May 11, 2018 09:36 AM UTC

You've Got To Be Kidding, Paul Rosenthal

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• by: Colorado Pols

A Tweet from Dan Haley, CEO of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association from that organization’s end-of-session debrief, provoked spit takes from, well, everyone who wasn’t in that energy industry-friendly room:

Don’t miss out. Watch it live. Just missed impassioned words by @Rosenthal5280 about what happens when Ds vote their conscience — even once — on #oilandgas https://t.co/9dY29a24mK

— Dan Haley (@danhaleyCO) May 11, 2018

Full stop. It’s true that Rep. Paul Rosenthal, Democrat representing southeast Denver, lost the Democratic primary for re-election to his House seat after failing to qualify for the primary ballot at the assembly. But whatever votes Rosenthal may have taken on oil and gas during his time in the legislature, that was not the only reason, or even a principal reason, for his failure to win a spot on the 2018 ballot.

As our readers know well, Rep. Rosenthal was accused of several incidents of sexual harassment as part of the revelations of widespread harassment in the Colorado General Assembly that began last fall. One complaint failed because the alleged incident was from Rosenthal’s time as a candidate, not as a lawmaker where the House would have jurisdiction. But those allegations, combined with Rosenthal’s total lack of preparation for a competitive primary, are the real reasons why Rosenthal didn’t qualify for the ballot. As for Rosenthal’s voting record in the House, we believe liberal Denver voters would be at least as upset by his votes against relief for homeless people as his votes in favor of fracking.

Given the oil and gas industry’s recent push to highlight their gender diversity and pay lip service to liberal social issues, the choice of COGA’s CEO to give a platform to a disgraced lawmaker who lost his seat over sexual harassment allegations in order to make excuses for his disgrace is…well, it says a lot.

And it doesn’t say anything good about the oil and gas industry.