December 29, 2009 07:57 PM UTC

Penry, McInnis Just Love Each Other That Much

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Post’s Lynn Bartels caught up with ex-gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry in the wake of last week’s quashed rumors of Penry getting the Lt. Governor slot on on former rival Scott McInnis’ ticket:

“Anyone who knows me knows I would make a lousy lieutenant governor,” Penry said Monday. “I like to be part of the action.”

Penry believes the lieutenant-governor rumors have been fueled by the amount of time he and McInnis have spent together since Penry unexpectedly dropped out in November. The pair, both Grand Junction Republicans, had four events the day blog reports surfaced.

“The speculation is inevitable, but as hard as it for some to believe, our concentration hasn’t been about, ‘What’s in it for me?’ ” Penry said.

“I told Scott from Day 1 that I’m not interested in being lieutenant governor. It’s an important job that will suit someone well, but that’s not for me. What I am 100 percent committed to is helping Scott and legislative Republicans win in 2010, and playing a real role – a meaningful role – in helping a new governor shape and execute on an agenda after the election.”

Also fueling the rumors is the hubbub over whether Penry will run next year for another Senate term. Penry said he will announce his plans next week.

McInnis said his campaign is focused on unseating Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, not on lieutenant-governor discussions.

“Right now we want to hold accountable Ritter’s record on jobs, Ritter’s record on jobs and Ritter’s record on jobs,” McInnis said. “That’s what this comes down to.”

The fact that Ritter’s “record on jobs” is a lot better than most of the country right now notwithstanding, the only correction we have for this story is–at least in the case of this blog–it was never reported as “news,” we were conscientious about describing this rumor as no more than that. And we don’t fully accept Penry’s explanation for why this rumor got going within GOP circles, though maybe it was just a combination of circumstantial possibility and wishful thinking.

That said, we still don’t understand what is taking Penry so long to decide on running again for his state senate seat, and nobody else we’ve talked to gets this–it doesn’t help him or other Republicans trying to make plans around his decision. It certainly doesn’t help limboed SD-7 candidate Steve King, who is now guaranteed a primary should he step back and run again in HD-54 as a direct result of Penry’s indecision. It’s a seeming no-brainer for Penry to keep his seat if he wants to stay in the game for future election cycles, so unless Penry’s gentle shove out of the gubernatorial race was quite a bit less gentle than “McInnis Unity” spin would have you believe, or there’s some other unreported wrinkle lurking that’s sufficiently interesting (Mesa State patronage job would qualify, sure), we’re done wasting time speculating about his $30,000-a-year future.