Are Colorado Democrats so horribly out of step with the Rocky Mountain
mainstream that they think the state shouldn’t take every possible step
to identify and stop sex offenders before they offend again – even going
so far as to discriminate between categories of victims? 

Last month we
wrote about a party line committee vote in the Colorado House of Representatives
on a bill that would’ve required registrations of ALL email and instant
message screen names used by convicted sex offenders.  The Democrats
spiked the measure 6-5 because they said it was too easy for sex offenders to
set up new email accounts.  That was their argument – some folks can
evade this law, so we should not even try. 

Using this logic, why have laws against murder?

Why have laws against underage drinking?

Why enforce speed limits?

Why punish drivers for running red lights?

You think about it – people get away with all of those things,
and more every day. 

 Using the great Rocky Mountain Democrat logic – if we
can’t stop ‘em all – we should let ‘em all go
free.  Oh, and on the murder thing – remember how these same
Colorado Democrats tried to end
run funding for the death penalty earlier this year – out of step,
out of step, out of step.  If they were your dance partner your toes would
be bloody and bruised. 

This became a national issue when Bill O’Reilly had
Colorado’s Attorney General John Suthers on his program to get the state’s
top cop’s take on why the Democrats killed the bill.  We’re
talking sex offenders here, not exactly the third rail of politics and
policy.  You’ll recall, the Colorado Dems’ GOP counterparts in
Florida took a similar bill and voted it out of committee for consideration by
the whole Florida House. 

Well, here we are again this week, and those pesky coddling Colorado
Dems are at it again.  The bill has been revived – and that’s
a good thing.  Maybe they’ve figured it out.

It appears that’s not the case.

The Democrats have been up in arms about Suthers’ appearance on
the O’Reilly program, saying it was actually Suthers fault that they
killed the bill.  Their logic would fail in the “no spin
zone.”

Now, this week they claim they asked for specific fixes to make the
bill better in the form of H.B.  1326.  From
the Rocky Mountain News:

Sex offenders are currently required
to register their physical address and the name and address of their employer.

Originally, the bill would have
required sex offenders who victimized adults as well as children to register
their e-mail addresses and other online identities.

Apparently, the fixes the House Democrats wanted in the bill
would’ve limited the bills scope to those who prey on children, not those
who prey on adults – by and large female victims. 

So, to recap:  Colorado Democrats spike a tough measure that
would’ve tracked and penalized sex offenders of all classes who
don’t register their email addresses and instant message screen names;
and then later we find out that the reason they spiked the bill is because they
only wanted to track those who prey on children – and not women. 

Did they kill the first bill for political gain so they could pass
their own bill?  One that is weaker?  If they keep doing things like
this in Colorado they’ll have voters clamoring for a Republican majority
in 2008.