February 03, 2010 08:12 PM UTC

Good For Them

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• by: Colorado Pols

Lynn Bartels writes for The Spot, the Colorado Senate Democrats are apparently raising money and selling their agenda at the same time. How crass!

Senate Democrats sent a fund-raising letter today asking for $25 donations to help them “close corporate loopholes,” an appeal the top Republican senator called “crass.”

…It’s illegal for a lobbyist to give to a candidate or to solicit money when the legislature is in session, but not for candidates to solicit money from a lobbyist, said elections attorney Scott Gessler.

“You think it would be,” said Gessler, a Republican running for secretary of state.

He said the Democratic Senate Campaign Fund solicitation appears to be legal – although he stressed he hadn’t seen it. He said the issue is likely more about whether it should have been sent.

That’s the same sentiment Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry raised.

“It’s probably not illegal but, boy, is this crass,” the Grand Junction Republican said. “Raising taxes in a recession is bad enough. But using the debate to go off an anti-business, Howard Dean-style fund-raising rant is just way beyond the pale.”

For starters, how did this conversation veer immediately into lobbyists? We’d expect, or would at least hope, that the Democrats have more than just lobbyists on their fundraising list. Clearly ‘lobbyists’ are what Scott Gessler wanted to grouse about, but it’s kind of tangential–and that’s before we note how Gessler is hardly one to talk.

Secondly, and we understand why Sen. Josh Penry may not get this, but most people we know would consider running on one’s agenda–as opposed to, you know, running from it–to be a sign of…what’s the opposite of weakness, again? See title.