October 15, 2009 03:04 AM UTC

Gloves Come Off As Penry Rips "Business As Usual" McInnis

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• by: Colorado Pols

Gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry’s latest blastmail should answer any remaining questions about how he plans to respond to opponent Scott McInnis’ strong Q2 numbers. Fire in the hole:

For Bill Ritter, business as usual means throwing your hands in the air and claiming you are helpless to slow the growth of the government for which you are the chief executive.

But Democrats don’t have a monopoly on business as usual.  [Pols emphasis] This week, there was a prime example of it from Republicans too, when one candidate for Governor complained about Ritter’s car tax, but when asked what he’d do about it, he said, “We’ll see what the legislature does” before he would do anything about it. That’s the Democrat controlled legislature, not known for voting to repeal taxes.

Complaining then doing nothing. Business as usual? You bet that is. Leadership means more than complaining. Leadership means building an agenda, setting a course, and leading. Josh knows that.

This week, Josh said he would push the legislature to roll back Bill Ritter’s car tax. Road and bridge funding will be a priority, but a Penry Administration will do it without the Ritter car tax.

And the last example of “business as usual” came from the same campaign that said they’d wait for action from the Democrats on the Governor’s car tax.  That same campaign sent its latest in a series of campaign communications focused totally on polls, and this week they said they didn’t want debates during the Republican Primary.

Let’s not forget, the Republican party of old during the late 1990s and early 2000s was focused too much on polling and look where that got us. It’s time to debate and discuss the issues that are important to Colorado families. Refusing to show up at debates and forums is a disservice to the voters of Colorado.  This is an election, not a coronation.

That’s a pretty clear attack, but let’s see what Penry has to actually say about finding a budget solution himself. This week, Josh said he would push the legislature to roll back Bill Ritter’s car tax. Road and bridge funding will be a priority, but a Penry Administration will do it without the Ritter car tax. Really? With what? Magic beans? Fairy dust?

Accusing everyone else of doing things wrong only works to a point — to the point where you say, “And here’s what I would do instead.” But if Penry can’t eventually come up with a realistic solution to the state budget, he’ll have set himself up nicely for a knockout blow…to take right on his own chin.