U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

Governor See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse

(D) Phil Weiser

(D) Jena Griswold

60%

60%

40%↓

Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Alexis King

(D) Brian Mason

40%

40%

30%

Sec. of State See Full Big Line

(D) George Stern

(D) A. Gonzalez

(R) Sheri Davis

40%

40%

30%

State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(R) Kevin Grantham

(D) Jerry DiTullio

60%

30%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(D) Joe Salazar

50%

40%

40%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
August 22, 2016 03:43 PM UTC

Coffman Takes Immigration History Revision Too Far

  • 20 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: For good measure, here’s a clip of Mike Coffman praising Tom Tancredo during the latter’s run for governor in 2010:

Listen to the lavish praise from Coffman for Tancredo “standing up” to President Bush’s immigration reform attempts.

And ask yourself how this could possibly be the same man vilifying Democrats today by likening them to Tancredo.

—–

dreamactcoffmanIn 2014, GOP Rep. Mike Coffman, who once called the DREAM Act to protect immigrant students “a nightmare for the American people” and fought against immigration reform until his congressional district was redrawn to include a large immigrant population, defeated his Democratic opponent in part by audaciously claiming his own position on immigration to be more progressive than the Democrat in the race.

This year, Coffman doesn’t seem to be changing the playbook a bit against his current Democratic opponent, Sen. Morgan Carroll:

That’s in reference to Coffman’s predecessor Tom Tancredo, the nationally-famous anti-immigration firebrand who has recently criticized Coffman’s reinvention on the issue as contrived to win votes in his new district. This Tweet refers to a vote in 2009 by Sen. Carroll against legislation that would have created similar tuition status as the DREAM Act for undocumented high school graduates in Colorado.

Just one problem: in 2013, Sen. Carroll cosponsored the ASSET bill, a.k.a. “Colorado’s DREAM Act.” ASSET is now the law in Colorado thanks to Carroll’s support. Once you realize that, it’s obvious that Coffman’s campaign is playing the most cynical kind of game with the truth–the lie of omission.

And it gets better:

In 2006, as at least a few of our longtime readers will remember, Republicans proposed a harsh immigration crackdown ballot measure called “Defend Colorado Now.” Hoping to forestall that measure, Democrats in the Colorado legislature made the in-hindsight highly regrettable decision to convene a special session of the legislature to pass immigration restrictions that would make such a ballot measure “unnecessary.” The truth is, Tom Tancredo was one of the original backers of the Defend Colorado Now measure, and was opposed to the special session convened by Democrats to forestall it.

Folks, what side do you think Coffman was on? The Longmont Times-Call reported (article no longer online):

Illegal-immigration foes drew a crowd to the foot of the state Capitol on Thursday to launch their petition drive for a state ballot measure that would deny government services to anyone who’s not in this country legally…

The rally began with state Treasurer Mike Coffman, a Republican candidate for secretary of state, leading the participants in the pledge of allegiance. [Pols emphasis]

In retrospect, both the 2006 Defend Colorado Now measure and the legislative session convened to counter it were ill-advised. Democrats have been taking their lumps over that mistake since 2006. But not only was Morgan Carroll working against Tancredo’s goals in 2006, at that same moment, Mike Coffman was the one standing with Tom Tancredo.

The real story behind today’s attacks on Carroll from Coffman’s campaign is one of such eye-popping hypocrisy and outright falsehoods that we’re legitimately surprised Coffman was willing to go there yet again. On the other hand, this is the perfect example of the kind of blatant disregard for the truth Coffman has repeatedly demonstrated against his Democratic opponents since redistricting.

For all the deference Coffman gets from the media over his wholesale flip-flops on the issues, with this latest we think Coffman may finally have taken it too far. Everyone who was there in 2006 knows the truth about what Coffman said and did then. It’s not a question of interpretation. It’s not a “misstatement.”

It’s a lie. And it must not go unchallenged.

