Scott McInnis is on the beat

You should never annoy a cop. As a working lawyer in the suburbs with a criminal docket, it has been my sad experience over the years to have clients who insist on going to trial for a misdemeanor crime. At trial, it is my guy’s word against the cop’s. The jury hears the defendant’s pitch and then hears from the cop. The cop is simply doing his duty. He isn’t out to get anyone. The client wants to get off of the rap for the crime he has committed. The party’s motives come into play.

My experience is that the Jury always believes the cop if its one word against the other. And it’s no surprise. For juries, cops are usually seen as the good guys.

If you are a cop, you can be in trouble every time you approach someone you pulled over. Even in small towns. Even in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. In 2006, the most recent year with public crime records for Glenwood, seven women were raped, 61burglaries occurred, 43 cars were stolen and one armed robbery occurred.

Scott McInnis was a Glenwood Springs cop. As if that weren’t enough, he also volunteered with the fire department. He later went to law school and became a lawyer in the same town he patrolled as a police officer. He demonstrates to this day that he never forgot his oath of office.

McInnis ran and was elected as member of the Colorado State Assembly, our state version of congress. The other Assembly members eventually made him Majority Leader. He ran for U.S. Congress and became Colorado’s congressman for the Western Slope.

McInnis got us two national parks as a congressman and he always fought to shrink the size and scope of government as a simple point of principal. He went to Washington for 12 years and then came home.

He got work here as a private lawyer and watched the same events transpire in Colorado over the past four years that we all have. The Democrats became the majority in Colorado government and their new Governor named Ritter brought Labor Unions into the government work force. The Colorado State Government ran out of money but somehow couldn’t shrink its taxpayer-paid work force to match our smaller state revenue stream. We got into the hole and the dems tried to raise taxes instead of shrinking the government machinery.

The majority Democrats passed increased taxes on natural gas production and the oil and gas jobs somehow ended up in Pennsylvania of all places. Our only local airline got swallowed up by a Midwest concern and all those jobs moved to the Midwest because of tax decisions, including the ludicrous idea to tax software used in making an airline reservation. The dems have engineered a train wreck since they took over our state government. It’s enough to annoy a cop. It’s enough to annoy a jury. It’s enough to annoy anyone. Including Scott McInnis. So he has decided to do something about it.

Scott McInnis is running to be Governor for the State of Colorado. He knows this place. It is his home and the home of his family going back four generations. Right now, it appears that if anybody in Colorado is ready to get us out of the hole we are in, it’s McInnis.

Last week, Mr. McInnis spoke to the Parker, CO Republicans. He gave out the sobering statistic that each day 275 more Coloradans lose their job. He thinks the Dems in charge at the state Capital are “job cremators, not job creators”. His empathy for these workers is real and profound.

Addressing jobs in the area of natural gas production, he talked eloquently about the blue collar jobs that have left the state. “Roughneck jobs are great jobs. These are some of the good jobs that have left our state. Grand Junction is now Number One in the Nation in job losses and energy is the reason. Gov. Ritter put in the toughest anti-drilling legislation in the U.S. Conoco-Phillips stopped all exploration when the new regulations became law.”

Bill Ritter wisely chose not to seek reelection as our governor. The Dems have put up Denver Mayor and saloon keeper John Hickenlooper as his replacement after an emergency phone call from Dem President Barack Obama. I expect Hickenlooper, after his long tenure as a bartender, to carry the Lower Downtown of Denver by a healthy margin. That leaves the rest of Colorado for him to reach. McInnis’ opinion - “The Denver Mayor seems to think that Colorado begins and ends at the Denver City Limits.” McInnis doesn’t think Hickenlooper gets it. At the Parker meeting he was most incensed by a recent Hickenlooper quote that “the recession is really caused by people’s mental state”. Spoken like a true bartender.

McInnis told the Parker crowd that he will dedicate himself to restoring jobs. He used the issue of Fort Carson as an example of what to do and what not to do. According to McInnis, both Ritter and Hickenlooper are against Fr. Carson’s expansion. After they made their views public, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchins visited with the Secretary of the Army and got a commitment for the new Cyber Command to move to San Antonio. This ought to have helped out our “mental state” a lot.

McInnis’ first promise, if elected, is to sign an executive order rolling back the unionization of state agencies. So long Andy Stern and the SEIU. Then to rewrite the job-killing oil and gas regulations and get oil companies to come back to Colorado.

In 2006, this writer had the opportunity to see Bill Ritter and Bob Beauprez at a joint appearance late in the campaign. It appeared that Bill Ritter was ready and prepared to be governor and that Beaurprez wasn’t. The 2006 election reflected this readiness. What we didn’t know at the time was that apparently Ritter had made his “deal with the devil” with the SEIU and other labor unions that culminated in a late-night executive order unionizing Colorado State workers shortly after his election.

McInnis has promised to reverse that. He appears ready to lead and is prepared to be a strong governor. He promises to fix many of the problems we face in our state and his promise appears real.

Who are you going to trust with your life, liberty and property, a bartender or a cop?

Go Scott!

Scott McInnis AKA Scott Steve McInnis Born: 9-May-1953 Birthplace: Glenwood Springs, CO Gender: Male Religion: Roman Catholic Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Politician Party Affiliation: Republican Nationality: United States Executive summary: Congressman from Colorado, 1993-2005 Wife: Lori Smith (one son, two daughters) Son: Daxon Daughter: Tessa Daughter: Andrea High School: Glenwood Springs High School, Glenwood Springs, CO University: Mesa College, Grand Junction, CO University: BA, Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO (1975) Law School: JD, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX (1980) US Congressman, Colorado 3rd (1993-2005) Colorado State House of Representatives (1983-93) American Legislative Exchange Council Americans for Truth in Politics John McCain 2008 National Student Leadership Conference Honorary Board of Advisors

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.