Panic!
Liberal Governor and beer drinker John Hickenlooper has proved us right when we said that the proposed fracking bans would be toxic for his re-election by today hitting the panic button on the botched local control initiatives. Which panic button, you ask? The threat of special session, according to The Denver Post.
[collective groan from all of Colorado]
Perhaps the left has forgotten that they control the State House, the State Senate, and the Governor’s Mansion. Nonetheless, it’s not just Polis’ fingerprints all over this:
Legislators, environmentalists, community representatives, oil and gas operators and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration were involved in extensive discussions over the past week about a legislative solution before the calendar runs out on the 2014 session Wednesday.
The negotiations will not cease and could be resolved with a special legislative session this summer, said Eric Brown, a spokesman for Hickenlooper.
“We’re not done talking about it, we’re going to continue talking about it and hope to reach an agreement sooner rather than later,” Brown said.
When asked what specifically still needed to be hashed out among the varied interests, Brown said there are several moving parts, but that a potential agreement could be close.
And, let’s not forget what we said just over a month ago about how Polis’ fracking ban screws Hickenlooper:
Governor John Hickenlooper’s split with anti-frack organizations is well documented. This split will only grow as Hick speaks out against the anti-fracking initiatives. …Unless Hick doesn’t speak out against the Polis initiatives, in which case people will start wondering what happened to the frack-fluid-chugging Governor. So Hick has to speak out, unless he doesn’t speak out, in which case…oh, what a tangled web Polis has woven for the Governor.
While Hick’s minions have been skulking around the Capitol hoping to save their fearless leader from having to address the fracking ban mess publicly, Polis has been the face of the negotiations, which have gone so terribly wrong. #ProTip: Don’t send someone to negotiate who is all emotional about the outcome (Save Polis’ Vacation Estate!).
The time will soon come when Hickenlooper will have to take a stand on so-called “local control” initiatives (read: fracking bans). Tick…tock…tick…tock….