Last week Congressman Ed Perlmutter joined US Senator Michael Bennet in giving Congressional wanna-be Brandon Shaffer a little nudge under the fast moving political bus known as Cory Gardner's Congressional re-election campaign.
First, Bennet did the tour and photo-op with Gardner around businesses in Northern Colorado. Now, Perlmutter is backing Gardner's bill to expand energy production in Alaska's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), legislation that would allow for the creation of 50,000 jobs and an additional 1 million barrels of oil a day — the same as Saudi Arabia exports to the US every day. Here's Perlmutter's quote to the Colorado "Independent," which is virtually a ready made ad for Gardner's re-election:
“Energy independence is of vital importance…While not a perfect bill, HR 2021 is a practical and immediate step towards greater domestic energy production.
We have to streamline the federal bureaucratic processes in all sectors of government, and this bill helps streamline the permitting process and gives the same voice to communities and organizations petitioning against a permit. The process will ensure each permit application is judged on its individual merits.”
Quotes like this make it very hard for Shaffer to run attack ads against Gardner calling him a lover of pollution, hater of children, and a shill for the oil industry.
We have to wonder if Brandon Shaffer, who told his hometown paper, the Longmont Times-Call, that he would be pondering his Congressional run during a June vacation, is now rethinking his confidence about being able to beat Gardner.
We also have to wonder if Bennet and Perlmutter's latest moves in Gardner's direction are meant to be subtle signs to Shaffer that he should beg off his run this go-round. If they thought Gardner was eminently beatable they wouldn't be taking bipartisan tours with him and crossing party lines to vote for his legislation.