U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

Governor See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse

(D) Phil Weiser

(D) Jena Griswold

60%

60%

40%↓

Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Alexis King

(D) Brian Mason

40%

40%

30%

Sec. of State See Full Big Line

(D) George Stern

(D) A. Gonzalez

(R) Sheri Davis

40%

40%

30%

State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(R) Kevin Grantham

(D) Jerry DiTullio

60%

30%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(D) Joe Salazar

50%

40%

40%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
April 11, 2014 12:05 PM UTC

Bob Beauprez: Repeal the 17th Amendment

  • 18 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

The latest example of GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez getting nutty during his years out of the spotlight. In this August 2010 interview on WWL Radio in New Orleans, Louisiana, Beauprez talks with host Spud McConnell about repealing the 17th Amendment–the century-old provision mandating the direct election of Senators by popular vote:

MCCONNELL: Forty states to my knowledge, so I mean there's several states looking at this, but also many many states who are looking at this, uh sending, uh, have already sent resolutions to the Beltway to say, re-read the 10th Amendment, you're overstepping your grounds. And in a discussion I had about that, I had a constitutional law professor on say, when Louisiana does that, we should include in there that we want to go back to where states actually elected their Senators…

BEAUPREZ: Oh yeah.

MCCONNELL: And sent them up there, and then that way, the state legislature, if there was some stuff going on in Washington they didn't like, they could actually, uh, withdraw their Senators, bring them back like an ambassador is brought back for consultations, and, and keep them out of any elections or any votes that are going on up there so that I think would give the states considerably more power inside the Beltway. What do you think about that?

BEAUPREZ: I couldn't agree more. [Pols emphasis] I think states lost an enormous amount of their leverage, their accountability, when the 17th Amendment–I think I've got my numbers right…

MCCONNELL: I think it's 17th, I didn't say it because I couldn't remember…

BEAUPREZ: Was passed and, there is, I think it's, and I don't know that there's enough focus and enough attention on it yet to really get it changed back to the way it was, but I think it's a growing movement, I agree with you Spud.

Repealing the 17th Amendment was a goal of the Tea Party in 2009-2010, albeit not as popular as the move to interpret the 10th Amendment as the only one that matters (excepting the 2nd Amendment of course). Ken Buck was at one point a supporter of repealing the 17th Amendment, until he realized fairly late in his 2010 campaign for the U.S. Senate that wanting to get rid of the very same election one is competing in doesn't exactly ingratiate one's self with the voters.

It's another fringy moment to add to the growing collection, like Beauprez's 2012 interview where he claims President Barack Obama is "pushing the boundaries" toward "civil war," his "birther" pandering in 2010, writing in his 2009 book that climate change is "a complete hoax foisted on most of the world,", and more recent comments about how Sharia law is "creeping in" in Colorado.

Are there more? Probably, folks. In fact, we're willing to bet on it. We would consider just about any of these to be completely disqualifying in a general election. The question is, are sane Republicans paying attention now?

Tweet
Share

Comments

18 thoughts on “Bob Beauprez: Repeal the 17th Amendment”

  1. Because the last thing we need is the rabble electing our Senators. That's how we got Barack Hussein Obama to begin with!

    Way to go, Both Ways Bob, way to go.

      1. BlueCat, have faith in Bob Beauprez.  With hard work, dedication, strong fund-raising and a statewide network of volunteers to help him, OF COURSE he can find a way to be a bigger horse's ass!   I'd bet my farm on itwink 

  4. The states naming senators gave us the likes of the Great Triumvirate: Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun.  Direct election brought us Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Jim DeMint.   Can I think about this one a while?

  5. The 17th amendment question is a fun one to beat somebody up over, and it plays extraordinarily well in TV ads. 

    But I wish it didn't, because I think it is a fair debate, that is not as simple as "so-and-so wants to take away your right to vote for your Senator".

    I think there is a lot of merit to the old way of electing the Senate. I think it would make them much more accountable, for one thing. 

    It's hard to say how it would effect the issue of money in politics. When your voter base is only 100 people, you certainly don't need to raise a million dollars a month to campaign to them. But maybe the money would just shift to the state legislative races instead, distrorting those races and making them all about federal issues, instead of local ones. 

    But the point is that I wish we could honestly have that debate. But it will never happen when everyone who brings it up is figuratively lynched on TV. 

    1. Call me cynical but pushing for the repeal the 17th Amendment is  a bit like advocating for electing judges. It's almost always the the losing side that advocates for it–this is especially true for electing judges–because the
      the current way of doing things is leaving them out of power or not resulting in favorable court rulings.  As consequence the losing side  wants to repeal the 17th amendment or elect judges, in the hope that it result in more favorable candidates or legal rulings.

      The advocates of either repealing the 17th Amendment or electing judges, often hide behind the veil of  democracy or fairness, but in reality it's almost always about getting back into power, nothing else. 

       

      1. Well, since it's never going to happen they can advocate for repealing the 17th all they want. Voters are never going to turn the clock back that far. What's more, the people pushing it know it's never going to happen. It's just pandering to a select portion of the wacko base as opposed to the whole wacko base they pander to when they refuse to say Obama is a perfectly legit American born citizen. What good BWB thinks it does him for statewide in Colorado is beyond me (nowhere near a majority of Colorado Republicans are on board with this one) but nobody has ever accused him of being overly bright.

  6. If the Teabaggers don't like GOP backroom deals now, they'll just love the backroom wheelings-and-dealings in the rats nest known as the legislature to elect a senator for them.

    Gawd. Can't these people put even two dots in a row?

    1. I'm with Gertie. I don't see how appointing Senators possibly ensures less corruption or better governance. Ref: Blagogevich, Rob.

      The constitutional amendments were put in for good reason, and no, I don't think I am an "originalist", whatever that is.

        1. Moot. Never going to happen. The idea of giving up direct election of Senators will never be popular enough to have a snowball's chance in hell of surviving the amendment process. 

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

123 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!