Miklosi's Made of Rubber, McNulty's Made of Glue

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by: Colorado Pols

In every election cycle we’ve been around for that features a member of the Colorado General Assembly running for higher office, one “controversy” is sure to come up–that is, criticism of said legislator for missing days of the legislative session in order to campaign.

This year, we’ve seen a bevy of attacks on legislative Democrats Joe Miklosi and Sal Pace, running in CD-6 and CD-3 respectively, from Republicans critical of their need to stay on the campaign trail. In 2010, Republicans Cory Gardner and Scott Tipton came in for similar criticism. We don’t mean to sound overly jaded about it, but these are all fully expected and at this point fairly canned attacks. At no point has it ever been shown to us that these exchanges are relevant beyond something for the political chattering classes to lob like a spitwad.

But it can backfire. Yesterday evening, reporter Lynn Bartels of the Denver paper broke news that both House Speaker Frank McNulty and Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman have missed several recent days of the session to attend meetings of GOPAC and/or the Republican State Leadership Committee. This is more problematic for them than it otherwise might be after McNulty’s lieutenant, Assistant Majority Leader Mark Waller, hammered Rep. Miklosi for his recent trip to Washington D.C. to raise badly-needed funds for his congressional bid.

And then there’s the fact that McNulty’s not running for higher office. These meetings with high-level out of state Republicans concerned the same legislature he ditched to attend.

Not to mention that the Speaker of the House is missed a bit more than an individual representative. The same can be said of the Senate Minority Leader.

Folks, that’s as close as we intend to get to a self-serving lecture about this. Based on what we understand of the reapportionment process concluded last December, McNulty needs all the help he can get in an uphill battle to retain his one-seat House majority–just like Miklosi needs all the help he can get in his David-and-Goliath matchup with Mike Coffman.

But we do hope every time the matter devolves into a steaming pile of hypocrisy, as it appears to have in this case, there will be a reporter like Bartels to note that for the record.

13 thoughts on “Miklosi’s Made of Rubber, McNulty’s Made of Glue”

nancycronk says:

April 4, 2012 at 5:42 pm

the Speaker didn’t show up at the Capitol two days this week and two days the week before. After the convocation and the pledge and the reading, no business could be done. Nothing like wasting per diems for everyone who gets them (hey, our state has money to burn, right?). Can anyone who was there confirm this or comment on it? Anyone know where he was?

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1. nancycronk says:
  
  April 4, 2012 at 5:45 pm
  
  But FOUR days? When I think several, I think 2 or 3. FOUR? That’s almost a week.
  
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Say Hey Kid says:

April 4, 2012 at 6:16 pm

Usually someone is thumping their chest right after the fundraising quarter ends bragging about how much money they’ve raised.

After the debacle over Joe’s bill which would allow a white supremacist wearing “unconventional” attire which included swastikas to be allowed into any restaurant or bar I wonder why Joe hasn’t missed more days?

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1. BlueCat says:
  
  April 4, 2012 at 7:36 pm
  
  not nearly enough.
  
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2. nancycronk says:
  
  April 4, 2012 at 8:24 pm
  
  We’ll all know when we do. (Smiling.)
  
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droll says:

April 4, 2012 at 9:21 pm

I’m pretty sure I did, but can’t remember where. If so, that’s kind of a big deal, imo. This is, arguably, the most important reason the legislature meets.

Regardless of party, you need to show up to do your job on the days you’re meant to do it. The big question is will the session end later than it should thanks to marathon Approp. meetings? I know it’s a relatively small amount of cash per legislative day, but waste is waste.

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Say Hey Kid says:

April 4, 2012 at 11:22 pm

Got email from Brandon Shaffer and Sal Pace bragging about how much money they have raised. But, neither said how much they had raised.

Is this a teaser and they will show great fundraising? Or, are they trying to hide a weak showing?

As for Joe Miklosi why didn’t Morgan Carroll run? She might actually have had a chance at winning.

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1. ArapaGOP says:
  
  April 4, 2012 at 11:40 pm
  
  If he had raised enough to compete, everyone would already know about it.
  
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  1. nancycronk says:
    
    April 4, 2012 at 11:52 pm
    
    Goppy.
    
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    1. RedGreen says:
      
      April 5, 2012 at 1:02 am
      
      Really?
      
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      1. nancycronk says:
        
        April 5, 2012 at 6:17 pm
        
        But my guess is that Joe is getting mostly donations from real people who care about all kinds of issues that affect real people. And Coffman is probably getting them from corporate coffers with no souls or standards for human decency (read big oil, big pharma, etc.). Just a hunch.
        
        You can speculate on numbers until the cows come home, but in the end, all that really matters is whether or not the good guys get votes. And Dems are working hard to make that happen.
        
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Say Hey Kid says:

April 5, 2012 at 12:43 am

Mike Coffman raised well over $500,000 from January to March. I doubt if Joe even raised 1/4 that amount.

I wonder how Sal Pace and Brandon Shaffer are doing in the money chase?

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1. nancycronk says:
  
  April 5, 2012 at 6:21 pm
  
  And how’s that working for “Mr. I tied my terrified dog to the roof of my car and drove 1200 highway miles because I care so much about others”? Last I heard, he can’t even keep his base awake.
  
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