The man at the center of the fight over redrawing state legislative districts found himself squarely in the fray again Thursday, as House Speaker Frank McNulty accused him of helping Democrats “railroad” Republicans.
“You failed in your most important task: to oversee and chair a fair and open process,” McNulty said in a letter to Mario Carrera, chairman of the Colorado Reapportionment Commission and its lone unaffiliated member.
McNulty’s accusation came the same day the head of the state Republican Party partially defended Carrera against some GOP attacks.
Carrera has faced blistering criticism from Republicans since voting Tuesday with Democrats on the commission to approve new state House and Senate district maps.
Republicans complained they were told different deadlines for submitting maps than Democrats, and when they tried to submit new ones Monday and Tuesday, Democrats, backed by Carrera, shut them down. Carrera and Democrats said Republicans didn’t have different deadlines but just didn’t understand them.
McNulty said Carrera could have allowed more time for Republicans to respond to Democratic maps, since the deadline for sending them to the Colorado Supreme Court is not until Tuesday.
But Carrera said it was ironic for McNulty to criticize, saying the speaker had failed to get an agreement on new congressional-district lines, resulting in a court case.
“This (legislative reapportionment) is a very hard process, and people don’t like to lose,” Carrera said. “I’m sorry — somebody has to lose in this process.
“How dare he (McNulty) say anything? Tell me that he has a moral high horse to stand on. I really doubt it.”
Carrera was appointed to the commission by Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Bender, but that was after he was recommended by Ryan Call, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. Call also recommended Jeff Campos, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver, and Peter Blake, a former Rocky Mountain News columnist, as unaffiliateds.
“I felt very comfortable in recommending him (Carrera),” Call said. “Up until the last few days, I really do think the chairman, Mario Carrera, has done a fine job of allowing both sides to have a fair shot at it.”
But Call rejected an accusation made by Mario Nicolais, a Republican on the commission, that Carrera was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“I disagree with that characterization,” Call said. “I don’t think that is either accurate or, frankly, very helpful.”
He said, though, that Carrera had allowed the commission’s process to be “hijacked and abused.”
Staff writer Lynn Bartels contributed to this story.
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
