November 05, 2009 10:17 PM UTC

Jane Norton Joins "Terrorist Sympathizers" Penry, Ritter on Pinon Canyon

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Pueblo Chieftain reports:

Senate candidate Jane Norton said Wednesday that she doesn’t want the federal government to condemn land to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site…

Norton said she would allow ranchers who want to sell their land to the U.S. Army to do so.

But, “I wouldn’t support condemnation,” she said. “I don’t think that’s the right way to go.” Ranchers near the Army training site in Las Animas County have waged a long political war to stop any expansion.

Norton didn’t say she would oppose an expansion. Expansion should be allowed only if economic benefits from the site are shared with the Southern Colorado region.

The Pinon Canyon site was pitched to area leaders in the 1980s as having a great economic impact from spending by soldiers. That hasn’t really happened, Norton acknowledged.

“The broken promises from the Army have certainly added to the distrust,” she said.

Like Rep. Mike Coffman said recently, she might be “more sympathetic if the U.S. Army were to declare itself a terrorist organization.”

Of course, we’ve been clear that Josh Penry’s (and Bill Ritter’s) stand on Pinon Canyon is by far the better politics, and more consistent with the views of the property rights-sensitive Republican base, so Norton is being smart to pay lip service to protecting the ranchers. Though if Coffman’s ‘terrorist sympathizer’ rhetoric is good for the goose…well, consistency demands, doesn’t it?