News broke last week that Lt. Governor Joe Garcia had hired union boss Scott Wasserman, of state government union Colorado WINS, to be his Chief of Staff. We’d be remiss if we didn’t note the subtext to that announcement.
Wasserman, the first big boss of the union created by one-term Governor Bill Ritter’s controversial executive order unionizing state government, shows that Garcia is beefing up for a run for something, probably governor in 2018, according to our sources.
Some old guard Dems and liberal operatives have allegedly been saying that former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and State Senator Mike Johnston are a better choice, but Garcia isn’t apparently eager to take a dive for Salazar (D-BP).
Earlier this year Democrats floated Garcia as a potential candidate against Republican Congressman Scott Tipton in the 3rd Congressional District. That apparently went over like a lead balloon, as Tipton’s seat is rather safe at this point and Garcia doesn’t seem interested in wasting his time in an unwinnable race.
Garcia’s hiring of Wasserman seems to indicate he’s set his sights a bit higher than Congressman.