September 09, 2009 06:35 PM UTC

Penry Budget Hypocrisy Doesn't Fly Under Scrutiny

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• by: Colorado Pols

We warned gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry that making a stink about certain recently-ordered budget cuts that affect his district, while making fiscally absurd statements like “I would have rejected stimulus funds as Governor,” was easily paintable as the cheapest kind of hypocritical pandering. Examples of stimulus funding gratefully accepted by local governments in Penry’s district in the news, along with stories from across the state of stimulus funds going to work on much-needed projects, make the questions about Penry’s stand, if you will, stand out.

The self-evident hazards of Penry’s approach may have come to a head in today’s Denver Post:

State Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry and other Republicans have repeatedly said that Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter isn’t making the “tough choices” to cut spending in order to balance the budget.

But when Ritter last month announced one particular cut, the closure of a 32-bed nursing unit for developmentally disabled patients in Penry’s hometown of Grand Junction, Penry and other Western Slope Republicans pounced…

“Many, if not most, of the people in that wing need a high level of care,” said Penry, who was quoted as calling the decision to close the unit “classic back-of-the-napkin budgeting from this governor” in an Aug. 22 story in the Grand Junction Sentinel.

Evan Dreyer, a spokesman for Ritter, said there is a plan to place the patients in community care, adding that Penry’s criticism of the closure of the unit in his own district smacks of hypocrisy.

“Closing a $1.8 billion budget shortfall because of the recession required difficult choices and painful decisions,” Dreyer said. “This is one of them.”

…Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, a member of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said Penry was trying to have it both ways, appearing sympathetic to local advocates who oppose the closure while looking tough to fiscal conservatives by not technically opposing the closure. [Pols emphasis]

“I’m really glad Sen. Penry realizes the importance of services,” Ferrandino said. “It’s just striking that he only realizes that when it happens in his own neighborhood.”

[…]

“It’s not that I don’t want to make an effort in shrinking government,” [Rep. Steve] King said. [Pols emphasis] “I just think this is the wrong hard decision.”

Our view: there’s no way out of this that doesn’t make Penry and crew look like simpering irresponsible hypocrites. The Grand Junction Sentinel was nice enough to report Penry’s complaints with insufficient context (though they wrote a great editorial blasting “armchair lawmakers” that somehow avoided mentioning him)–with the full story told by the Post’s Tim Hoover, Penry’s case falls apart faster than you can say “Reagan tripled the national debt.”