President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Kamala Harris

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) V. Archuleta

98%

2%

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

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Marshall Dawson

95%

5%

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

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

50%

50%

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

(R) Lauren Boebert

(D) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank

(D) River Gassen

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) John Fabbricatore

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen

(R) Sergei Matveyuk

90%

10%

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

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

70%↑

30%

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
July 31, 2009 10:07 PM UTC

Penry Brushes Off "Candidate Pledge"

  • 31 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Something like that, as the Denver Post reports:

In 2006, then-state Rep. Josh Penry signed a pledge offered up by his Democratic state Senate opponent vowing not to seek higher office while holding the seat. Or perhaps it was a pledge to serve out his four-year term.

The pledge, signed during a Club 20 debate in Grand Junction, returned to the political discussion this month, as Sen. Penry, R-Grand Junction, launched his campaign for governor.

Trouble is, no one knows for sure what it said.

Penry said he pledged to serve out his four-year Senate term, and he’s doing exactly that.

He said the word on the campaign trail back then was that he wanted to use the seat as a springboard to challenge U.S. Rep. John Salazar for the 3rd Congressional District seat in 2008, and that’s why the pledge came up.

Penry said it is now being misconstrued to indicate that he vowed never to run for another office while in the Senate.

The pledge story resurfaced this week on the ColoradoPols and Colorado Independent blogs.

“This is total fiction from the same left-wing blogs that accused me of colluding with George W. Bush to cause this recession,” Penry said. “They make it up as they go.”

The Colorado Independent doesn’t know what he’s talking about:

In the latest twist, the Denver Post weighs in with an actual return call from Penry, who dubs us a “left-wing blog” producing “total fiction” like a story accusing him of conspiring with George Bush to cause the recession.

Don’t recall that piece … must have been on ColoradoPols.

Not that we’ve found. In fact we’re not really sure where Josh Penry got this idea at all–we’ve been praising his acknowledgement lately of GOP failures in the last few years, which would presumably include George W. Bush’s presidency, and noting the effective potential of that line of attack against his primary opponent Scott McInnis. We’re not at all sure how that translates into accusing Penry of “colluding with George W. Bush to cause this recession,” though honestly we don’t think bringing that up as laughable is really a good idea for any Republican–refutable or not.

To the original subject of all this, that hard-to-pin-down “candidate pledge” Penry was said to have committed to, the exact wording of which remains elusive–the Independent continues:

The source of the pledge offered at the Club 20 debate, Penry’s Democratic opponent Dana Barker, said he’s still trying to hunt down the original signed document. As he recalls, the wording may have been more about fulfilling the full four-year term, which Penry has said he will do even as he seeks the governor’s office in 2010. The intent of the pledge, though, according to Barker, was to elicit a promise from Penry not to run for a higher office and to give constituents in SD7 his undivided attention. [Pols emphasis]

To which the Post adds, just in case you were wondering how seriously Penry took any of this,

Penry said Wednesday he thinks he wrote a note on the pledge to the effect of “great prop” or “great gimmick.”

Note to future opponents: check what Penry writes on your debate pledge. Can you imagine what Barker could have done if he had just turned that pledge around to the audience and read aloud the words “nice gimmick?” That would have painted Penry as a smarmy little punk in 2006, and we’re not sure it looks much better for him in 2009 either. Wasn’t it enough to simply disagree on the unverifiable facts and move on? Why volunteer how you were a jerk about it too?

Tweet
Share

Comments

31 thoughts on “Penry Brushes Off “Candidate Pledge””

      1. Unlike Mike Bennet who pledged to fix DPS, only to cut and run to DC after growing the dropout rate to 50%+ and pushing through corrupt tax raising ballot measures.

    1. We would have known about his little sign, right? Probably not the snuggest fit on Penry.

      Ever tried finding out how many times you can repeat the word “far” in front of “left” before you sound like an idiot? We’re thinking it’s approximately three.

      1. I think it’s pretty accurate to say that the majority of posters and the Guvs (now, anyway) represent the farthest-left 20%-30% of voters.

        Not saying it as an insult.  Just trying to be realistic.

        2. Doesn’t leave you much room for a middle, does it?

          25% far left

          25% left

          25% right

          25% far right

          Maybe something like this is more appropriate:

          10% far left

          20% left

          40% middle

          20% right

          10% far right

          In which case, I don’t think that most posters here qualify for far left.

          And really, compared to the rest of the world, our left is anything but far left.  

          1. 0…………………………………….100

            XXXXX

            0 being the farthest politically left of Americans, 100 being the farthest politically right of Americans, This blog predominantly represents the X’s.

            Here, everyone – cut and paste this

            0…………………………………….100

            and place yourself..

            Oops.  Threadjack.  Sorry.

            1. …………………./ВґВЇ/)

              ………………..,/ВЇ../

              ………………./…./

              …………./ВґВЇ/’…’/ВґВЇВЇ`В·Вё

              ………./’/…/…./……./ВЁВЇ\

              ……..(‘(…Вґ…Вґ…. ВЇ~/’…’)

              ……….…………….’…../

              ……….”….……… _.В·Вґ

              ………….………….(

              …………...…………...

              This whiny, endless prattling on about “bias” really is all you have to talk about, isn’t it?

              Oh sorry, that and Sarah Palin.

  5. The last I saw of the Penry broken promise paper, it was in the hands of Dana’s campaign manager.  Anyone know where he is nowadays?  I believe that the debate was recorded, although, I only taped Congressman Salazar’s debate at that Club 20 19 18 17? event.  (and had to get the police to remove Kathy Hall’s goons who were trying to prevent me from recording the debate.)   If Penry is not trying to spin his lie, then why not produce recorded copies of the event?

    1. if he doesnt figure out an explanation of why he chose to break his pledge and an even better explanation of why he is planning on moving to Denver away from his district he is going to be in for a rough fight from both those of us on the left and those on the right supporting McInnis

        1. breaking his term limit pledge when he was in Congress? Or like Obama telling Tim Russert that he would finish his Senate term?

        2. breaking his term limit pledge when he was in Congress? Or like Obama telling Tim Russert that he would finish his Senate term?

  7. the lessons of Richard Nixon.  So here is Joshy’s history lesson for today:  The results of the cover-up can be far more damaging than just admitting that you are a third rate flimflam man.



    “Is anyone else here tired of the flimflam, mealy-mouthed Republican?”  –Josh Penry

  8. Maybe he has it in a ziploc bag somewhere?

    Surely someone who signed a pledge like that would have kept a copy for himself – right?

    If not, he’s pretty irresponsible if nothing else.

    1. He could clear all this up if he’d just produce the pledge — but he won’t. What else did he jot down on the pledge when he signed it? Does he have childish handwriting? Does he punctuate his signature with a smiley face? Is Josh Penry EVEN HIS REAL NAME? His refusal to turn over the original pledge raises serious questions — or should, at least, among his wingnut followers.

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

70 readers online now

Newsletter

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