy Markey used her congressional job to more then double her companies contracts what will she do as you Congresswoman"

 “We already know Betsy Markey’s family business doubled its government contracts after she landed a Senate job.”

Truth:

The truth is that Betsy Markey’s position working as a regional director for Senator Salazar based in Fort Collins had no effect on the contracts that Syscom received from the federal government.  Press accounts agree that Syscom saw no significant spike in government contract work between 2005 and 2007, the years that Betsy worked for Salazar.

In fact, the Fort Collins Coloradoan wrote: “Although Syscom's federal contracts were higher in 2005-2007 than in the 2002-2004 period cited by the Musgrave campaign, they were similar to federal awards the company received in 2000 and 2001, years before Salazar was elected to the Senate.  Other companies providing similar services to Syscom - server-based fax systems - also saw similar increases in federal contracts in the 2005-2007 time frame cited by Musgrave.”
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Fiction:

 “Now scandal: according to the Senate Ethics Committee, Markey’s company could not accept government contracts while she worked for the Senate

“But records prove Markey violated ethics rules…”

Truth:

There was no ruling from the Senate Ethics Committee that said that Syscom could not receive government contracts while Betsy Markey worked for Senator Salazar.  This is a completely fabricated claim by the Musgrave campaign.  In fact, the Senate Ethics Committee ruled that Markey could continue on as a part owner of Syscom, but Betsy decided to divest her share in the company to her husband to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.  Records actually show that Markey went above and beyond what was required of her and that it was Betsy herself who approached the Ethics Committee for a ruling.  Furthermore, a spokesperson for the General Services Administration (GSA) told reporters that there was absolutely no proof of any wrongdoing on Markey’s part in the federal contract rewarding process.

The Fort Collins Coloradoan noted: “Salazar sought guidance from the Senate Ethics Committee in September 2005, and was told about three weeks later that Markey’s ownership of Syscom didn’t violate Senate rules. Markey said she wanted to err on the side of caution and turned over her majority ownership to her husband shortly after the ethics ruling.” 
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Fiction:

“Millionaire Markey, the ultimate Washington insider.”

Truth:

False. In fact Betsy Markey actually earns less than Marilyn Musgrave.

Additionally, in her role as a congressional staffer for Ken Salazar, Betsy Markey was based in Ft Collins in CO. Marilyn Musgrave has been in Washington for 6 years.

Fiction:

“…and has lied to the government and us regarding the ownership of her business.”

Truth:

The bottom line: Betsy Markey completely divested her ownership of Syscom Services to her husband on November 1, 2005.  Records show this to be true and news outlets have reported that the Musgrave campaign’s libelous claim reported above is false.

The Loveland Connection recently reported: “Democratic congressional candidate Betsy Markey owned 51.4 percent of her family's business from Nov. 15, 1997, until Nov. 1, 2005, when she turned over her ownership stake to her husband, according to documents reviewed by the Coloradoan.
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Fiction:

“Millionaire Markey: caught in corruption and scandal.”

Truth:

There is no evidence of any wrongdoing by Betsy Markey.

To prove it, we will continue to present the facts.
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