< PREVIOUS ] [ 1996 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >
Last week, like a good citizen and registered voter, I attended my Democratic precinct caucus. It was right across the street, and nothing on TV looked interesting on Tuesday night, so why not? It was that or get started on my taxes, and that's an easy decision.
The main reason I went was to put in a good word for state Sen. Paul Weissman, who at last report was still among the five candidates for the U.S. Senate nomination. The winner gets to run against a Republican, either Gale Norton or Wayne Allard, and the winner of that race gets to go to Washington and raise $5,000 a day to run for re-election six years later.
Why Weissman? In early March, all five candidates came to Salida. To the surprise of most of us in the audience, all sounded good. Usually, when there are that many hopefuls, especially among the disorganized Democrats, only one or two make any sense, and the rest are all running on some arcane issue that matters in Boulder or Aspen but nowhere in the real world.
They all talked like Democrats (fairness demands that I note that a Republican wouldn't agree, since none of them spoke in favor of more street crime, worse schools or increased abortion, all things that Democrats allegedly favor). They weren't even embarrassed to stand up in public and say they were Democrats.
I planted a question with the moderator: How would you have voted on the Communications Act of 1996? That was the Quillen Single-Issue Litmus Test for Candidates.
Three candidates -- Tom Strickland, Ramona Martinez and Phil Perington -- said they would have voted against the bill because they opposed concentration of media ownership.
I have some concerns about concentration, but on the other hand, if you've got something to say, there are now more ways to say it to the world than ever before in history.
Gene Nichol mentioned concentration, as well a concern with the censorship aspects of the decency section of the communications bill. Weissman gave the right answer on the vote -- no -- and the right major reason: he could never vote in favor of censorship.
That was good enough for me, and when I talked with friends afterward, I mentioned other things I liked about Weissman.
They, too, liked him and what he had to say, but argued
that he's not as electable as some of the other
candidates, and we ought to put our support where it will
do the most good.
I agreed that any of the five would be an improvement on
Chain Gang Gale or Dry River Wayne, but what's this state
coming to when a former Eagle Scout -- elected to the state
senate from a Republican district, a guy who still tends
bar on weekends because he needs the money -- is not
electable
to statewide office?
Electable
apparently means able to raise vast
sums of money from people whose interests are not always
the interests of the people whom the Democratic Party is
supposed to represent.
So I decided to go to my precinct caucus and speak up for Weissman. Of the five people at our caucus, three were for Weissman and two supported Nichol.
Then it was time to consider resolutions that would go before the county assembly on April 27.
Since I have a cruel sense of political humor, I
proposed that we go on record as supporting the impeachment
of Gov. Roy Romer for his support of the Union
Pacific-Southern Pacific railroad merger in flagrant
violation our state constitution.
I expected to hear Quillen, you can leave right now.
Romer is a Democrat, and we Democrats have to support other
Democrats, no matter how misguided they are.
Back when
I was a Republican, I heard that sort of thing frequently.
On the state level, Republicans take the Eleventh
Commandment quite seriously.
But instead, Rusty Boswell suggested we add and to
the detriment of the economy of central Colorado
to the
impeachment resolution. It then passed unanimously at the
Official Caucus of Chaffee County Precinct Two, and so it
will presumably be considered at the county assembly.
I won't be there because I have another commitment that
weekend, but it could pass. One local Democratic
office-holder is County Commissioner Jim Thompson, who
recently observed that Gov. Romer sold out. He's joined
the ranks of the slime-sucking, bottom-feeding
fish.
With due respect to Jim, I think he messed up the metaphor. Our governor is actually swimming with the sharks at the top of the food chain, but otherwise I agree with the observation. In fact, I haven't found anyone who doesn't.
Afterward, I cornered a reporter for the local daily and
said we had a story for him -- Chaffee Dems call for
Romer's impeachment
-- but he passed it up. So it falls
on me to inform the public of politics down here at the
grassroots.
< PREVIOUS ] [ 1996 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >