October 26, 2015 01:43 PM UTC

Kopel: It's "ridiculous" for GOP to let only 1,000 people enter a 10,000-seat arena

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• by: Jason Salzman

(File this under “strange bedfellows” – Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Dave Kopel, research director at the right-leaning Independence Institute, slapped a pat on the back of left-leaning ProgressNow Colorado, agreeing with the state’s top online progresive organization that Republicans should let more people view their debate in Boulder Wednesday.

“I think ProgressNow is correct that it is ridiculous that they have this 10,000-seat arena, and they’re only letting a 1000 people in,” said Kopel on Colorado Public Television’s Colorado Inside Out Oct. 23 (@31:34 here).  “If you want to do it in a TV studio with hardly any audience, go ahead and do that.  But if you’ve got it there, it should be opened up to the public.”

He’s right. It’s crazy ridiculous to limit the seating to 1,000 people, with only 100 tickets going to students at the University of Colorado, where the debate is taking place.

Kopel has clashed with ProgressNow, especially on gun issues, so it’s good to see him call out the truth as he sees it, in his role as pundit on the TV show.

If you watch Colorado Inside Out regularly, you know Kopel doesn’t always align himself with conservatives. Recently he’s praised Democrat Morgon Carroll and dissed conservative school board member Julie Williams.  Westword’s Patricia Calhoun, also a regular guest, does the same thing from the other direction. It makes the show, which can get a bit sleepy sometimes, more interesting.