We were tipped off this morning about a filing yesterday by former Republican Speaker of the House Frank McNulty to run for the post of University of Colorado Regent, representing the state’s heavily conservative 4th congressional district after McNulty’s home in Highlands Ranch was lumped with most of the Eastern Plains on the new congressional district maps.
On McNulty’s freshly-deployed campaign website, a generic and neutrally-worded agenda:
Accountability starts at the top. The University of Colorado Board of Regents are accountable to the people of our state. That accountability passes to the University leadership, to the faculty and onto the students. It is increasingly important that students be accountable to their fellow students. This means respecting differences, entertaining conversation, and calling out bullies where they are. The Regents can set this tone with their voice and their actions. After all, if the school leadership is unable to be accountable to one another and to respect differing views, how can we expect faculty, staff, and students to do the same?
Just that tiny whiff of “respecting differing views” is the only hint you get that something political is at work here, before McNulty immediately segues into the matter of the University of Colorado’s search for a new President to replace the self-yeeted former Republican Congressman Mark Kennedy:
The University of Colorado is now hiring it’s next president and needs a world-class leader who will take us forward. There has been a partisan tug of war over the president in the last several years. This should stop, and I am committed to supporting an individual who represents the excellence of our University. We need common ground, continuity, and longevity in the tenure of our next CU President. As Regent, I will work to find that common ground around University leadership that is able to advance the Board, the University, and the larger CU community.
McNulty’s promise to end the “partisan tug of war over the president” is incredibly audacious considering that McNulty along with CU Regent At-Large (now running for governor) Heidi Ganahl played central roles in the partisan controversy over the hiring and failed tenure of Mark Kennedy. McNulty was picked to serve on the search committee for CU’s next president reportedly dominated by Republican “community members,” who steered the process away from such qualified choices as former Gov. Bill Ritter and leaders of much bigger university systems and toward the eventual “sole finalist” Congressman Kennedy. Kennedy proved a horrifyingly bad fit for Colorado’s flagship university, and came to personify the school’s veering from the path of academic rigor into politically-motivated “conservative affirmative action” championed by Kennedy’s predecessor Bruce Benson.
Audacity to the point of shameless is nothing new for McNulty, who founded a now-defunct and nakedly partisan “ethics watchdog” group to imitate the work of actual ethics watchdogs and bedevil Democratic candidates. Ever since McNulty presided over the loss of the Colorado House to Democrats in 2012, he’s been at the heart of failed schemes to regain power including attempts to meddle with the redistricting process to any degree the state’s new regulated process allowed.
Although McNulty himself won’t face much resistance getting elected to represent Ken Buck’s constituents on the Board of Regents, McNulty’s campaign is certain to result in even more “divisive questions” for Heidi Ganahl. Running statewide in a blue-trending state, the last thing Ganahl needs is to be reminded constantly about Mark Kennedy’s failure and the misguided campaign for “ideological diversity” at the University of Colorado. That leads directly to questions about Ganahl’s enthusiastic support for January 6th coup plotter John Eastman to serve as CU’s “Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy.” If Ganahl won’t answer those “divisive questions,” McNulty will have much less to risk–even if that means Ganahl gets burned.
It’s a brash move from a guy who has made a lot of costly political mistakes for his team over the years. And as is so often the case when audacity trumps good sense, the risk McNulty poses is not so much to himself.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: DavidThi808
IN: Christmas 2024 Open Thread
BY: Gilpin Guy
IN: Colorado Pols is 20 Years Old!!!
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: It’s Long Past Time to Ban Body Armor
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: joe_burly
IN: Colorado Pols is 20 Years Old!!!
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Colorado Pols is 20 Years Old!!!
BY: notaskinnycook
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: notaskinnycook
IN: Monday Open Thread
BY: davebarnes
IN: Holy Crap Boebert Bestie Matt Gaetz’s Ethics Report Is Bad
BY: MarsBird
IN: It’s Long Past Time to Ban Body Armor
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
I wouldn't vote for McNulty if he offered me free tropical vacations for life, but I totally wouldn't vote for a regent who makes "its/it's" errors:
I can't stand it. Once you see that it is ALL you can see.
hmmm … "We need common ground, continuity, and longevity in the tenure of our next CU President. As Regent, I will work to find that common ground around University leadership that is able to advance the Board, the University, and the larger CU community."
what the heck would it look like for a President "to advance the Board…" ??
Wanda James for CU regent!
Her website, Wanda4cu.com, does not seem to be working right now, but I’m excited to support a fellow Polster and dynamic, fresh voice on the CU Board.
If this opportunistic fool McNulty gets elected, by some chance, we will need people like Wanda James to represent the CU community.
Remember..
Frank McNulty is the only person in recent memory to fuck up the job of Speaker worse than Josh Penry.
Just sayin'.
Hi Everyone,
I'm Frank McNulty's challenger for CU Regent in CD4.
I am a Teacher, Sailor, Truck Driver, Mechanic, Store Manager, and Actor running for CU Regent in CD4. I've lived a varied existence and returned to college in my 40s earning a teaching degree after attending 3 community colleges and 2 4-year universities. I have sat as chair and in other positions on different boards and have overseen multi-million-dollar expenditures. I am currently entertaining people at Renaissance Festivals because I love the environment and the people, Lord knows, it's not for the money. As a Navy veteran, I bring a military discipline to my life and decision making. As a Mechanic, I bring a connection to hard-working laborers that a politician never gets. As a Truck Driver, I have travelled all over and seen how the world functions and not just the front range of Colorado. As a store manager, I have had to interact with all manner of the working public in the proper manner. As an actor, I have learned how to be entertaining to the public and how present myself and speak before larger crowds. I am living in the far Southeast plains of the state and know the concerns of the rural people of Colorado, but I have also lived in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and a small suburban town and I know the concerns of homeowners in a rapidly changing market. I have a wide and varied knowledge base that I will tap into when interacting on the behalf of the citizens of Congressional District 4 as a member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents. Please support my bid by spreading the word about me. Make a sign or have some made that say "Barrington for CU Regent People, not Politics" then stand on a street corner and wave at people, stick one on your car, stick one in your yard, get a tattoo of one and post it online. I'm not asking for donations; I'm asking for exposure. Please vote for Barrington for CU Regent CD4.