July 24, 2014 10:11 AM UTC

Coffman is Christie's ally in saying Colorado going to pot

• 7 Comments
• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

It's one thing for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to drop into Colorado and tell us our quality of life is going down the tubes thanks to marijuana legalization.

But it's another for our own elected officials to tell us as much. You recall Rep. Mike Coffman grumped on the KOA radio earlier this year that legal pot may scare giant corporations from coming to Colorado. (Maybe that's a good thing, but that's a topic for another blog post.)

Coffman: “I worry, ‘What about that Fortune 500 corporation that wants to move to Colorado?’ And the chief executive officer has young kids, and to say, ‘Do I want my children exposed to a culture where this is acceptable for adults? And will that influence their behavior as kids?’”

Contrast Coffman's fact-free brain puff with what Christie said in April:

Christie: “For the people who are enamored with the idea … the tax revenue from this, go to Colorado and see if you want to live there."

Coffman is saying Colorado's lifestyle/culture is so diminished by pot that rich people, in particular, may not want to live here.

Coffman stands with Christie.

Yesterday, Christie didn't back down:

Christie: “I’m not backing off an inch from what I said.”

Coffman's not backing down either. Talking to Hugh Hewett Friday, Coffman slammed pot legalization:

Coffman: "You know, I think it’s a horrible decision that Colorado made."

Coffman added that he's trying to help pot businesses get bank accounts because operating in cash makes the industry "even more prone to criminality."

You don't see too many top elected officials singing the praises of pot shops. Many blandly say they're opposed, but will try to make it work. But Coffman has distinguished himself as being on the far end of the pot-hating scale, which is weird since 55 percent of voters approved legalization.

Some buzz-kill swing voters, who don't like legalized pot, might be motivating politicians like Coffman, who's facing Democrat Andrew Romanoff in one of the most competitive congressional races in the country. Romanoff is no pot cheerleader, but he's been more restrained.

No one knows where this will go, but it's a beautiful Colorado morning outside, and I think I'll go on a quick bike ride.