A Leadership Showdown for Treasurer

House Minority Leader Joe Stengel intends to file an “exploratory committee” for State Treasurer (never mind the State recognizes no such committee.)

The Littleton Republican had been rumored to be thinking over a potential run for Secretary of State, but with the imminent filing of Coffman for that particular position, Stengel has apparently re-thought the race (READ: a Primary against a War Hero.) Instead, Joe is gearing up for a Primary against Senate Minority Leader Mark Hillman.

Though a show-down between the Legislative Leaders might be very interesting, politicos are trying to determine what would be the defining message of each candidate.

Both purport to be Conservatives (when Joe first ran, he announced has was Right of “Attila the Hun”) and both have nice Legislative Records under their belts. Leadership among Caucus is certainly being discussed, but fellow Legislators are quick to point out that Hillman has been gearing up for the Treasurer’s run for over six months and already has the major endorsements behind him…

…which means folks are going to be looking at Referendum C & D and, specifically, where the two differ on the fiscal condition of the State.

Unfortunately for Joe, the Fiscal Righters will make hey of Joe’s deal brokering-gone-amok and on-again-off-again position on the Ballot Initiative.

And the Bill Owens quote will be used repeatedly during any potential campaign: “When the next volume of Profiles in Courage is written, there won't be a chapter about Joe Stengel.”

For a guy who was a big advocate of the Fiscal Fix, but then actually looked at the polling numbers and realized the political capitol he’d be giving up in the approaching battle, Joe is going to be *way* behind the Hillman Power Curve on this one.

Comments

[E.J.]

I would rather go against Coffman than Hillman.

[loyalist]

Stengel will get slaughtered. He won't be able to get endorsements, grassroots outside of Arapahoe (and hell, even the Cotrells are behind Hillman), money, or anything else. He'll only be able to run as the moderate, which will be very difficult considering his injudicious mouth. And Hillman has taken great pains to be at peace with the moderates, even taking fire from the right.

Stengel's record, both legislative and public statements, will leave him open to extraordinary attack, although Hillman's likely too much the gentleman to do it.

[toby]

frankly, stengel only has to wait two years after the end of his term until Senator Dyer retires. Isn't that the wiser option?

[gop lifer]

I gotta wonder who Stengel thinks he's kidding here.

[Stygius]

Good post.

[Bad Move]

Stengel will be toast, whoever, if anyone is advising this guy should be sued for malpractice. Oh and did anyone mention Owens will likely appoint this position and it will be Hillman over Stengel any day of the week if for no other reason than stengel stabbing Owens in the back on Ref. C & D. Hillman opposed Owens as well but he did it like and a man and told him to his face. Then Stengel will have the pleasure of taking on State Treasurer Hillman.

[peterco]

Appointing a treasurer who opposes your proposed referendum for fixing the budget is probably the dumbest possible choice, so Hillman will probably get the nod. His seat is one of the safest possible anyway.

Why isn't Davidson running again? Is she term limited or did I miss something?

[fact]

Yes Davidson is term limited and likely getting a federal job. So Stengel is out of luck with a choice or worse and worser in choosing between Hillman and Coffman.

[Pachyderm]

Joe Stengel will be the guest speaker at the Denver Pachyderm Club tomorrow morning. 7:00AM at Panera Bread on 13th and Grant.

[Dan]

Ask him how arrogant he thinks he is. Two minority leaders grappling for position next session will not be pretty. It isn't good for the party or our hopes of regaining the majority. Stengel's record is moderate, but after this past session, he's made enemies on both sides, so where's the advantage? At least Hillman is well liked by both sides and even the media works well with him. Come on, Joe!

[ohwilleke]

You mean "imminent" not "eminent."

[RedHawk]

Oh – you silly bloggers. I can always count on you guys to keep me in line. Changes Noted. Imminent – as in forthcoming vs. eminent – as in well known.

[Hugo O'conor]

I would call Coffman eminent -as in Outstanding in character or performance. Let's just call it an appropriate slip.

[gopone]

I just love how the Hillman crowd is out in full force! Instead of looking at the issues and facts, they are out with a character assassination on Joe Stengel.

Let's look at reality.

On this very blog site, Terrance Carroll on Stengel:
"I will start with the good. The Republicans found a message early (tagging us as anti-business) and stuck with it throughout the entire session. I don't believe it was a legitimate attack, but they stayed message focus. Initially, I thought the election of Joe Stengel as minority leader was an excellent choice. Prior to this session, Joe had a reputation has a moderate, reasonable, and pragmatic voice on the Republican side. In fact, I served on the Judiciary committee with Joe for two-years and count him as a friend.

However, his role as minority leader required him to be an attack dog and sometimes he went over-the-top and appeared to seem unreasonable. I believe this was a mistake."

Okay, TC calls him an over the top attack dog which means in translation, "He really got to us Democrats and was dancing in our heads all the time!"

