While we highlighted liberal U.S. Rep. Diana Degette’s decision to skip Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress earlier this month, there’s another Colorado U.S. Representative that is still weighing his options for the visit – Ed Perlmutter. The Boulder Jewish News reported that Perlmutter is “still making up his mind”.
Degette’s excuse is transparent (read: political), but she at least blamed a scheduling conflict. Apparently, Perlmutter just doesn’t know if he wants to attend. This clear “I’m all out of f&c#$” approach makes one wonder if something bigger is going on. After all, the rumor around town is that Perlmutter is planning to run for Governor. But, can he with such a public snubbing of Netanyahu?
In Colorado, it’s important to have the backing of several high-profile Jewish men whose hearts are with Israel. For example, one such man even donated around $12,000 to Perlmutter’s previous campaigns. It would be challenging, to say the least, to run for Governor after stomping on such a generous donor’s heart.
And, then, there’s the rampant rumors we keep hearing about the 2014 election cycle being his last in CD7. We even heard that Perlmutter is gearing up to practice law again right here in Colorado by reactivating his law license. We reached out to Team Perlmutter to ask if this was true, and will keep you posted when we hear from them. We’re not holding our breath.
But, if Perlmutter burns his donors, how will he run for Governor? Maybe 2014 was Perlmutter’s last election.