Rep. Jim Welker, the Loveland lawmaker prominent for sending out racially charged e-mails and little else, has outlived his usefulness in the House.
When Larimer County Republicans gather Saturday for their county assembly, they ought to find a worthy candidate to run for Welker’s House District 51 seat. With about twice as many Republicans as Democrats in that district, it shouldn’t be hard to find energetic candidates with a requisite sense for proper conduct.
Welker’s current bout of shameful behavior – forwarding an e-mail questioning the morals of black victims of Hurricane Katrina – resulted in an apology on the floor of the House.
The episode showed he hadn’t learned anything since then-House Speaker Lola Spradley admonished Welker in 2003 after she received a complaint about an e-mail missive that questioned why gays and lesbians were allowed to work with children and the elderly since homosexual activities could lead to massive outbreaks of diseases.
Now the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce wants to see records of and interview employees at Welker’s Universal Communications Co. It’s part of the committee’s probe into “data broker” websites that “acquire and sell consumers’ personal cellphone records and other personal data, without the knowledge or consent of the owners of those cellphone numbers,” according to the committee.
In 2002, the state Court of Appeals ruled the company violated the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act after it was sued by the Colorado Attorney General’s office for illegally capturing phone numbers for debt collectors.
Ironically, Welker’s biggest success this session came when Gov. Bill Owens signed his bill to make it harder for people to obtain someone’s Social Security number for use in identity theft.
That’s better than last session when his most prominent moment was alleging that same-sex marriage would one day lead to interspecies marriages.
(Once he’s out of the legislature, Welker can send e-mails about women marrying their canine pals to anyone he’d like.)
Welker apparently has told some Republican associates that he’s thinking about stepping aside rather than running for re-election. Some in his party would like to see just that, fearing that Welker will be targeted by Democrats. Republicans want to take back control of the House and say they don’t need another money-draining race to be concerned about.
But if Welker does choose to run again, Larimer County Republicans would be wise to join the Democrats in putting up a challenger.
