November 11, 2013 02:19 PM UTC

A Comeback For Ex-Rep. J. Paul Brown?

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Durango Herald's Brandon Mathis reports:

At the start of a scenic, half-day tour of Colorado’s 59th House District, La Plata County sheep and cattle rancher J. Paul Brown addressed a crowd of about 40 people at Christina’s Grill & Bar on Saturday morning to announce his plans to retake the House seat he lost by two percentage points in 2012 to Durango attorney Mike McLachlan…

While Brown, a Republican, said he is not yet ready to propose specific legislation, he did say he had a long list of issues and possible bills.

We're surprised to see former Rep. J. Paul Brown, elected in the "Republican wave" of 2010 and ousted two years later in a close race, making another run at his former House District 59 seat. We say that despite the obvious incentive for a Republican to take on Rep. Mike McLachlan next year, a closely divided swing seat admittedly made more attractive to the GOP after this year's gun safety legislation slugfest. Rep. McLachlan is the Democrat who sponsored the compromise amendment to the magazine limit bill that raised the maximum number of rounds from 10 to 15. Needless to say McLachlan gets no love from the gun lobby for that gesture, though an attempt to recall him this year failed to obtain the necessary signatures.

With that in mind, Democrats are without a doubt very happy to see former Rep. Brown is game for a rematch. Brown's single term in the Colorado General Assembly marked him as an intellectually uncurious lawmaker, more interested in rambling on about disconnected tangents and conspiracy theories in legislative debates than even helping fellow Republicans pass bills. Brown was the only legislator of either party to vote against a bill improving services for homeless youth. Brown famously remarked after a vote against health insurance for children, "if I’m wrong, I guess, take me out behind the barn and give me a whipping." The following election, HD-59 voters did so.

Perhaps 2014 will be better for southwest Colorado's most politically active sheep rancher, but we don't see it today.