And the hits keep on comin’.
This should have been a good press week for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez, but he’s getting beaten to a pulp from all sides by the media on a couple of different issues.
The first issue to pop up this week surrounded his selection of Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland as his running mate and lieutenant governor nominee. Rowland has since been under fire for likening gay marriage to bestiality and for saying that “We should have freedom OF religion, not the freedom FROM religion.” As Lynn Bartels of the Rocky Mountain News reports:
Democrats opened fire Tuesday on GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez’s new running mate, comparing her comments about gays and bestiality to those made by a disgraced state lawmaker. Democrats say Janet Rowland reminds them of Rep. Jim Welker, R-Loveland, who embarrassed his party in 2005 when he said that if gays are allowed to marry, then the next step is people wedding their pets.
In addition, some politicos say Rowland’s answers to a 2004 candidate questionnaire from a Christian organization show she is too right wing for Colorado…
…[Beauprez campaign spokesman John] Marshall said Rowland informed Beauprez of her controversial comments when he talked to her about joining the ticket. “She said, ‘Look, you should know I said that and I regret saying it. I’m sorry I made that statement,'” Marshall said. “I’m sure Bill Ritter has said things that he regrets, too.”
Ritter has surely said things he regrets, but there’s a big difference here. Saying something you regret is different than comparing gay marriage to bestiality. There’s regret…and there’s ridiculousness. And no, I don’t know if that’s a word.
Beauprez spokesman John Marshall made his own attempt at a response to Democrats who complained about Rowland: “They’re bed-wetting, pampered liberals,” Marshall said. “No one cares what they say about anything. They have no credibility.”
In response, Democrats said, “I know you are, but what am I?”
Meanwhile…Beauprez may be adding more fuel to his “Both Ways Bob” nickname, which he picked up for a propensity to take both sides of a given issue. As Chris Frates of The Denver Post reports, Beauprez says that he does not favor a proposed ballot measure that would allow same-sex partnerships. That’s all well and good, except that’s not what Beauprez told 5280 magazine a few months back:
A February issue of 5280 magazine paraphrased Beauprez as saying he “rejects the idea of same-sex marriage. He’s okay with same-sex ‘unions,’ but he believes ‘that marriage is between a man and a woman.”‘
Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Democratic candidate Bill Ritter, had this to say to the Post: “He had it one way in the 5280 article and now he’s trying to have it another way today. It sounds like he was worried that he veered too far to the left and is now trying to run back to the safe conservative position.”
Meanwhile…
Beauprez is also under attack for a vote he cast in congress that doesn’t help his tough talk on immigration reform. As Stuart Steers of the Rocky Mountain News reports, Beauprez is getting heat for breaking ranks with Republicans on a vote to allow banks to accept an ID card that the Mexican government provides illegal immigrants
