Remap issue: Who knew what, when?

May 18, 2003

The Denver Post

The ground wars over congressional redistricting that started with Colorado 's eleventh- hour plan continued this past week in Texas . Democratic legislators fled the state, leaving the Legislature without a quorum. Republicans accused them of running away from a fight. But Democrats, who returned Friday, said it was their best way to counter a redistricting plan being pushed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay of Texas .

"I'm the majority leader, and we want more seats," DeLay has delicately explained.

Given the intense involvement of their majority leader, the claims by Reps. Bob Beauprez of Arvada and Scott McInnis of Grand Junction that they weren't involved in the recrafting of their districts has been surprising to say the least.

Beauprez says he was "blissfully distant" from the process. McInnis said he didn't see the map until the day after it was introduced.

But Republicans seem to contradicting themselves. For example, state Senate President John Andrews, R-Centennial, pointed out that Beauprez's office told a reporter April 28 that a redistricting bill would drop that day.

So, if Beauprez's office knew what was going on, how would Beauprez not know himself?

Beauprez's press secretary Allen Fuller said that he'd heard from a statehouse source about the new map and told the newspaper, but not his boss.

"I did not have a conversation with Congressman Beauprez about it," Fuller said.

Andrews also pointed out that Rep. Mark Udall, a Democrat, had stumbled onto Reps. Joel Hefley and Marilyn Musgrave , both Republicans, studying the map on the House floor in mid-March. If Udall, Hefley and Musgrave had seen the map and were passing it around in public, wouldn't Beauprez and McInnis feel left out? After all, they had as much if not more to lose than any of the others.

Adventures in travel

Speaking of Beauprez, it seems he's not joining in the boycott of all things French. He spent last weekend in Paris as a guest of the Simon Wiesenthal Center , where he gave a speech on freedom.

"He's not staying long," spokesman Fuller demurred.

On the question of trips, McInnis' staff seems to have figured out the proper name of the naval ceremony he attended in February. McInnis had announced that he was to "inaugurate" the USS Mesa Verde at a ceremony in Pascagoula , Miss. , which left Navy officials scratching their heads. They apparently explained when he arrived that the ceremony is a "keel-laying." That's what appeared on the report he filed with the House, which detailed the $3,600 expenses paid by defense contractor Northrop Grumman to send McInnis and two staffers to the ceremony, where McInnis' initials were etched into a ceremonial plate on the vessel.

Carville: You can't rise until you fall

Political consultant James Carville , famous for helping put President Clinton in the Oval Office in 1992, had a message in a recent Colorado appearance that might strike a chord with the also-rans in Denver 's election.

"If you get involved in anything, but particularly politics, you're gonna fail; you're gonna get knocked down," Carville told a crowd of 5,000 during a lecture at Colorado State University . "How successful you are is going to depend in large part - maybe entirely - on your ability to deal with and come back from failure."

To the self-help mantra of success, Carville boomed: "That is fraud!"

"You show me a winner, and I'm gonna show you someone who lost and lost a lot," he said, citing President Lincoln and the personal, political and military failures endured by the man who is often called the nation's best president.

The house that Webb built

Mayor Wellington Webb sauntered into the Denver Public Library's spanking new Blair- Caldwell African American Research Library in Five Points on Thursday like he owned the place.

He met with black community leaders, whom he described as his political "soldiers" in the conclave behind a locked door in the otherwise public building.

On the library's second floor is a display of Webb memorabilia. The homage includes sneakers autographed for Webb from Dr. J - basketball great Julius Erving - a Broncos jersey with "Webb" stenciled on the back and photos of the mayor with Muhammad Ali , the pope and other well-known faces.

The third-floor exhibit hall has more Webb tributes: a replica of his office, old campaign signs, newspaper clippings under glass among them.

Not long after Webb's entrance, mayoral candidate John Hickenlooper arrived to court favor with Webb's assembled troops.

His remark to a Post reporter: "There are some books I wanted to check out."

Quote of the week

"Sure. You can walk into my office with a gun." - Howard Dean , a former Vermont governor running for president as a Democrat, on his opinion that states should be able to set their own gun laws. Vermont allows concealed weapons.

Denver Post staff writers Coleman Cornelius, Mike Soraghan, Joey Bunch and Karen Crummy contributed to this report. Tips can be sent to kcrummy@denverpost.com .