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Beauprez asked to renounce support

GOP nominee stands by endorsement from Texas governor.

DENVER – Progressives are calling on Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez to renounce his endorsement by Texas Gov. Rick Perry given a recent indictment in which Perry is accused of abusing his power.

A new, well-funded left-leaning organization, Making Colorado Great, has hired well-known progressive Michael Huttner to attack Beauprez.

Incumbent Gov. John Hickenlooper has vowed not to run attacks in his tight re-election campaign. On Tuesday, Hickenlooper released a new campaign video in which he doubles down on that promise, touting the economic progress of the state during the last four years rather than targeting Beauprez.

But Huttner, who founded ProgressNow Colorado about a decade ago, is not as shy as the governor. In his first news release for Making Colorado Great, Huttner called on Beauprez to immediately renounce his endorsement by Perry.

“If Bob Beauprez doesn’t immediately renounce Perry’s endorsement, it shows you that Beauprez and Perry are two peas in the same pod,” Huttner said. “We’ll see if Bob renounces Perry’s endorsement or tries to play it both ways as usual.”

Perry was expected to turn himself into authorities Tuesday evening on two felony counts of abuse of power. Perry is accused of carrying out a threat to veto funding for a Texas public integrity program after Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat, refused to resign after a drunken-driving arrest.

Beauprez’s camp immediately turned the attack back on Democrats, questioning why they would attack Perry given the drunken-driving arrest associated with the indictment.

“There’s a disturbing trend of John Hickenlooper’s allies supporting drunk-driving offenders,” said Beauprez spokesman Allen Fuller. “Most Coloradans are more concerned about public safety than protecting drunk drivers.”

Fuller said that the Democratic-controlled Legislature this year was unable to advance a bipartisan bill that would have allowed repeat DUI offenders to be charged with felonies. The bill was killed by the Senate Appropriations Committee on a party-line vote of four Democrats to three Republicans.

When Perry endorsed Beauprez on May 20, Perry said, “Bob Beauprez is the only candidate in this race who will fight for the rights of all Coloradans and stand up to Washington.

“I support Bob’s commitment to pushing back against federal meddling and Obama mandates. He has consistently fought against Obamacare, the eroding of our Second Amendment Rights and the job-killing policies that threaten our economic future,” Perry continued.

Beauprez responded at the time, “I was proud to receive the endorsement of conservative Texas Gov. Rick Perry this morning. I am humbled by Rick Perry’s support and friendship ... Rick Perry is a good man and an outstanding governor.”

But Huttner said there is nothing commendable about the recent indictment, and therefore, Beauprez should renounce the endorsement.

“Bob Beauprez’s attempt to change the subject regarding his endorsement by the second Texas Governor to be indicted in 100 years is exactly what Coloradans hate about politics,” Huttner said. “Avoiding the issue of his ties to indicted Governor Perry is why Beauprez continues to earn the name Both Ways Bob.”

pmarcus@durangoherald.com



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