Only in Democratic politics could two politicians up for election declare with a straight face that a deal has been reached when, in fact, a deal on fracking initiatives is far from final.
This morning, Governor John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis held a press conference to announce that they had come to a compromise. The two laid out the compromise. The only problem? There were several items they listed as part of the compromise that weren’t actually compromises and that they had no authorization to promise. For example, Hick told attendees that Polis would scrap Initiatives 88 and 89 if the proponents of 121 and 137 would do likewise; however, Rep. Frank McNulty, who is behind Initiative 137, said that his team had no plans to scrap their effort.
Even the journalists were confused. Perhaps 9News political reporter Brandon Rittiman best described it:
He noted that this “was announced with all the fanfare of a done deal, but it’s clearly not a done deal.”
Then, a few short hours later, Polis submitted signatures for the two ballot initiatives that he was sponsoring – 141,000 for Amendment 88 and about 120,000 for Amendment 89.
See these? 141K signatures for @jaredpolis Initiative 88 in @ColoSecofState office. No compromise yet. #copolitics pic.twitter.com/3shInTLZCa
— Ed Sealover (@ESealoverDenBiz) August 4, 2014
Let’s recap: Hickenlooper and Polis gather everyone together this morning to talk about how great they are and the grand compromise they had reached. Hickenlooper promised things he couldn’t deliver. Udall offered a statement praising the deal. Polis submitted signatures. No compromise was reached. Talk about the height of incompetence. The only way Hickenlooper could have made it worse for himself if he had hung a “Mission Accomplished” banner above his head.
Or, just this:
Democrats provided a days worth of news coverage today on why they shouldn’t be allowed to govern in CO #copolitics #Thanks
— Matt Connelly (@MattConnelly) August 4, 2014