DENVER – Once considered a sleepy congressional race, Republican Scott Tipton is facing more of a challenge than expected, deflecting attacks from both the left and the right.
The tone of the 3rd Congressional District race changed with the emergence of Democrat Gail Schwartz, a former state senator from Gunnison County who hopes to unseat Tipton this fall.
Her announcement in April led the Cook Political Report, an online service that analyzes elections, to change its rating of the seat from “Solid Republican” to “Lean Republican.”
The district swings between Republicans and Democrats, though it currently favors a Republican candidate. Republicans make up about 34 percent of the district, while Democrats comprise about 29 percent.
With 35 percent of the sprawling district identifying as unaffiliated, tens of thousands of votes are potentially up in the air.
“We always take every race seriously,” Tipton, from Cortez, told The Durango Herald on Tuesday. “We’re going to continue to stay focused on doing our job standing up for our district’s interests.”
Schwartz wasted no time after topping the Democratic ballot at the 3rd District assembly on April 15. She does not face a primary opponent.
She hired the Denver-based firm OnSight Public Affairs, which has assisted with several high-profile campaigns, including Gov. John Hickenlooper’s re-election bid.
OnSight organized a May 5 call with reporters, which gave Schwartz the opportunity to attack Tipton on recent stories that revealed that Texas-based energy company SG Interests and its lobbyists wrote draft legislation being considered by the third-term congressman.
The proposal hopes to strike a compromise over oil and gas activities in the beautiful 220,000-acre Thompson Divide southwest of Carbondale, by allowing companies to trade rights in the wilderness area for land to drill in other parts of the state.
The plan is being criticized by environmental groups because it does not mandate conservation efforts in the Thompson Divide.
Schwartz said Tipton is in the pockets of oil-and-gas interests after accepting campaign donations from individuals and committees associated with SG Interests.
“We need someone that is going to represent us, the citizens of the 3rd Congressional, and Tipton’s actions have really spurred me to step up to the race ...” Schwartz said. “He basically has abandoned the interests of the 3rd Congressional District for representing his Houston donors.”
Tipton considering draft legislation written by a company, lobbyist or special interest is hardly new or shocking. Lawmakers often use the expertise of interest groups, lobbyists and executives to craft legislation – and often those people are campaign contributors.
Schwartz accepted campaign donations when she was in the Legislature from unions and special interests, like environmental groups, some of which came from out of state.
Ballotpedia’s fact-checking project, Verbatim, recently published a story that looked into the claim that Schwartz led “the charge on the war on coal,” an agenda item for environmental interests, which previously contributed to her campaigns through the Colorado Conservation Voters Action Fund. The investigation found the claim to be true.
“We determined that while several factors unrelated to Schwartz’s legislative record have contributed to the decline in coal output in Colorado, Schwartz did play a major role in legislation mandating reductions in emissions from coal-fired power plants,” the fact-check revealed.
Schwartz shrugged it off, stating, “My donors were people in my district.
“There certainly is support that comes from many interest groups, interest groups that philosophically I’m aligned with, but they don’t buy my vote.”
For his part, Tipton said the draft bill is a starting point, and that he has made no commitments to introduce the proposal as it is written.
“It’s a discussion draft,” Tipton said. “We’re trying to be solutions-oriented to be able to reach out into the communities to hear what the thoughts are, and you have to have a basis for which to proceed.”
Tipton must first survive a primary against a relatively unknown 27-year-old recent law school graduate, Alex Beinstein. The primary election is June 28.
The ambitious challenger faces a tough climb against Tipton, though he did garner an impressive 40 percent of support from delegates at the April 8 GOP 3rd Congressional District assembly.
“People in this election are sick and tired of politicians that they feel are owned by the special interests, the lobbyists, the donors,” Beinstein said.
Tipton’s campaign has largely ignored Beinstein’s presence, seemingly confident that they will sail to victory in the June primary and defeat Schwartz in November.
In response to Beinstein’s bid, Tipton said, “We have an open process, anybody can get into the race.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com
