May 01, 2014 08:24 AM UTC

Arizona's Jan Brewer To Headline Cynthia Coffman Fundraiser

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• by: Colorado Pols

FRIDAY UPDATE: Cynthia Coffman claims that she's not "endorsing" Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's agenda, but as the Phoenix metro area East Valley Tribune reports, somebody might want to tell that to Jan Brewer!

Brewer just returned Monday night from Georgia where she helped raise money for U.S. Senate hopeful Karen Handel. And today she is in Colorado to aid Cynthia Coffman in her bid for state attorney general….

“I'm going to participate in any manner I can to help those candidates that I believe that are aligned with me philosophically, [Pols emphasis] and that they are pragmatic and that they will get the job done,” Brewer said.

Oops.

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UPDATE: The Denver Post's Lynn Bartels:

“Is Cynthia Coffman wanting to turn Colorado into Arizona?” One Colorado, the state’s largest gay-rights organization, asked. “Colorado is not Arizona. We respect our neighbors and embrace diversity as a strength. Let’s stand together, and send a clear message that Jan Brewer’s extremism has no place in Colorado politics.”

Coffman agreed that Colorado is not Arizona.

“The fact that she’s going to come and do an event with me for 90 minutes doesn’t mean I agree with her on everything,” Coffman told The Denver Post. “It’s not about me endorsing her agenda. It’s about her doing something for me as a successful elected Republican woman. There aren’t that many as you know.”

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Here's something that popped up on our Google Alerts, as posted to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's public calendar for this week:

Friday, May 2, 2014 

• Governor Brewer to speak at event for Attorney General candidate Cynthia Coffman 

Denver, Colorado

We don't have a time yet for GOP Colorado Attorney General candidate Cynthia Coffman's fundraiser, but sources tell us it's being held at The Palm, one of the swankier political-class haunts in downtown Denver. Other than this announcement via Gov. Brewer's calendar, we've seen no publicity for this fundraiser–much like Cynthia's husband Mike Coffman's recent Brown Palace fundraiser starring Karl Rove.

That's probably because Gov. Brewer is one of the more controversial Republican governors in America, having signed into law the hotly controversial (and later ruled unconstitutional) SB1070 anti-immigrant statute, and more recently embroiled in a nationwide controversy over a bill to allow discrimination against gays and lesbians for "religious reasons." Brewer ultimately vetoed that bill, but received limited credit for doing so since it's widely alleged she played a major role in its introduction–only dumping the measure after it became clear it would result in further needless economic damage to the state of Arizona.

Although we doubt Gov. Brewer is very popular overall in Colorado, her frequent brushes with controversy have made her popular among a segment of conservatives–while others consider her toxic to a party desperately trying to change its image with Latino and young independent voters. With that in mind, it will be particularly interesting to find out if Mike Coffman makes an appearance tomorrow at Cynthia Coffman's fundraiser, won't it? In fact, one could argue that any Coffman/Brewer fundraiser (note omission of given names) is a big problem for Congressman Coffman's reinvention into a pro-immigration moderate.

We suppose he could always not show up to his wife's fundraiser, but then that would be a story too…