Here’s a tip for candidates this cycle: When you are pimping a piece of legislation that gives incentives to in-state contractors for government work, it’s not a good idea to do so using an out-of-state mail firm. It steps all over your message.
But that’s just what Adams County Democratic Rep. Cherylin Peniston did recently when she sent a piece of mail over Senate Bill 1 using Mad Dog Mail, a Florida-based mail vendor for Democratic campaigns. Peniston is being challenged by Republican Brian Vande Krol, who nearly knocked off Rep. John Soper in 2010.
As the source who sent us the piece of mail said — “she outsourced the job of promoting her message of insourcing.”
Senate Bill 1, also known as the HIRE Colorado Plan, was the bill that gave a 5% preference to Colorado contractors that had at least 90% in-state employees, raising the cost of contracting business for the state. The bill was called “muddled economic thinking” by the liberal Denver Post editorial board, and was successfully killed by the Republican-controlled House.
Heralded by Democrats as essential to their “jobs” plan, the bill earned the special recognition of being the first piece of legislation introduced in the Democrat-controlled Senate, making it unsurprising to see the failed legislation show up in campaign mail.
While we’ve only received this one piece of mail from Rep. Peniston, we wonder how many Democrats are pushing an insourcing message to voters by outsourcing the job to a Florida mail firm. A search of the Secretary of State’s website finds that 15 Democrats running for the Legislature, as well as the Colorado Democratic Party, all employ Mad Dog Mail out of Florida.
Guess that “laser” focus on job creation through protectionist policies got a bit blurry during campaign season.