April 02, 2013 08:15 AM UTC

Coffman Reinvention Watch: Love Me Some Solar Power!

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• by: Colorado Pols

A brief story on an obscure energy blog will provoke a double-take from anybody who knows Rep. Mike Coffman:

Today (April 1) SolarCity and Walgreens introduced a new partnership in Aurora, CO, under which SolarCity will install solar photovoltaics on Walgreens pharmacies at 22 locations throughout Colorado. The companies are installing the arrays in 14 Colorado cities in Xcel Energy’s coverage area. Official from the companies, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman (R) and Aurora’s Mayor Steve Hogan were on hand to cut the ribbon at the first completed system.

“It's exciting to see that Walgreens is going to do 22 stores throughout our state and the first one that they picked was in Aurora, Colo.,” Coffman said. “It kind of brings me full-circle.…When I was 16 years old and in Aurora, one of my first jobs was working for a Walgreens.”

It seems like a pretty ordinary story, so much so that it didn't apparently get much pickup at all outside a couple of industry publications and a press release that went around. Congressman joins local business to celebrate new solar power systems. Great, right?

Except, as we know from events preceding last year's elections, the hard-right Rep. Coffman most of us know is no fan of solar power. Last January, before Rep. Coffman's unexpectedly narrow 2012 re-election and subsequent en masse flip-flopping "repositioning" on a growing number of issues, President Barack Obama came to Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora to tout new renewable energy programs at the Department of Defense. To which Coffman replied piquishly,

The president’s Green Energy initiative for the Department of Defense has everything to do with scoring political points with environmentalists and very little to do with supporting our war fighters. By forcing our military to adopt high-cost renewable energies, while at the same time pushing for reductions in military personnel, the president will ultimately force further reductions to achieve his costly Green Energy initiative while also meeting his demands for a smaller military.

Clearly, he feels a differently about solar power at your local Walgreens! We're not trying to make an apples-to-apples allegation of hypocrisy, but let's be frank: the purpose of sending out election year press releases about "scoring political points with environmentalists" on renewable energy is to disparage renewable energy. Appearing at a drug store in your district to celebrate solar power, after so much criticism of the president over renewable energy last year? It may not be a perfect hypocritical fit, but seriously, folks. In the context of everything else Rep. Coffman is trying to backpedal on ahead of 2014, it's really hard to keep the cynics at bay.

There are limits to the degree to which a politician can credibly "reinvent" himself, no matter how necessary it may be to remake one's image to save one's political career. Most recently, Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign crossed this line, and paid the ultimate price. Mike Coffman seems bent on at least testing it.