Give me one substantial example of a bad Democrat bill that was killed by Hillman and Co. in the Senate. Nope, they left the dirty work to Stengel who kept his caucus together (remember, there are almost double the number of members in the Caucus in the House so it is an infinitely harder proposition), successfully labelled the Dems as anti-business, anti-family and anti-jobs.

Hillman, on the other hand, began running for Treasurer before the legislative session began and spent the entire time trying to cozy up to both sides to set up his statewide race. That is not leadership but pandering and now he is shopping his support for Ref C & D as his ticket to the interim appointment, even though it is a very bad idea for the citizens of Colorado. He is willing to sell out Colorado for his future.

If Rep. Stengel is "right of Attila the Hun", he has always claimed to be a Ronald Reagan Republican and if that puts him in with Attila the Hun, I guess he is in good company. No, this is just another example of Hillman and cronies willing to sacrifice anyone for Hillman's personal gain and it sure doesn't help Republicans.

The Dems love it when we shoot at each other. Instead of doing that, why don't we look at two great candidates, let them make their case to the people and decide instead of flimsy character assassinations?

How about looking at the legislation passed and sponsored by the two? What significant legislation was passed by Hillman or Stengel? What are their backgrounds? Are they qualified for the job? Finally, who do the Dems most fear because they were a leader?

[jeffcopol]

To paraphrase Bob Ewegen at the Denver Post when writing about Stengel, "There's a new political animal at the Capitol, the weasel."

[goptwo]

gopoone, how exactly is it you can decry (and tell lies about) hillman for three straight paragraphs, and then talk about how we shouldn't shoot at eachother and how we have two great candidates?

the emporer has no clothes, as they say.

[gopthree]

GOP Legislators elected Joe as Minority BECAUSE he said he had no future political ambition. Joe got one wiff of 'power' and re-thought that promise he made to his peers.

Not just a weasel, but a waffler, too.

[gopone]

Goptwo, three and jeffcopol,

Hello, hello!

I did not decry Hillman for three paragraphs. I had one paragraph talking about how no bills were killed in the senate under Hillman's leadership.

I had another paragraph about how Hillman has been running for Treasurer for months -- which is a fact.

In neither paragraph did I "decry" Hillman.

All three of you come back throwing mud at Stengel. The Dems love you guys.

I ended up saying, Hey, we have two great candidates let's hear what they have to say and you just can't get that mud out of your hands.

We will lose again big time if you can't grow up.

[gopone]

Oh, and Bob Ewegan is a flaming liberal who loves the TABOR fix and is mad a Stengel because the final deal was not the deal first presented and he had the guts to stand up and say,

1. They found $368 million dollars so there is no budget crisis
2. The final deal guts TABOR forever, not just for 5 years as promised because of the massive new programs that will be started in the first 5 years and the "cap" is set so high that there will never be TABOR refunds.

The "fix" is unlimited government spending and growth -- and starts off with a 7.3% increase in spending next year. Compound that kind of growth over 5 or 10 years... it translates into a huge burden on taxpayers.

[snow]

Stengel has what it takes to win...guts to tell taxpayers the truth about their government. That's what we have in Mike Coffman and that's what we will have with Treasurer Joe Stengel.

[Reality]

Reality check here...Hillman has shored up the support of and is liked by the right wing wackos to the establishment pukes. Everyone likes Mark, and sees him as one of the brightest stars in the party. At 37 his potential is limitless. Joey Stengel come lately has no chance. Unless Scott R. and State Party rig the convention against Mark like they did Schaffer, I don't see baby Joey making the ballot. Mark is well liked at State Party, and he can win state-wide, so I don't see a repeat of the debacle of 2004 at our convention in 2006.

[factcheck]

FYI - Schaffer won the '04 convention.

[really]

Fact Check - maybe you weren't at that same State Convention, and maybe you weren't privy to the vote over-count and credentialling nightmare of that sorry morning. ST, MC and the CC rigged that vote. The Delegates know it - the staffers know it - the Candidates know it.

And The Party never even bothered issuing a Press Release denying it.

The ONLY reason BS didn't protest the count was because State Party stacked up the convention against the deadline for Party Candidates on the Primary Ballot. Had he done so - the Republicans might have had no 'certified' candidate on the ballot in August, and KS would have made it a huge camapign issue.

[Dan]

Really - Did bigfoot tell you that?

[TruthSquad]

Hey Really:

Do you believe in the tooth fairy too? Check your facts...the only reason the convention was such a mess was that Ted Halaby and crew were incredibly incompetent. Yes, it was a mess but not because of some secret conspiracy. Simply put the state party couldn't have found their way out of a paper bag much less run a convention.

If anything, the convention was BS's crowd...are you saying that BS's campaign was so incompetent and weak that they couldn't overcome?