January 30, 2010 04:17 AM UTC

Jane Norton Hit From All Sides

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Colorado Independent caught Senate candidate Jane Norton claiming, with her own laugh track, that she has not “been” a lobbyist:

In an interview with a Colorado Springs radio talk show host Tuesday, Former lieutenant governor and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Jane Norton said she has never worked as a lobbyist. She was responding to callers looking to feel out her conservative credentials…

It was the kind of clear if undeveloped answer campaign observers have been seeking for months. Indeed, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which has been doggedly monitoring Norton appearances this winter, sent out a release Thursday mocking Norton’s assertion as a “bogus claim” and arguing that the candidate was running from her work as a lobbyist to “curry favor from the far-right anti-establishment Tea Party crowd or because she doesn’t want Coloradans to know the real reason she is opposing health care reform.”

Asked Thursday whether the campaign was standing by the claim, Norton spokesman Nate Strauch emailed a statement to the Colorado Independent that will fail to satisfy skeptics.

“During Mrs. Norton’s tenure at [Medical Group Management Association], she worked to monitor healthcare reform proposals across the nation on behalf of the organization’s members. She has never been a registered lobbyist.”

Well no, not registered. Which seems to be at the heart of the confusion:

In the talk-radio interview Tuesday, Norton laughed at the notion raised by a caller that her husband was a lobbyist. He is not. But her sister, Judy Black, is a lobbyist, and Norton’s ties to national big-money lobbyists are well reported…

As the campaign now says, Norton has never been a registered lobbyist.

But as the Colorado Independent reported in September, from 1994 to 1999, Norton headed the lobbying department of Englewood-based MGMA, “the principle voice for the medical practice association.” Norton was the executive director of the Office of State Government Relations and the Office of Strategic Relationships.

Directly after her tenure at MGMA, Norton was appointed by Gov. Bill Owens to head the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment, a position in which she oversaw multiple state “planning groups” that engineered health coverage across Colorado, this time being paid by tax payers to work as the “principle voice” for health-care consumers.

MGMA confirmed to the Colorado Independent at the time that Norton headed the association’s lobbying department. “Yes, this is the lobbying arm of the organization,” a spokesperson at the Department of Government Affairs said. Human Resources staffer Jenny Morales said that the group Norton headed used to be called the Office of Strategic Relationships and is now simply called the Department of Government Affairs…

None of this is really new, but it’s timely after Norton’s latest on-air denial. The best we can figure is that as management, she can technically say she wasn’t herself “registered” to lobby. Just the lobbyists she directly supervised as the head of the “lobbying arm,” see the difference? If you don’t, apparently Norton’s response is to laugh at you.

In other news, conservative blogs report that former Rep. Tom Tancredo, who you recall was instrumental in the “Platform for Prosperity” talks intended to unify the GOP behind gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, is publicly bad-mouthing Norton every chance he gets. From the “People’s Press Collective”:

The highlight of the event was the fireworks provided by former U. S. Representative and Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo. He railed against recent Republican presidential nominee John McCain as a big government, liberal Republican.

But he did not stop there. He painted former Lt. Governor and current Colorado Republican candidate for U. S. Senate Jane Norton with the same can of paint. Tancredo professed his belief that McCain is doing his best to recruit big government Republican candidates throughout the country, including Norton, in an effort to continue his failed statist legacy. Tancredo said Norton fits the McCain mold, and that he could not support her candidacy.

Tancredo made it clear he thinks neither McCain nor Norton believe in conservative principles.

Tancredo said he supports Weld County D.A. Ken Buck in the Republican race for the Senate nomination.

Look, it is Tom Tancredo we’re talking about here, the most off-reservation of Colorado talking heads–the only people likely to take his opinion seriously are a relatively small segment of ardently conservative voters, and of course “Tea Party” activists. Nothing Tancredo says about Norton will make a whit of difference beyond the GOP primary.

Oh, wait a minute…