Yesterday, during her speech as the newly-elected Speaker of the Colorado State House, Crisanta Duran suggested the the State House keep “Washington-style politics” at bay. Here is her exact quote:
“And it’s true: there can be a disconnect between the issues people deal with daily and the issues they hear about on the evening news.
“That’s on all of us to try to fix. And the way to do that is to keep Washington-style politics outside of this room.
“This is not Washington DC. This is Colorado – and in my opinion, it’s the best place in the world.”
That’s rich coming from Duran, who has a history of, let’s say, Washington-style politics.
In 2009, Duran defended her union boss dad, Ernie Duran against accusations of corruption – accusations came about because he gave her and her brother six-figure union jobs. Talk about nepotism. Here is an excerpt from a Denver Daily News brief (hey, look, it’s by Peter Marcus!):
“Cordova targeted Ernie Duran as a corrupt union boss using union dues for personal gain and of nepotism for hiring several family members to high-paying positions paying more than $100,000 per year. The story was picked up by KMGH-Channel 7 in an investigative piece that revealed the union boss spending dues on expensive international trips, lavish dinners and Broncos tickets, to name a few.
“But Crisanta Duran Wednesday defended the spending, arguing that every penny was approved by an executive board and an audit committee within the union itself. She said all the expenses were for official business, such as the Broncos tickets that were used as a winning prize in a raffle played by union membership.”
So, PeakNation™, when Duran condemns Washington-style politics, it’s the very same Washington-style politics from which she benefited. Do we condemn “Washington-style politics”? Absolutely. But, we also condemn a Speaker of the Colorado State House that’s a major hypocrite.