September 04, 2014 11:02 AM UTC

Dems Go Populist Against Banker Beauprez

• 7 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

A press release from Making Colorado Great, the third party group responsible for taking the hard shots at GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob Beauprez this year, announces a new ad with a six-figure media buy focusing on Beauprez's record as a wealthy banker:

Making Colorado Great today released a new television ad “Meet,” highlighting how Beauprez rigged the system for big money special interests.  Beauprez owned a $400 million bank but while in Congress voted to make it easier for banks like his to get away with risky practices, which were a major factor in the economic recession.
 
“Coloradans are still hurting from the recession that was significantly fueled by a lack of regulation of our banking system. The simple fact is that in Congress, Bob Beauprez voted to reduce regulations on banks — new rules that made it easier for banks to foreclose homes, which helped lead to the financial crisis,” said Michael Huttner, spokesperson for Making Colorado Great.  “In Congress, Beauprez repeatedly fought for the wealthiest and the well-connected, preventing hard working Colorado  families from getting their fair shot at success.  Beauprez will try to use the double-talk he mastered as a Washington politician to hide his record but Coloradans know he can’t be trusted him with Colorado’s economy.”

The Denver Post's Joey Bunch:

The Denver Post reported in 2006 on the bill Beauprez co-sponsored in 2005 that would have cut regulations, granted tax reductions, limited regulatory audits and exempted community banks from some disclosure reports about lending practices. The Post also reported that the law could have lifted provisions that consumer advocates said protected home borrowers from abusive loans.

“It’s very unseemly for a member of Congress to co-sponsor legislation that would reduce some regulatory requirements for a bank that he has a major financial interest in,” Travis Plunkett, legislative director for the Washington-based Consumer Federation of America, told the Post at the time…

As we've been discussing today, there is a big menu of available issues on which to hit Beauprez. This particular one is interesting to us because it goes after Beauprez's past as a banker, and supporter in Congress of policies that arguably hurt ordinary Americans. That might not have been a problem for Beauprez back in 2006–or maybe it was, he lost so badly to Bill Ritter it's tough to know–but either way, this could be a very potent line of attack in the wake of the Great Recession. You may be aware that the reputation of bankers in general took something of a hit back then, and still hasn't really recovered.

And that's a message even voters who don't know or don't care about Beauprez's craziness may respond to.