Dudley Brown Ain't Above Making Threats

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by: Colorado Pols

Yesterday's testimony in the Senate Judiciary Committee on a bill restricting magazine capacity turned red hot as Rocky Mountain Gun Owners head Dudley Brown openly threatened to "fund the opponent" of Democratic Sen. Jesse Ulibarri–just one of several moments of drama. Video clip via the Denver Post's feed, also available at leg.state.co.us:

No words minced as you can see. The exchange begins as Sen. Ulibarri asks RMGO's Brown if his organization has donated to any of the members of the committee–to which Republican Sens. Steve King and Kevin Lundberg (almost certainly RMGO donation recipients) immediately object, and chair Lucia Guzman begins to rule Ulibarri out of order. Before she can, however, Ulibarri responds that the question is appropriate, especially given Republicans questioning the alleged "role" of Vice President Joe Biden in the bills up for debate. Dudley Brown's answer, albeit a bit flubbed, puts any doubt about the appropriateness of Ulibarri's question to rest.

One small twist, however: as has been reported, the registered lobbyist for RMGO, Joe Neville, is facing an ethics complaint for allegedly threatening GOP Rep. Cheri Gerou with political reprisal in the form of a "round of mailings" into her district. As Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post reported, it's against lobbying rules to threaten a legislator in any way, including political reprisals. We're told that Brown used to be a registered lobbyist, but that's probably lapsed now that he's gone big time–and has the son of former Sen. Tim Neville working on his behalf. Perhaps Brown had Neville's experience in mind when he realized he wasn't a lobbyist, and engaged in behavior that would have previously seen him tossed out of the capitol.

Judging from the crowd, the rules of decorum had ground down to mere speedbumps by this time anyway.

16 thoughts on “Dudley Brown Ain’t Above Making Threats”

roccoprahn says:

March 5, 2013 at 6:16 pm

Wow, from eruption after the dudster spoke, sure sounds like the gooneys packed it with gooneys on entitlements. Work day and all that.

So they're allready on disability, or SS, or both, and now they want me to pay for their fucking background checks too?

Goddam mooches, those gooneys are.

Just a thought, what does a gooney do, who does the gooney root for, when ryan/paul pass another Bill in the redleg house that pulls their entitlements? Would the god fearin', half the country lovin', pinko , 2nd amendment bastardizen' snipes actually pray President Obama (you know, the "Muslim guy") saves their asses again?

Elliot, yer up.

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La Libertad says:

March 5, 2013 at 6:39 pm

Ole Jesse walked himself right into that one. Christ Almightly, even Sen. Guzman was concerned along with Sen. King that Jesse there was headed for a rude awakening.

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1. roccoprahn says:
  
  March 5, 2013 at 7:09 pm
  
  WTF?
  
  Make sense.
  
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  1. La Libertad says:
    
    March 5, 2013 at 7:29 pm
    
    Jesse walked right into that exchange. Both Guzman and King tried to protect him. Jesse allowed a citizen to help him make an ass out of himself.
    
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    1. roccoprahn says:
      
      March 5, 2013 at 8:32 pm
      
      Walked into what?
      
      The goonies stacked the meeting, and they cheered when brown threatened him.
      
      That's not "making a fool out himself" He's just doing his job, you fuck.
      
      Making a fool out of yourself is you thinking brown was not out of line and the goobers in the gallery bein'…………..goobers……….is okay.
      
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  2. Aristotle says:
    
    March 5, 2013 at 7:34 pm
    
    He can't. He's having an episode. Just look at everything he's posted in the past half hour.
    
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ElliotFladen says:

March 6, 2013 at 5:21 am

It will be interesting to see if those lobbying rules hold up after Citizen's United. I haven't reviewed this recently, but my recollection is the main outstanding justification for restricting donations is to limit the risk of quid pro quo corruption. Again, without looking at this closley (i.e. NOT legal advice) I don't think that kind of risk is present here – Dudley Brown isn't seeking to get an unseemly contract – he is seeking to advocate for core ideas he believes in. It would be little different than if a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood said they would donate to the primary opponent of any democrat that voted for Personhood.

As I said though (multiple times) I haven't yet looked at this question closely, so feel free to double check the relevant caselaw and correct me if you think this is an inaccurate understanding of the law's current state.

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1. ElliotFladen says:
  
  March 6, 2013 at 5:30 am
  
  The big question I'd have for Dudley is not whether RMGO is going to be giving money to causes related to gun rights, its instead whether RMGO will be funnelling money to other causes unrelated to guns.
  
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2. Aristotle says:
  
  March 6, 2013 at 6:45 am
  
  It would be little different than if a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood said they would donate to the primary opponent of any democrat that voted for Personhood.
  
  How is this different? Are you implying that PP doesn't "advocate for core ideas they believe in"? Because you're way off base if you are.
  
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  1. DavidThi808 says:
    
    March 6, 2013 at 7:13 am
    
    I read that as a way of saying no difference. It was "little different", not "a little different."
    
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    1. Aristotle says:
      
      March 6, 2013 at 7:24 am
      
      Whoops. I misread that.
      
      Elliot, my apologies.
      
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      1. ElliotFladen says:
        
        March 6, 2013 at 7:32 am
        
        No worries
        
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3. Phoenix Rising says:
  
  March 6, 2013 at 1:27 pm
  
  Anyone is allowed to say they'll fund an opposition campaign, but not in the context of lobbying. It's the "support this or else" in the process of lobbying for legislation or other actino that is the kicker.
  
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ElliotFladen says:

March 6, 2013 at 6:58 am

I don't know all of PP's activities, but my guess is they do just that. Hence why I drew the comparison.

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1. Aristotle says:
  
  March 6, 2013 at 7:04 am
  
  That doesn't make any sense. You said "It would be a little different," not "it's like…."
  
  Also, Elliot, can you PLEASE use the reply link when posting replies?
  
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Craig says:

March 6, 2013 at 10:45 am

Speaking of asses. That would be and has been Dudley Brown for more than 20 years. He's been making these threats for years and years. They used to be taken seriously when the Republicans controlled everything and when the party wasn't so homogenous. The fact is that Dudley and his tactics are still left in the early 1990's when there were still enough moderate Republicans to swing things in the Legislature. Not so any more. He's not going to support a Dem no matter how they vote. They know it. His leverage is gone. So now he's just left as the same man with the little penis but now his threats and power are nothing. Goodbye Dudley. Can't say I'm sorry to see you go. Rest in hell.

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