Sorry If You Were Not Offended By This

Here’s the good news for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez: Today is the last day of the month of August. The bad news? The last four weeks may have ended all hope he once had of being elected governor.

Beauprez has stuck his foot in his big mouth so many times that the press is now calling it a trend. For those of you scoring at home, that’s not good. Check out Mike Littwin of the Rocky Mountain News today:

The Bob Beauprez campaign is in the news again. And, as careful observers know by now, that can’t be a good thing for Bob Beauprez.  In fact, it’s downright appalling.

And you don’t have to quote me on that. You can quote Beauprez himself. It’s all there in the latest Beauprez apology, which we’ll get to in a moment.
First, though, we should reminisce about the good old days. I remember a time – gee, I think it was sometime after Mexican Time – when Beauprez’s worst problem was being called Both Ways Bob.

Now, people are starting to whisper – and I mean, even Republican people – that Beauprez is on the verge of becoming No Way Bob.

It may be too soon to say his campaign is imploding. It’s not to soon for volunteers to wear a hard hat when visiting headquarters.

The latest bad news for Beauprez came yesterday, when Colorado Media Matters reported Beauprez’s ridiculous comment that 70 percent of African-American women have abortions. The comment was picked up by news outlets around the state, forcing an apology from Beauprez yesterday afternoon. As Stuart Steers of the Rocky Mountain News reports:

Congressman Bob Beauprez outraged several black elected officials this week when he said 70 percent of pregnant African-American women have abortions. Beauprez, the Republican candidate for governor, made the comments in a radio interview on KCFR’s Colorado Matters program Monday.

“I’ve seen numbers as high as 70 percent, maybe even more, in the African-American community that I think is just appalling,” Beauprez told the station during a discussion of his position on abortion.
On Wednesday, Beauprez apologized. “I was wrong about the statistic I quoted in a recent interview,” he said in a statement. “I apologize to the African-American community and anyone else who was offended. I should have verified the statistic before repeating it.”

What is it with politicians and the line “I apologize to anyone who was offended?” Does that mean that if you weren’t offended, then he isn’t sorry?

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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter is embarking on a “Final Four” tour this weekend. Ritter pledged early in his campaign to personally visit all 64 counties in Colorado, and he’ll visit the last four this weekend: Costilla, Crowley, Gilpin and Lake counties.

How impressive is it to visit all 64 counties? That depends on your perspective, but lets put it this way: This is the first we’ve heard of Costilla and Crowley counties.

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Yesterday’s hearing on illegal immigration in Aurora drew plenty of protestors from both sides of the debate, according to Rosa Ramirez of the Rocky Mountain News.

Inside, Sen. Wayne Allard presided over a Senate Budget Committee hearing that “painted a bleak picture of the financial burden to Colorado taxpayers because of illegal immigration,” writes Myung Oak Kim of the Rocky Mountain News.

Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer and three law enforcement officials testified that illegal immigrants cost millions of dollars a year to educate and to process through the criminal justice system.

Prosecutors from Weld and Mesa counties complained that the state’s methamphetamine epidemic is being fueled by drugs produced by Mexican gangs, mostly from below the border. And others criticized federal mandates requiring governments to provide certain services regardless of a person’s immigration status.

They urged Republican Sen. Wayne Allard, who presided over the hearing and was the sole member of the budget committee to attend, to persuade Congress to secure the borders and fix a system that allows illegal immigrants to access taxpayer- funded programs. The hearing was part of a series around the country on illegal immigration – a hotbed election year issue that has produced competing bills in Congress.

Republicans say the hearings are meant to take the pulse of the country. Critics charge that the Aurora hearing and others this summer were partisan attempts to boost the Republican Party and stir up opposition to Democrat-supported reform measures that take a softer approach to the immigration problem.

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The two candidates for secretary of state continued their criticism of current officeholder Gigi Dennis yesterday, writes Karen Crummy of The Denver Post:

Both the Republican and Democratic candidates for secretary of state Wednesday called on the woman they would replace to delay enforcement of controversial new campaign finance rules until after the November election…

…The rules, which went into effect in early August, limit campaign activities of some traditionally Democratic groups, such as unions and small-donor committees.

State Senate Majority Leader and Democratic secretary of state candidate Ken Gordon criticized Dennis for making the changes after GOP lawyers asked her to. Gordon called them partisan and “without merit.” “She made a mistake by only listening to one side,” he said.

Dennis noted the rules were published on the Internet and Democrats who attended the June hearing opposed them. State Treasurer and Republican secretary of state candidate Mike Coffman said he “philosophically” agreed with a new rule requiring groups that collect membership dues to get written permission from each member to transfer the dues to a political or small-donor committee.

However, Coffman said that getting signatures so late in the process was burdensome and that Dennis may have gone beyond her role. “I don’t think she has authority to do this,” he said, noting that the state legislature had shot down the rule in the past. Coffman said that if elected, he would refer the issue to the legislature.

If both Republicans and Democrats agree that you are wrong, you know you’ve screwed up.

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Democrat Angie Paccione, who is running against Rep. Marilyn Musgrave in the 4th congressional district, was cleared by the Federal Election Commission of charges that she improperly offered gifts to potential campaign donors. Paccione campaign spokesman James Thompson told the Rocky Mountain News that the charges were politically motivated, and that the FEC’s dismissal proves that they were frivolous.