February 17, 2016 10:52 AM UTC

Cadman's "Do Your Job" Gaffe Becomes Nationwide News

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Yesterday, GOP Colorado Senate President Bill Cadman shocked local political reporters by appearing to break with the national Republican party line of opposition to any Supreme Court nominee before President Barack Obama leaves office. Recapping the Denver Post’s John Frank’s blog post yesterday that kicked off much of the controversy:

Colorado’s top GOP state lawmaker has a message for Republican leaders in Washington who want to block any Supreme Court nomination to replace Antonin Scalia.

“Dear Congress, do your job,” said Senate President Bill Cadman.

The Colorado Springs Republican’s remarks align with more with the message from Democrats — and diverge from GOP leaders, including Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, who want President Barack Obama to delay a nomination for the new president.

But as the AP via the Aurora Sentinel reported later–after the initial wire story and others had gone to print–Cadman walked these comments back more or less wholesale:

Not long after calling reporters in to make that statement, he walked it back after it caused a firestorm of political controversy that went national. He later wanted to clarify his remarks, saying that he didn’t intend for the statement to make it sound as if he were cautioning the U.S. Senate to block a nominee from getting a nomination hearing…

The Associated Press, Denver Post and Durango Herald all ran similar stories about Cadman’s comments after the morning announcement.

Cadman later offered these remarks on the Colorado Republican Party website:

“I want to clarify the meaning of remarks made earlier today, which may lead to misunderstandings if taken out of context. I wasn’t misquoted by the reporter [Pols emphasis] but nothing I said should be interpreted as aligning me with Democrats, or against Republican colleagues, on the question of nominating and confirming a replacement for Justice Scalia…”

So what really happened here, you ask? There’s no way to know for sure, but there’s little ambiguity in Cadman’s original remarks to leave room for completely backpedaling them–as his second statement does with no real attempt to reconcile the two. That’s a pretty clear indicator that Cadman messed up very badly, and mostly likely got taken to the proverbial woodshed by his betters in Washington.

With Republicans in Washington, D.C. taking yet another heedless political risk by stonewalling against an Obama Supreme Court nominee with nearly a year left in his term, obviously the last thing they need is a high-ranking Republican lawmaker in the states telling them to “do their jobs.” The speed with which Senate President Cadman’s remarks yesterday spread took everyone by surprise, from fellow Republicans trying to spin their tenuous position to the gobsmacked reporters putting it out on the wire.

And no matter what he says now, Cadman’s original statement is what everyone will remember.