June 13, 2010 06:06 PM UTC

Stay Classy, Relay for Life Edition

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• by: Colorado Pols

Hearing about an odd incident up in Broomfield–Friday was the day of the Broomfield Relay for Life benefiting the American Cancer Society. It’s an annual event that usually draws a good-size crowd; this year’s was no exception.

Broomfield’s state representative, Rep. Dianne Primavera, however, had some trouble participating in this event in marked contrast to the past. Primavera, one of the key sponsors of health care (and especially cancer) legislation in the General Assembly, as well as a cancer survivor personally, was reportedly hit with ad-hoc restrictions resulting from Republicans berating race officials: first she was told her team could not wear T-shirts with Primavera’s name, then they were told her team couldn’t use Primavera’s name at all.

This comes after Primavera was reportedly refused a spot on stage with other officials at Broomfield’s Trail Adventure and Children’s Wellness Day last weekend–again, the story goes, at the insistence of local Republicans. The biggest issue, say Primavera’s supporters, is the Republican Primavera ousted in 2006–Bill “Hole in One” Berens—never had these problems.

Seriously, does this mean that representatives up for election must spend six months out of every two years shunning local events? That’s just ridiculous, and of course a routine appearance like these would never have been considered a problem–in fact she would have been criticized for not appearing. This was a conscious decision to make as much trouble for Primavera as possible.

House District 33 is considered one of the more favorable pickup opportunities for Republicans this year, and they’ve got a Leadership Program of the Rockies graduate running in HD-33 named Don Beezley whom Republicans profess to be quite enamored with. It’s widely known that the Republican strategy for 2010 is focused on the House and key swing seats like Primavera’s: next time you see a Democrat suddenly wrestling with surprise restrictions and pretense-free double standards from local officials, perhaps you’ll have found the next big race!