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March 12, 2013 09:02 AM UTC

Welcome To The Big Leagues, Mike McLachlan!

  • 18 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

The Durango Herald's Joe Hanel reports from yesterday's debate in the Colorado Senate of House Bill 1224, which limits gun magazine capacity to 15 rounds. In which Sen. Steve King made some telling remarks about a fellow Western Slope legislator:

“Please do not be confused that the goals and objectives of Barack Hussein Obama, of Joe Biden, of Michael Bloomberg, are the same goals and objectives of the majority of your constituents,” said Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction.

King made reference to a call that Biden made to Rep. Mike McLachlan, D-Durango, to lobby for several of the bills. Opponents are trying to recall McLachlan for his votes on gun control.

“I look forward to the vice president of the United States coming to Colorado and going to Durango to help the representative on his recall election. He owes him that,” King said.

In a similar manner to the highly vocal crowds that have descended on the Colorado Capitol, freshman Rep. Mike McLachlan of Durango has been aggressively singled out by the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and their supporters during the gun debate. McLachlan has been threatened with a recall for supporting the package of gun safety bills that passed the Senate yesterday, in particular House Bill 1224. That said, it was McLachlan who introduced the amendment raising the maximum capacity from 10 to 15 rounds; this has been widely viewed as a favorable accommodation for gun owners, as it allows many autoloading pistols to use their "standard" 15 round magazines. Since then, McLachlan has talked about, but not committed to, further raising that limit to 30 rounds, in an effort to accommodate what Republicans insist are "standard" magazines for rifles like the AR-15.

The problem is, proponents have nothing to gain from further wrangling over the details of this bill. The arguments against not just this, but all of the gun safety bills that have passed the Senate, have been sufficiently irrational and strident that further debate with the GOP and the gun lobby is useless. The changes made in the Senate, however, including the fix for the silly-season grade "shotgun ban," require House Bill 1224 go back to the House for one more approval. The margin is narrow enough that we expect McLachlan is very, very busy talking to lobbyists and "concerned citizens" today, and his email and voicemail boxes are chock-full of nastygrams.

But here's the bottom line: threats of a recall election against McLachlan are wildly overblown. In all likelihood, the daunting logistics of collecting over 10,500 signatures from McLachlan's remote and mountainous district in 60 days will stop it cold. And if they do get that many signatures? Rep. McLachlan was the one who compromised, folks. There just aren't enough voters in HD-59 upset about not being able to buy banana clips for their automatic rifles to offset the middle-road narrative McLachlan can put forward, no matter how much Dudley Brown wishes there were. The biggest thing McLachlan needs to do is not confuse activist anger with majority support.

This is not to say that Rep. McLachlan won't face a spirited Republican challenge for his seat in 2014. As a drawn-competitive swing district, every election cycle is sure to be lively here. But it's clear to us that McLachlan has much more to gain by sticking with his caucus than he does caving to a small, if really loud, segment of voters.

We expect that's what he'll do.

Comments

18 thoughts on “Welcome To The Big Leagues, Mike McLachlan!

  1. One of the best ways Rep McLachlan can measure the positive impact he's having – he's got the nuts all upset.

    I think his votes here will help him when he runs for re-election. The gun nuts are louder but they still only get 1 vote each. What will be real interesting is if he wins while Cheri Jahn and Lois Tochtrop lose because Dems figure "why bother" when they ask for support.

  2. You say the arguments against stripping gun owners of their freedoms are sufficiently irrational to render further debate useless.  I support further debate.

    We need to determine what constitutes sufficient v. Insufficient irrationality.

      1. I'm not an expert, and I don't have time to research the topic, but I believe it is a fact that irrational debate is better than no debate at all.  It is your responsibility to prove me wrong.

  3. amusing to me that the 30 round magazine is now being touted as standard. It isn't. 8 round is standard. as the 30 round mags began being produced they began being included

      1. Can anyone cite for single example of a citizen carrying & using an assault rifle (regardless of clip rounds) in self defense.  Conceal/carry is pretty much null when the AR15 ain't really concealed. 

        Gun nuts rant about infringement on their freedom to buy super mags for their semi-auto assault rifles while continuing to use self-defense as the purpose.  But cite recent examples of a citizen coming to save the day using said assault rifle to combat a weapon-brandishing villain.  More likely these nuts replaying too many Hollywood action scenes in their Walter Mitty minds.

