July 24, 2008 01:11 AM UTC

Doug Lamborn focuses on congressional work

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• by: NEWSMAN

from Wednesdays Rocky

By Ed Sealover

Just 3 1/2 weeks before the primary election, Congressman Doug Lamborn spent much of his Friday at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on a congressional fact-finding trip rather than raising money or votes.

The day epitomizes the way the first-term Republican is approaching the three-man GOP primary that will determine his political future.

As his two opponents continue to jab at Lamborn and try to engage him in discussion, he has focused on his job, concentrating on trying to build influence and cast conservative votes.

Opponents accuse Lamborn – who two years ago won a six-way primary for an open seat by 892 votes – of ducking the issues. ..

The 54-year-old former state legislator responds by noting that he has yet to find policy differences between himself, businessman Jeff Crank and retired military officer Bentley Rayburn. Debates can only turn personal at this point, he said, and he is trying to keep a low profile so that the race does not become a series of personal attacks and so that the party can come back together after the primary.

Questions on effectiveness

“I haven’t seen a need yet to debate when they agree with me on all of the major issues,” Lamborn said after calling for both renewable-energy research and an increase in domestic drilling following the NREL tour.

The attorney and married father of five has been nothing if not conservative in his voting pattern. He brags of voting in opposition to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi more than anyone else in Congress and says that, unlike his opponents, he is a known quantity to 5th Congressional District residents…

.. Lamborn notes he is one of only two GOP freshmen to pass a substantial bill, a measure requiring the Bureau of Reclamation to relieve a blockage in the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel. And he predicted he will double that total this year with a bill to study whether the Leadville-area Camp Hale should be designated as a unit of the National Park Service.

However, he still holds gaining a seat on the House Armed Services Committee as a freshman as his biggest accomplishment.

Doing so has given him a say on the defense budget that is so important to a district with five major military installations, and it’s allowed him to push to get a federal veterans’ cemetery in the area.

“Getting on Armed Services was very hard,” Lamborn said. “By way of comparison, it took (former Congressman) Joel Hefley nearly three years . . . so that shows an ability (on my part) to get things done, to work with leadership, to build support, to make your case and be successful.”…

…Lamborn maintains he is a true fiscal conservative.

He points to endorsements from groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Club for Growth to back him on this claim.

Next on his to-do list: Bringing down gas prices by increasing off-shore drilling and drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.

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