Bob Beauprez Breeds Idiocy

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by: Colorado Pols

“Both Ways” Bob Beauprez (right).

There was a school of thought leading into the June Primary that Democrats were better off with Tom Tancredo as the Republican nominee for Governor, mostly because Tancredo was thought to be particularly poisonous for Republicans across the ballot. While we certainly understood the logic behind that premise, we'd always believed that Bob Beauprez was just as problematic for Republicans, if not more so, because of his incredible penchant for saying ridiculously stupid things. For all of Tancredo's problems as a candidate, he at least seemed to have figured out how to keep his own feet out of his mouth lately.

Beauprez? Not so much.

As the Denver Post reports today, Beauprez's foolhardy nature seems to infect everyone around him; his campaign can't even put out a prepared statement that doesn't say something dumb:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez on Tuesday said calling a special legislative session to forge a compromise on local control over oil and gas drilling in Colorado is not in the best interests of the state.

In a statement sent in response to Denver Post questions, Beauprez called on his incumbent opponent Gov. John Hickenlooper to " reject calls for a special legislative session that would serve as little more than a tool to force ill-advised policies on the people of our state without debate, deliberation, or discussion."…

…Beauprez wrote that the issue should be resolved during the normal legislative session.

"The governor and the legislature have 180 days to deal with issues they determine to be important enough to warrant new laws. [Pols emphasis] The Colorado taxpayer should not have to finance a special session, just so a bill can be passed that would strip citizens' property rights, and create a chaotic patchwork of different regulatory environments around the state, which would remove any remaining shred of certainty — especially on the heels of six consecutive years of rule changes."

Colorado's normal legislative session is 120 days. [Pols emphasis]

As Post reporter Bruce Finley noted, Colorado's legislature is not in session for 180 days — or anywhere close to that number. The normal legislative session runs from early January to early May, but in recent years has been concluded early as legislative leaders seek to save the state a little money.

How on earth does Beauprez's campaign make such a stupid mistake? It's not like this is just Beauprez talking off the cuff and saying something ridiculous, as he is wont to do. This is a prepared statement that included a foolish error that went completely unnoticed by anyone on Beauprez's staff. This is the Republican nominee for Governor who seems clueless to something as simple as how often the legislature convenes.

Is Beauprez's own peculiar brand of idiocy just infecting everyone around him? Has he had trouble finding staff who actually live in Colorado? What's going on here?

17 thoughts on “Bob Beauprez Breeds Idiocy”

Davie says:

July 9, 2014 at 1:02 pm

Uh, uh, uh, oh wait! BWB and team really meant "The governor and the legislature have 180 days from today …"

You know, like there's plenty of time next January when the General Assembly reconvenes to deal with this, you know, after the initiatives pass in November, or something like that…

Or, maybe you're right, BWB is an idiot

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Republican 36 says:

July 9, 2014 at 1:16 pm

And just as important, how can Mr. Beauprez make the statement that a special session will "force ill-advised policies on the people of our state without debate, deliberation or discussion?" A special session is no different than a regular session of the legislature. A bill is introduced, it is debated and amended in committee, debated and amended on second reading and voted up or down on third reading. Then the process begins again in the second house.

Second, before a special session the governor issues a call calling the special session and stating what subjects the legislature may consider. However, the governor has no power whatsoever to dictate the language of a specific bill or to preclude the legislature from amending any bill that is introduced during a speical session.

Most important of all, a special session dealing with one issue will mean more debate, more deliberation and more discussion than any bill receives during the regular 120 session of the legislature because all 100 members will be focused on the one issue before the legislature. During the 2014 regular 120 day session, the legislature consider a total of 621 bills which means the attention of each legislator was focused on the bills they introduced or ones directly impacting their district. During the regular session, the attention of the 100 members is fragmented and certainly isn't focused on one issue. During a special session, the opposite is true. All 100 members are focused on the one or two bills introduced and therefore there is far more detailed attention and consideration given to bills during a special session. Mr. Beauprez doesn't know what he's talking about.

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ElliotFladen says:

July 9, 2014 at 1:31 pm

And Obama once said there were 57 states. This is much ado about nothing

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1. OrangeFree says:
  
  July 9, 2014 at 2:49 pm
  
  57 States – an obviously exhausted Obama misspeaks at a campaign event.
  
  180 Days – a written statment released by the campaign that was still released with a major error regardless of the probability that it was seen by several people before being sent off. And can't just be written off as a typo – 8 is a long way from 2 on the keyboard.
  
  Yep, totally the same.
  
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  1. hawkeye says:
    
    July 9, 2014 at 2:58 pm
    
    I suspect Obama began using teleprompters almost exclusively after the 57-state faux pas.
    
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    1. Democrat1207 says:
      
      July 9, 2014 at 3:46 pm
      
      Never got that dig, all presidents use them
      
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  2. JBJK16 says:
    
    July 10, 2014 at 4:45 am
    
    Of course, there are not 57 states. But there are 57 places to win delegates to try and win the D nomination. He should not have said states when including DC and Puerto Rico and the other places to win D delegates.
    
    the only way to get to 180 days is to have a special session. But your point is right on.
    
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2. Ralphie says:
  
  July 9, 2014 at 2:51 pm
  
  I'm sure when you're on the campaign trail, it FEELS like there are 57 states…
  
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3. BlueCat says:
  
  July 9, 2014 at 5:04 pm
  
  Gee Elliot. Surprised to see you jumping to the defense of a candidate who panders to the people who claim your wife just married you for the green card and your kid is an anchor baby. Think he'll make the trains on time or something?
  
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  1. BlueCat says:
    
    July 9, 2014 at 7:03 pm
    
    That would be" run on time".
    
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horseshit GOP front group says:

July 9, 2014 at 1:35 pm

Would you say it is more likely that Obama knows that we don't have 57 states, or that Bobs staff knows that the Colorado legislative session isn't 180 days….

Hmmmm….

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hawkeye says:

July 9, 2014 at 2:48 pm

In regards to BWB's campaign staff … it's hard to get good help these days, especially on a temporary basis. Probably much of the campaign staff is made up of connected college kids on summer break.

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1. Davie says:
  
  July 9, 2014 at 3:03 pm
  
  Especially if you're campaign has had to loan itself more money than it could raise from donors. I doubt BWB's campaign will catch Hick's available cash, particularly since this is turning out to be 2006 redux.
  
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  1. FrankUnderwood says:
    
    July 10, 2014 at 7:41 am
    
    Has Bob had to make another stop at the bank since the primary? (I can't believe his wife is letting him piss away their money on his vanity exercise)
    
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    1. Davie says:
      
      July 10, 2014 at 10:23 am
      
      Guess we'll have to wait for the next funding report to find out. I'm sure BWB has been putting the strong arm on the usual GOP suspects to give big, now that he's the "mainstream Republican" candidate.
      
      Bet there's a lot of holding of noses while donors write those extortion checks.
      
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2. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  July 9, 2014 at 3:29 pm
  
  Yeah, if only Obama had let that depression fester that Bush and Cheney worked so hard create. Then it would be so much easier for BWB to find staff at least as competent as he's been . . .
  
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  1. Gray in Mountains says:
    
    July 10, 2014 at 10:04 am
    
    doubt his wife has any say on how money is spent unless she has a penis
    
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