        1. So shooting up marauding watermelons doesn't count?  I sprained my ankle pretty bad once in a furrowed field.  An AR-15 would have been pretty handy — as a crutch.

  4. I wonder if Sen. King supported the recall of Gov. Walker (R-Wisconsin)? Apparently, he did. He seems to be operating on the principle that if you disagree with how a legislator voted or if they're in the executive branch what position they have, on a given piece of legislation they can be recalled.

    No elected official, Republican or Democrat, should be recalled upon that ground. The recall election mounted against Gov. Walker was nonsense. He supported several pieces of legislation that he was able to get through the Wisconsin legislature and he signed them into law. I didn't like his anti-union bills but isn't that how we do our public business in the United States. If we don't like how a legislator voted on a given bill, then we can vote that individual out at the the next primnary or general election. Gov. Walker's supporters, the Republican Party, utilized that argument (rightfully so) in his recall election but apparently, when the shoe is on other foot, that principle doesn't hold any water.

    Rep. McLachlan should not be recalled simply because he performed his constitutional duties to consider and vote on legislation that comes before him as a member of the Colorado General Assembly. Those who opposed the gun safety legislation should campaign against him during the next primary and general elecitons.

    1. I agree with the general proposition of not attempting a recall just because you disagree with the votes and the political position of the elected person–if he or she is voting on the platform on which he or she ran. Scott Walker is a bit different, however. He did not run on the platform he immediately pursued upon election. He was clearly deceptive. In short, he lied to the voters. He was fair game for a recall, and in a just and less money dominated world (outside money saved his ass) he would have been recalled.

      You are right that Walker's supporter utilized the argument that he shouldn't be recalled just on political grounds. That is a valid argument if true; it just wasn't true in Walker's case. I don't know the details of McLachlan's campaign, but I have no reason to think there was deception on his part. Thus, there is no valid basis for a recall.

      Of note is that the same group is threatening a recall effort against Senate President John Morse. And that is total nonsense.

      1. I don't like Governor Walker, or what he stands for either but I a recall was inappropriate. A recall should only be used as a last resort when there's credible evidence that an official has committed a crime, or perhaps incompetance. Using a recall for  anything else is abusive and makes the the political and governing processes that much more dysfunctional. 

        1. Deliberately decieving the voters about what you intend to if elected to office–as Walker did–is also "abusive and makes the poltical and governing process that much more dysfunctional."

          1. gaf-I think all know what you mean by dysfunctional so I hope there don't havve to be a multitude of posts where you are askedd to define it as BC was asked to do with "function"

          2. What's to stop Republicans, when the situation is reversed (in Wisconisn or somewhere else) from iniating a recall against a Democratic executive they disagree with, but who hasn't done anything illegal? The Democrats, at least in Wisconsin, aren't going to have a lot of credibility to complain when the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak.  This  is likely to happen sooner or later.

            To have a functioning democracy, there has to be a certain amount of respect for the process, which includes only iniating recalls or impeachment in extenuating circumstances. You can't have a situation where every executive faces the possibility of being recalled or impeached after they've legitimately won an election. Governor Walker's move against collective bargaing was definitely a cheap shot but he also won the election.

            1. I am not disagreeing about the general principle–I said that above.  I do not advocate attempting to recall someone for doing what they said they would do if elected (if it is legal and constitutional). I think we just disagree on what you here call "extenuating circumstances." I include Walker's deliberate deception and lying about what he would do as governor as an extenuating circumstance that justifies a recall. You don't. Got it. It seems we agree on the principle but draw the application line in a different place.

    2. Republican 36:

      I may be in the minority on this thread but I find myself in agreement here, even though I'm very much a Democrat.

       Democratic governance requires a certain amount of respect for the process. Put another way, You can't have a functioning democracy if every elected official, who has legitimately won an election, can be recalled merely because the opposition disagrees with their agenda.

      I thought Governor Walker’s legislation on collective bargaining was a cheap shot and red-herring—the real problems have little to do with whether public-employees can collectively bargain. At the same time the recall was not appropriate—Governor Walker had won the election,  and had the votes to pass his legislation. I would also add that the collective-bargaing legislation was not (to the best of my knowledge) illegal or unconstitutional.   

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