The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals. Sign up today!
During a debate over the weekend, Republican Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier asked Democrat Ed Perlmutter to name a page in the health-care-reform bill that allows for tort reform. Perlmutter, who is defending his 7th Congressional District seat from Frazier, admitted he didn’t know.
“Come on, Ed. Be honest,” Frazier said, pointing his hand at Perlmutter, which the congressman lightly slapped away.
“Don’t hit me, man,” Frazier responded, leading to an immediate apology from Perlmutter (via Politico).
But Perlmutter didn’t fully relent, hitting his opponent harder with criticisms that a charter school Frazier helped found has received more than $100,000 from the federal stimulus, which Frazier has derided as a deficit-boosting failure, points out The Denver Post. “You know that in Aurora, the recovery act is helping to pay for police and firefighters, and teachers at your own charter school,” Perlmutter said. Frazier, the vice president of High Point Academy, which his children attend, said he didn’t know if stimulus money went to his school, but was “going to go back and find out right now if this is the case.”
Perlmutter defended his vote for the stimulus, saying the United States was otherwise on course for an economic depression at the end of George W. Bush’s presidency (via The Associated Press).
Also in the race is Libertarian Buck Bailey, who was included in Saturday’s debate. Bailey, who retired from the U.S. Navy in 2008, described himself as a “long shot” but said his goal in running is to get his party’s message out.