I am ecstatic that my state, Colorado, went blue this past November. What a refreshing change! Unfortunately for me (and my sanity), in November my district was a disgusting shade of red.
Our longtime state representative Democrat Bernie Buescher lost in a close upset to Republican Laura Bradford. Fortunately, Bernie's talents will not go to waste. Governor Ritter selected Buescher to replace outgoing SOS Republican Mike Coffman; who has somehow managed to fail upwards.
Given that the GOP does not hold the majority in the legislature (thank you Boulder and Denver), they have been reduced to pulling their usual lame stunts. The Republicans in Colorado are pathetic, as is the general rule of Republicans.
Examples of their numerous recent fails include:
using the state seal for unauthorized purposes for the second year in a row
Windsor businessman Ray Walter (a House district 49 hopeful) proudly displays as a background image the Colorado state seal, complete with "the eye of God with rays" and "a bundle of sticks with an ax blade projecting." The problem?
"Illegal use of the seal is a class 5 felony (CRS 24-80-902)"
alleged vote buying
A panel of three Democratic legislators and two Republicans will decide whether further investigation is warranted into vote-buying allegations against GOP Rep. David Balmer.
May's complaint alleges Balmer may have coordinated with a lobbyist to offer campaign donations and a future committee chairmanship to another legislator in exchange for supporting Balmer in his race for minority leader.
showing off their clairvoyant abilities
Democrats are jokingly referring to Republicans' rebuttal of Gov. Bill Ritter's state of the state speech as a "prebuttal." That's because it was taped before the Democratic governor delivered his address at 11 this morning.
The video starts out saying "Republican response to Gov. Bill Ritter's state of the state speech."
hanging out with the dead
Larimer County Republican activists picked state Rep. Kevin Lundberg to fill a vacant Senate seat Saturday, in the process displaying internal divisions over the party's future.
A Republican selection committee from that district, made up of Republican executive committee members from Weld and Larimer counties or their designees, will fill that vacancy.
The group will meet at 10 a.m. Jan. 17 at Allnutt Funeral Home, 650 W. Drake Road in Fort Collins.
The latest example of Colorado Republican FAIL involves my representative, the aforementioned Laura Bradford (R-Collbran).
Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, parks in space 146 on the Capitol's north side. He said he can barely get his Ford F150 in his space, thanks to Rep. Laura Bradford, R-Mesa County.
Bradford, he said, has parking issues.
"She crossed the line," he joked.
"He needs a smaller car," she fired back.
Bradford said if she moved her "small" SUV over , which is what Cadman wants, she'd be infringing on Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry's space.
Not going to happen: Penry also hails from Mesa County and helped Bradford knock off Democratic Rep. Bernie Buescher.
I have a feeling this session is going to be fun!