February 04, 2012 06:11 PM UTC

Friends With Benefits: Pro-Civil Union GOP Lawmakers Get Support

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Out Front Colorado’s Nic Garcia:

One Colorado, the group leading the lobbying effort for civil unions here, has repeatedly pledged to support any lawmaker – Republican or Democrat – who supports relationship recognition legislation. This week, campaign finance reports show the group has made good on its promise.

Two Republican state senators, Jean White, R-Hayden, and Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, were gifted $1,000 each by One Colorado’s small donor committee.

Both women voted in 2011 for a bill that would have established civil unions. A third Republican senator, Nancy Spence, also voted for the Colorado Civil Union Act last year, but is term-limited. A similar bill will soon be debated this year.

“(LGBT equality issues) are neither red nor blue,” said One Colorado’s Executive Director Brad Clark. “We will show support to any lawmaker who does the right thing. We pledge our support regardless of party affiliation.”

It’s a great idea for gay rights group One Colorado to highlight support for candidates from both parties who support their legislative agenda–not least because both of these Republican women have, well, hater past donors out there who probably won’t give anymore because of their votes. But we assume at some point some conservative blog or talk radio show will also use these donations to slam Sens. Ellen Roberts and Jean White, or even imply that the dangling of a thousand whole dollars in front of them might have incentivized their votes for civil unions.

It sounds silly now, but give your AM dial a chance to stew about it for a few days.

Back in reality, the simple fact of the matter is that 70% of the public in Colorado now supports civil unions, and the remaining disagreement over passage is really a debate within the Republican Party. From our point of view it’s pretty simple: if Republicans do not want to appear increasingly out-of-touch and priggish to the voters they need to keep their jobs, a lot more of them will qualify for One Colorado’s small donor committee contributions very soon.