January 17, 2024 02:37 PM UTC

House Minority Leader Mike Lynch Arrested in 2022 for DUI & Carrying Gun While Intoxicated

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• by: Colorado Pols

When House Minority Leader Mike Lynch announced earlier this month that he would be running for Congress in CO-04 but would NOT be stepping down from his leadership role in the GOP caucus, we thought this was a pretty poor decision.

When Lynch previewed the 2024 legislative session by promising to continue the Republican strategy from 2023 of pointless obstruction — Republicans took up more than twice the speaking time of Democrats last session — we thought this was a pretty poor decision.

As it turns out, making poor decisions is pretty much what Mike Lynch does.

According to a stunning new story from Nick Coltrain and Seth Klamann of The Denver Post, Lynch somehow managed to hide a very troubling encounter with police for more than 15 months:

[Lynch] was arrested in 2022 on suspicion of drunken driving and possessing a firearm while intoxicated, according to previously unreported law enforcement records.

A Colorado State Patrol report details the arrest of Lynch, a Wellington Republican, on Sept. 30, 2022. He was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol and later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of driving while ability impaired. Lynch was sentenced in February to 18 months of probation, which is still active, with monitored sobriety.

He received a deferred sentence for the weapons charge but was barred from possessing firearms and ordered to complete a handgun safety course.

It seems odd that Lynch would be required to complete a handgun safety class if he is no longer allowed to possess a firearm, but we’re no lawyers. However, you don’t need a law degree to understand that there are a whole bunch of lessons from this story about what NOT to do — not only as a legislator but as a person in general. To wit:

♦ DON’T RACE A POLICE CAR ON THE HIGHWAY!!!

Lynch was pulled over after a trooper paced him driving 90 mph on Interstate 25 north of Fort Collins. According to the incident report, Lynch had initially pulled alongside the trooper in the left lane and roughly matched the trooper’s speed before zooming off.

He said in the interview with The Post that he was on his way back from an event and was simply eager to get home.

Oh, well in that case… [insert eyeroll]

♦ FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON’T PULL OUT A GUN IN FRONT OF A POLICE OFFICER!!!

Trooper Matthew King pulled Lynch over and asked him to step out of the car after he smelled alcohol and noticed Lynch’s eyes were glassy, the report says. Lynch complied. King wrote in the incident report that he saw Lynch had a pocket knife. When the trooper told Lynch that he was going to secure the knife, Lynch told him he also had a gun in his pocket and reached for it.

Lynch began to tell King that he was a supporter of and fought for law enforcement and that the handgun he had was “not a big deal,” the report says. But the trooper “informed him that pulling a gun out of your pocket when in contact with the police was, in fact, a big deal and people get shot that way.” [Pols emphasis]

Hey, man, I totally [hiccup] love you guys!

The next time Lynch pontificates about the second amendment and gun safety, everyone in the room should immediately tell him to STFU.

♦ DON’T TRY TO GET OUT OF A DUI BY MENTIONING THAT YOU ARE AN ELECTED OFFICIAL!!!

Lynch told the trooper he was returning from a fundraiser in Fort Collins and admitted to having a few drinks, “but not a lot.” Lynch then asked the trooper to call a state patrol captain who serves as the agency’s legislative liaison at the Capitol, the report says.

When the trooper indicated that he didn’t know who that person was, Lynch reconsidered and said he didn’t want to call the captain, according to the report. He then told King that he was a state representative, though Lynch didn’t bring up his position further and complied with roadside tests and a breath test. [Pols emphasis]

Lynch said Wednesday that he wasn’t looking for a favor when he mentioned the lobbyist, but he was anxious and wanted to keep people he worked with informed so that they wouldn’t be surprised. He said he also was cognizant then of other situations in which public officials have brought up their status to avoid responsibility — and he didn’t want to fall into that camp.

Yeah, that ship sailed when you mentioned a lobbyist for the state patrol AND told the officer that you were an elected official.

♦ IF YOUR JOB INVOLVES MAKING LAWS, YOU SHOULD BE FAMILIAR WITH SOME OF THEM!!!

A breath test indicated that Lynch had a blood-alcohol content of about 0.165, according to the report. Lynch told the trooper he thought the legal limit was 0.2 in Colorado, but it is 0.08 — making his reading twice the limit.

Lynch thought the legal limit was 0.2? That might be fine for a water buffalo, but 0.2 is about the point where most people would start to lose consciousness altogether. It’s a minor miracle that Lynch even managed to keep his car on the road with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.165.

The legal and ethical problems facing Lynch after this September 2022 DUI are obvious. From a political perspective, this is a perfect example of the dangers of Republicans running so many races against other Republicans. There will be somewhere in the neighborhood of two dozen Republicans running for the GOP nominations in congressional districts three, four, and five, as well as numerous primaries for state legislative seats. Since the winner of the Republican Primary in these races is all but assured of winning again in the General Election (due to the heavy Republican voter advantage in these districts), other Republicans are going to dig up and dump everything they can find on one another.

Republicans can’t beat Democrats in Colorado, but they damn sure can beat on each other instead. It’s going to be a lonnnggggg six months for Colorado Republicans.