Joel Hefley was one of the first victims of the Republican House Leadership's "
Power over Ethics" platform.
We are seeing the logical conclusion of the decision to cling desperately to power and defend the unethical acts of your peers at all costs - even when they are breaking the law and preying on minors.
The people don't like it. And there are even some Republicans who won't play along. Joel Hefley, the retired congressman from Colorado's conservative Fifth District, is one of them.
After Joel held Tom DeLay accountable one too many times for his sleazy behaviour Hefley was fired from the Ethics Committee. DeLay even attempted to change the rules to save his hide. It didn't work. DeLay still had to retire and is now awaiting trial on various fraud and corruption charges - and probably just being a greasy scumbag, too.
This also led to Joel Hefley's disgust with DC and the decision to retire from office. That led to a nasty six-way primary won by the most sleazy politician of the Republican bunch, Dishonest Doug Lamborn.
The Dems also had a strong candidate in Jay Fawcett, a military vet of the highest order, and a guy who won't take crap from anyone, especially another pipsqueak, phony Christian Republican.
And now all this is coming back to bite the Republican party here in Colorado. The Fawcett campaign ran with the support of those many disgusted Republicans and put an ad in the local Springs Indy saying who, what and when were deserting their party. Hefley got caught unawares again, and wanted to make sure no one thought he would endorse a Demcorat.
God James Dobson Forbid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So Hefley added one more vicous twist to the wounded Doug Lamborn and recommended a "No Vote" in the CD-5 race for Republicans who can't find a candidate to their liking. Heh.
It's too little, too late to help Doug. The CD-5 race is over. But Joel Hefley has made one last decision in his political career, and he's made his last political act a premeditated slam on his party and their nominee. It came full circle for Joel Hefley as a Republican who claimed "ethics" as an issue.
Payback is a bitch.