Tweet
Share

Comments

20 thoughts on “Coffman Takes Immigration History Revision Too Far”

    1. He still has better than a 50/50 chance as incumbent, especially since Morgan Carroll seems to be running a largely secret campaign. You really need to build up simple name rec like crazy to challenge an incumbent and, outside of an occasional FB post I'm not seeing or hearing her name. WTF? I'm guessing she's not getting much in the way of love (money) from the DCCC.

      1. You'll see her ads after Labor Day.  It was reported that 1.2 million in ads had been reserved by her campaign.  In the meantime, the ground game is going strong.  wink

        1. Glad to hear it. Ground game is important but the biggest hurdle is name rec. People have mainly at least heard of a long time incumbent.

          It always seems to volunteers that all kinds of great events, meetings, yard parties, house parties, canvassing, mailing and dropping lit are going on. Then the last weeks before the election, if there hasn't been much in the way of TV ads, you're phone banking and canvassing and discover that outside of your little world of the politically active, when you ask the person you're talking to if they know anything about your candidate the answer is usually "no". Often followed by "I really haven't looked into it much yet. Should get started on that".

          Can't wait to see those ads! Wise not to blow the budget too far in advance. Most people do tune in late, if at all, to even slightly down ballot races.

      2. My observation too!  I went to a local Democratic club meeting in May? June?  I'm not sure when, but the majority of the people there had never heard of her and didn't have a clue that she was the D candidate running against Coffman.   I was disappointed and, frankly, discourage to even try on her behalf if the party wasn't supporting her and she couldn't be bothered to get out and introduce herself. 

        1. Not nearly as much as Coffman CD wide. If you're a person who pays attention but doesn't do door to door canvassing, may I recommend you volunteer for the campaign of your choice and do some. You will quickly be disabused of any happy delusions you may be harboring about how many voters know anything about anyone running for anything below the uppermost reaches of the ticket. 

          When I used to canvass for Joe Rice for State House Rep I can't tell you how many people asked me if he was running against Coffman. Trying to explain that Joe was not running for US Congress against Coffman but as a Rep in the state legislature generally met with looks of blank incomprehension. They generally knew there was a state capitol with that big gold dome and such so I would explain that that's where the state legislature meets and passes legislation for just the state of Colorado. More blank looks.

          But they had heard of Coffman. 

          I wish Morgan Carroll all the best but there had better be one hell of an ad blitz coming in September.

  2. I have a question about Morgan.  I've been donating to her campaign (via Act Blue) since I read about her in the Post last winter/spring.  She's constantly coming up short in fund raising and asking for more.  Why isn't she getting more support from the National Dem?  Have they written her off?

    1. See itlduso's post. There's only so much money to spread around. The most goes to trying to grab the seats judged to have the best chances. Sounds like Carroll will be appearing on screens near you soon.

      Asking for more money all the time is what all elected and would be elected officials at every level have to do. Fundraising is every pol's foremost job, even if they are getting considerable party and outside support and I hope Carroll's getting plenty of that outside support too. 

      That's why the calls and e-mails keep coming, especially to those who have already demonstrated willingness to give by giving. 

      House Reps have to run every two years and so are always in fund raising mode. Except, perhaps while sleeping. There is virtually no break between campaigns for a Rep.

      That's how it works in our system.

    3. This is all just head games. Morgan Carroll has no chance and smart Democrats all know it. She's also too unstable even for Democrats, they don't want her in Congress.

      1. Care to elaborate on examples of Carroll demonstrating instability or evidence that Democrats don't want her in congress? I will not be holding my breath

  3. I'm hoping someone has an approach of "congratulating" Mike Coffman for standing up to Trump on immigration. With Tancredo coming out and being so specific about Coffman's interest in maintaining his Member pin rather than being a true conservative, there is a chance the hard-core Trump and erstwhile Cruz voters will take a look at Coffman's "squish" on the immigration issue and decide to leave that race blank.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

144 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!