June 28, 2018 01:02 PM UTC

Stapleton's Top Lite Gov Pick Says No?

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• by: Colorado Pols

We’re hearing rumors that one of GOP gubernatorial nominee Walker Stapleton’s very first acts to consolidate support after Tuesday night’s primary win has hit a snag: Heidi Ganahl, Republican Regent-At-Large for the University of Colorado, is said to have declined Stapleton’s offer to serve as lieutenant governor.

With Ganahl out, speculation is now centering on Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese as Stapleton’s likely LG pick. Pugliese is a considerably less desirable choice for a running mate than Ganahl, with a record of political activism on the Western Slope than can best be characterized as…out of the mainstream:

Rose Pugliese, an unsuccessful candidate for a District 51 school board seat in the last election, presented a petition with 700 signatures to the board asking that science teachers stop giving lessons on global warming.

Pugliese, a 32-year-old Grand Junction attorney and activist in Tea Party and conservative Republican groups, also presented a petition with 600 signatures demanding Mesa County schools keep political views out of classrooms…

“It (global warming) is not a proven scientific theory. There is not evidence to support it,” Pugliese told the board, generating applause from about 40 Tea Party and other conservative group members who filled the room for the first school board petition battle over this issue in the country.

This wouldn’t be the first time a wacky Mesa County politico got elevated to the statewide stage, only to crash and burn in the spotlight–in 2006, Bob Beauprez selected then-Mesa commish Janet Rowland as his running-mate, and Rowland’s record of on-record crazy became a liability that helped sink Beauprez’s campaign.

As they say, what’s past is prologue! Apparently the talent pool hasn’t expanded much.