May 15, 2012 12:58 AM UTC

Reporters should note McNulty's view that Stephens was "the rock" against civil unions

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Just in time for the HD-19 primary – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Journalists, like Denver Post Editorial Page Editor Curtis Hubbard, speculated that House Majority Leader Amy Stephens’ primary fight against Rep. Marsha Looper might play a role in the fate of the civil unions bill.

Stephens would want to show voters in her El Paso County district that she’s the uncompromising conservative that she claims to be, versus Looper, who reportedly supports civil unions.

If this turned out to be true, you’d expect House Speaker Frank McNulty and Stephens to start bragging, especially in the Colorado Springs area, about how Stephens stepped up to the plate and batted away the civil-union proponents.

And that’s exactly what McNulty did on the Jeff Crank Show on KVOR Saturday. KVOR broadcasts from, you guessed it, Colorado Springs.

Reporters should take note of this exchange, as they explain what in the world happened to the civil unions bill today:

Crank said that he was hearing rumors that Stephens was for civil unions. But Crank complimented Stephens and McNulty for putting their political lives on the line to stop civil unions.

McNulty responded to Crank with this:

McNulty: “Well, thank you.  And it’s absolutely true that Amy Stephens was the rock that we came back to throughout the debate.  It wasn’t easy, and there were times when the pressure was great, when you have advocates for [civil unions] piling into the gallery, and you’re looking up there wondering what’s going to happen next.  And Amy is so strong in her faith, and is absolutely rock solid, and she just has a measure of calm about her in crisis and that’s one of the things that we relied on.  And our goal is to head into this Special Session.”

Listen to the audio clip here: McNulty On the Jeff Crank Show 5-12-2012.