As today's front page post mentioned, we're going to have a primary to see who the Democratic nominee will be to take on Marilyn Musgrave in the 4th CD next year. I don't want anyone to think that Angie Paccione should be considered the candidate that has the support of the Colorado blogosphere locked up. Now, one of the other candidates, Eric Eidsness, embarrassed himself by coming to this blog and insulting the people who participate here -- for being blog readers -- in this trainwreck of a post and comment thread. He's not to be taken seriously, but there is yet another candidate in the race: Betsy Markey, who already has the endorsement of Rep. John Kefalas of Fort Collins and Stan Matsunaka, who was the person who really proved that Musgrave is vulnerable with his run against her in 2004.
I don't know why Kefalas and Matsunaka aren't supporting a Paccione rematch against Musgrave in 2008, but she lost me during the Special Session of 2006. When the state legislature's Democrats (or at least, most of them) decided to abandon the party's stated position against the Tancredo-Lamm anti-immigrant ballot initiative (the heart of which was revived as HB-1023 after the Colorado Supreme Court threw out the initiative in a lawsuit brought by progressive activists), Angie Paccione was front and center and wanted everyone to know it:
Key bills cosponsored by Paccione include House Bill 1023, which limits state services to illegal immigrants, effective August 1, as well as ballot questions that ask voters to crack down on unlawful employers and to hold the federal government accountable for enforcing immigration law. Along with Rep. Judy Selano, Paccione was an original sponsor of House Bill 1017, a cornerstone of the session’s legislation. “We’re going beyond what other states have done, and we’re doing what Washington hasn’t done,” Paccione said. “Congress would do well to follow our lead on immigration reform.”
HB-1023 is the law that has required Coloradans to provide proof of citizenship to get low flow toilet rebates, has cost the state millions of dollars with no effect on immigration, and is now a national example of how not to reform immigration law. It should have been obvious at the time that the bill wouldn't do anything, because it was based on the racist myth that immigration is driven by lazy Mexicans wanting to come to the USA to soak up taxpayer paid benefits. Here's what Angie Paccione had to say about that in July 2006:
“Illegal immigrants don’t deserve special benefits from our government, and this measure will put an end to that practice,” Paccione said.
. . .
“By preventing illegal hiring and ending special benefits, we’re taking away the incentives for people to illegally cross our borders,” Paccione said. “This legislation is a good complement to other measures the federal government needs to be taking, including improved border security.”
I think anyone who says this kind of crap should be drummed out of the Democratic Party. Fortunately, we will have the opportunity to do just that during this primary.
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