With news of Rep. Tom DeLay‘s indictment in every paper and on every 24-hour news report, Congressman Bob Beauprez was sitting there like a wounded duck, wrapped in the $20,000 he had received from the Texas congressman.
Colorado’s Democratic Party cocked its gun, and fired off a news release slamming … Joel Hefley and Marilyn Musgrave?
The release, titled “Colorado Republicans: Rubber Stamps for Tom DeLay,” was written to tar Republicans for cozying up to the beleaguered DeLay, indicted in connection with his political fundraising. It spotlighted Reps. Hefley and Musgrave, saying they had voted with DeLay 86 and 93 percent of the time, respectively.
It failed to mention Beauprez, who earlier this year has been identified by one liberal group as the second most closely linked House member to DeLay.
And it just so happens that Beauprez is running for governor. Isn’t he the one guy the Democrats should have singled out?
“I don’t know why we didn’t mention Bob Beauprez, come to think of it,” said Pat Waak, chair of the state Democratic Party, whose name was on the release. She said they had just gotten those fresh figures on Hefley and Musgrave, and wanted to get them out.
As for Hefley, he is one of the few heroes in the DeLay saga, serving as chairman when the House Ethics Committee reprimanded DeLay three times. DeLay, in fact, bumped Hefley from his spot. They’re hardly chums.
Getting out the vote
Off-year elections, such as this upcoming one, typically don’t draw a crowd. In 2003, as more counties adopted mail-in balloting, about 35 percent of the state’s 2.8 million registered voters turned in ballots. That was about double the percentage from 2001.
So, with more than 1,000 civic and business groups now supporting Referendums C and D, the key to success for those initiatives will be marshalling those troops and getting out the vote.
But whose vaunted get-out-the- vote program will the bipartisan coalition use? Both Republicans and Democrats are fiercely proud of their election efforts.
“We have an amalgamation,” said Katy Atkinson, GOP consultant and spokeswoman for Vote Yes on C & D. “We’re taking the best of both of those plans.”
Her biggest challenge, however, is tailoring a specific plan for almost every county in Colorado, since they all handle the election their own way. Some are mail ballots only, others are strictly polling places, and some have a combination of both.
And then there’s Pueblo. The city is having the statewide election Nov. 1, like everyone else, then asking voters to participate in a mail-in election a week later for city council seats and charter amendments.
The city charter calls for elections to be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November. The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights requires elections for financial issues to be held on the first Tuesday of the month.
Vote first, sue later
Speaking of Ref C, if it passes, TABOR author Douglas Bruce says he’ll file suit, alleging the state can’t rewrite TABOR by statute.
“You can’t change the Constitution without a constitutional amendment,” he said. He’ll file a suit, but says he has “no faith in our corrupt judiciary.”
Stem cells sidelined
After sailing through the House this past spring, Rep. Diana DeGette‘s stem-cell research bill is now tied up in the Senate. Don’t expect to see action on it soon.
Two Supreme Court nominations have effectively tied the Senate in knots since its August recess, plus there’s a slew of appropriations bills and another energy bill likely ahead of the stem-cell bill.
Activists are growing frustrated as scientists await the go-ahead, but the chief Senate sponsor, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will be busy for at least the next six weeks with the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
Dan Haley (dhaley@denverpost.com) is a member of The Post’s editorial board.
