Colorado’s Top Ten Republocracts

Some people call them centrists – others see them as opportunists or traitors:  it’s the group of Colorado politicians who have been viewed, from time to time, by members of their own party as ideologically-challenged.  For some, it’s not so much that they don’t have any philosophic underpinnings -- it just that they like themselves way too much to tie themselves to a mere political party. For others, it’s that they have philosophic underpinnings that go against their party.

Here’s a look at our top-ten? Traitors or centrists?  We’ll let you decide:

10) Andy McElhany- Party? What party? This is a guy who has been seen sleeping during committee testimony -- of his own witness! 

9) Ken Salazar- He likes to think of himself as a moderate, but he seems as uncomfortable with the Democrats as Ben Nighthorse Campbell was with the Republicans.

8) Ben Nighthorse Campbell- Yeah he’s not in office now, but anyone who crossed party lines as a U.S. Senator deserves to make the list.

7) John Salazar- He’s probably even more conservative than his brother, Ken.

6) Mike May- House minority leader called “reasonable” by House Dems. That’s an odd thing to call an opposition minority leader.

5) Nancy Spence- Senator from Arapahoe really dislikes conservatives and is disliked back by them.

4) Debbie Stafford- Stafford contends that many of her positions are “non-partisan” anyway. 

3) Ken Chlouber- Ok, he’s not elected to anything right now, but boy he sure is an odd guy!

2) Bill Ritter- Unionizing by executive order hurt him a bit in this category, but next week he’ll do something to make the Dems mad. 

1) Bill Owens- We don’t know what party Owens actually is a member of now. Does it matter?