Rep. Marsha Looper’s campaign touched off a potential battle Wednesday afternoon by sending a cease-and-desist letter to radio station KVOR in Colorado Springs, in an attempt to pull a political ad off the air that she says is full of lies.

Looper, R-Calhan, is locked in a contentious primary campaign with House Majority Leader Amy Stephens, R-Monument, and the cease-and-desist order is the latest in a long line of political moves in the race.

The radio ad, paid for by Colorado Liberty Alliance, targets Looper over a bill she sponsored in 2008 that was designed to streamline the federal visa program for immigrant seasonal workers. According to the letter, the ad asserts that the bill created an amnesty program for illegal immigrants and is “factually false.”

Patrick Davis, the registered agent for Colorado Liberty Alliance, said he stands behind the ad and will fight to keep it on the air.

And though Looper’s campaign claimed in a news release that KVOR had pulled the ad immediately Wednesday, the station broadcast it Thursday morning.

“We reviewed everything, and all the information they provided us, and we are still running the ad,” said Kent Hildebrand, the market manager of KVOR’s parent company, Cumulus media.

The cease-and-desist letter claims that the ad is “blatantly false, misleading and deceptive.” The ad, according to the letter, splices two separate recording clips from Looper to create the quote: “By having an agent in Mexico … start recruiting workers for us now.”

The letter contends that the two lines were taken from a hearing that included hours of testimony, but Davis said in an email that the quote was taken from an interview on Colorado Public Radio in 2008.

The letter demands that KVOR stop airing the ad and not let its affiliates run it. It cites two legal precedents and warns KVOR that if it doesn’t pull the ad, it could be held legally responsible for the ad’s alleged misinformation.

“It’s a shame that Stephens’ supporters would try to deceive voters,” Looper said in a news release. “It is clear that Stephens and her supporters will stop at nothing to win.”Stephens’ campaign consultant Dustin Olson said they had no connection to CLA or the ad.

Davis said lawyers for CLA have begun discussing the letter, which he was told about Wednesday afternoon.

“This is a free speech issue. We have a right to run advertisements that are factual, that are accurate. Groups like ours can’t have our ads pulled off the air easily,” Davis said.

Looper’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

CLA has also paid for political mailers that have infuriated the Looper campaign, but those were not included in the cease-and-desist letter. The mailer claims that Looper “green-lighted illegal immigration.”

CLA is a nonprofit 501(c)4 that was created in January to combat Looper, Davis said. He said that he created the group after being approached by several people who oppose Looper, but he declined to disclose his financial backers.

Rep. Marsha Looper (Republican) from El Paso County. Photo by JERILEE BENNETT, THE GAZETTE FILE