January 22, 2007 08:57 PM UTC

Yeah, We're Really Not Even Trying

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• by: Colorado Pols

Ugh.

That must be what Republican leaders at the State Capitol are saying today after reading comments from freshman Rep. Amy Stephens in Sunday’s Denver Post:

Republicans are unwilling to let the illegal immigration issue die this legislative session, even as they admit their proposals are probably headed nowhere.

But keeping the debate alive in the Democratic-controlled statehouse, in part, is strategy for the next election – illegal immigration typically rises near the top of issues in voter polls.

“Believe me, we are keeping count and we will roll that out at the end of the session,” warned Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument.

The freshman lawmaker charged that her bill, which would prevent illegal immigrants arrested in criminal cases from getting released on bail, was purposefully sent to a committee that would kill it.

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff called that a “ridiculous, unfounded, poisonous suggestion.”

“This is not a game,” he said. “You can spend your time playing politics, or you can solve problems.”

The idea of introducing a bill that the other party will kill is a strategy that both parties have used in the past, but rarely has anyone been so dumb as to actually admit to a reporter that they were introducing legislation just for the hell of it. But now, thanks to Stephens, Democrats have a nice article to use in attack pieces against Republicans: While Democrats were passing X, Y and Z legislation, Republicans were only interested in playing politics.

Good work, there, Rep. Stephens. You might want to think about not talking to reporters anymore.