February 23, 2010 11:20 PM UTC

Oh Noes, Politics!

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• by: Colorado Pols

You’ll enjoy this article in today’s Durango Herald:

Democrats are ripping Republican state Rep. Scott Tipton for missing a tricky vote last week on the agriculture budget.

The Cortez legislator called the charge “the ultimate cheap shot” because he was excused in advance for the vote.

The spat offers a glimpse into how politically savvy legislators can force votes that put the other side in no-win situations. In this case, Democrats want to use the episode against Tipton in his congressional race against U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa.

The vote came Wednesday, when the House was debating dozens of bills that cut the budget by nearly $360 million. Republicans and unaffiliated Rep. Kathleen Curry offered amendments to cut the state payroll in each department, for an additional $10 million savings.

Tipton voted for all of them in initial votes. Democrats for the most part opposed the amendments. They were all defeated, except for the Agriculture Department pay cuts. Enough Democrats supported the agriculture amendment in an initial vote that the Agriculture Committee chairman had to force an on-the-record vote to protect the department he oversees.

The tactic happens a lot on budget bills because one side can pit two of the other side’s interests against each other. In this case, it was agriculture vs. the GOP strategy of pushing across-the-board payroll cuts…

Anyway, this wasn’t actually about longshot CD-3 candidate Scott Tipton, who is probably right about being excused and doesn’t come out looking any worse for wear (for what it’s worth), but the much more politically in play Cory Gardner running in heavily agricultural CD-4. Gardner stuck with the majority of the GOP caucus in voting to cut the Ag Department, providing that much more in terms of ammunition to use against him with farmers in his aspirant district. In the end, Minority Leader Mike May had to cast a key vote to protect the department from this unpopular and by-then singular cut–which would have been laid at the feet of GOP candidates had it passed.

But the funny part is all the pearl-clutching outrage over this kind of thing happening, as if such political byplay isn’t the point of the majority of GOP bills introduced this year, from Dave Schultheis’ religious freedom bill to HB10-1261, the perennial fetal homicide “kill this” bill. The only reason they exist at all is Focus on the Family’s direct-mail wing, so chill with the melodrama.

And maybe it’s time explain to that restive GOP base why Minority Leader May didn’t want this say-we-want-a budget cut to, you know, actually pass, turnabout being fair play and all.