March 29, 2007 04:37 PM UTC

Stafford's "Threatmaker" -- Rep. Dave Balmer

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• by: Colorado Pols

Whatever your opinion of the intra-Republican row over HB-1338, the Homeowner Protection Act, or of Rep. Debbie Stafford personally, the name that finally surfaced yesterday as the deliverer the alleged “threat” should surprise nobody. As the Rocky Mountain News reports:

Rep. Debbie Stafford, of Aurora, said that a fellow Republican in the House told her she would be a target in future elections if she supported a construction-defects bill that the homebuilders industry opposed.

Republican leadership said the exchange never happened, that Stafford’s story has changed several times and that she is simply mad at the homebuilders for helping kill an unrelated measure she introduced this session…

After hearing about the hubbub, Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said he asked staffers to review the rules.

“There is a specific House rule that says a lobbyist cannot threaten a legislator, for that matter any other public employee, with violence or economic or political reprisal,” he said. “There is no corresponding rule in the House with respect to threats made by lawmakers, and I think there should be.”

Stafford said that a number of people lobbied her to vote against House Bill 1338, including Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, the assistant minority leader.

She said Balmer told her that she would receive heat from the Colorado Association of Homebuilders if she ran for another office. And she said Balmer mentioned that the group has been generous to Republican candidates in the past.

“I said, ‘My vote is not for sale,’ ” Stafford said. Balmer said he never mentioned political contributions or possible future races, but merely asked Stafford to consider the bill on its merits…

Based on our experience, we have no trouble believing that Dave “Code Three” Balmer said exactly what Stafford claims he said. For what it’s worth, we also know that this kind of ethically dubious pressuring goes on every day at the Capitol — it only becomes a scandal when  somebody decides they’re tired of it and sits down with Lynn Bartels.