Immigration takes spotlight in governor's debate

Beauprez, Ritter draw lines in sand

Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 12, 2006 at midnight

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Rep. Bob Beauprez expressed frustration Friday with stalled congressional efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, saying if he's elected Colorado governor he'll lead a coalition of Western governors "to pressure Washington to get their act together."

But in a spirited first debate of the governor's race, Democrat Bill Ritter scoffed at the notion that the Republican congressman, whose party controls the White House and Congress, is powerless to do something about illegal immigration.

"Congressmen Beauprez could stand in front of a bank of microphones and demand that . . . his own (Republican) leadership take it up," Ritter said.

As a former Denver district attorney, Ritter said he had convicted illegal immigrants of felony crimes only to learn that federal immigration officials lacked funding to deport them.

"We need to demand (that) Congress give us the resources to do something so basic as deporting people who have been convicted of felonies under our laws," Ritter said.

Beauprez fired back that he voted for a House bill that would have made illegal immigration a felony and secured the nation's borders.

"If you want to be angry with somebody, Bill, . . . be angry with members of your own party who completely abandoned us," he said.

Beauprez and Ritter underscored their sharp philosophical differences on state spending, abortion, and health care in the hour-long debate on KBDI, Channel 12.

Beauprez, a former dairy farmer and banker, also championed private enterprise as the economic engine that drives Colorado, and accused Ritter of backing big government solutions.

"My vision for moving this state forward," Ritter said, ". . . has to do with the government just being the facilitator or catalyst" for economic growth, "not being the big 800 pound gorilla in the economic development room."

Beauprez stuck to his opposition to Referendum C, which voters passed last year to allow the cash-strapped state to keep billions of dollars that normally would have been refunded to taxpayers.

In response to a question, Beauprez said he supported returning to taxpayers an additional $1.3 billion that the state is expected to get from Referendum C because of the improving economy. That's above the initial projection of $3.7 billion that the state would reap from the measure.

"We're going to unveil a budget plan that does exactly that," Beauprez said.

Beauprez said he opposed Ref. C because it did not fix the state's underlying financial problems.

"Given endless amounts of money, government will spend it," Beauprez said, adding that state leaders should debate "when is enough, enough."

Ritter, however, said he wouldn't refund the extra Ref C revenues, because voters approved the five-year suspension of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

He called Beauprez's statement that the referendum fixed nothing "just fundamentally wrong." He said the head of Colorado's community college system recently told him that "if Referendum C had not passed, 11 out of 13 community colleges would have closed."

Ritter said that funding community college courses that give workers technical skills and job retraining is crucial to driving the state's economic development. That's why, Ritter said, he joined Gov. Bill Owens and many other Republicans and business leaders in backing the temporary tax take-back: to rescue the state's deteriorating higher education, transportation and health-care systems.

"We were in terrible straits. This gives us a chance to catch up," said Ritter. "My vision for moving this state forward . . . has to do with the government just being the facilitator or catalyst" for economic growth,"not being the big 800 pound gorilla in the economic development room."

Both Ritter and Beauprez are devout Catholics who oppose abortion.

Ritter, however, said he would veto any bill to outlaw abortion that didn't allow exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. He also said he might consider abortion in the case of severe fetal anomalies, such as a lack of a brain stem.

"Fetal anomalies, too?" Beauprez asked skeptically. "You're still pro-life, huh, Bill?"

"I would absolutely say that, Bob," Ritter replied.

Ritter stressed that his focus would be on preventing unintended pregnancies by reversing Owens' executive order baring funding of Planned Parenthood for family planning education and teen pregnancy prevention. He added that he would reverse Owens' veto of a bill that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense the emergency contraception known as the morning-after pill.

Beauprez challenged Ritter's shifting "line" on abortion, saying: "I am fairly black and white (on opposing abortion) and I think that people need to know that. I don't have a foot in both buckets and I don't try to straddle a fence."

If the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, Beauprez said, "and a bill were put on my desk that still protected the life of the mother (in a medical emergency), I'd sign it."

He rejected Ritter's view on abortion in the case of fetal anomalies and his support for the morning after pill.

"I believe that that is clearly a fertilized embryo, we believe that life begins there. That's why I have problem with that," Beauprez said.

Ritter denied he'd backtracked on opposing abortion, saying: "I think it's important that a governor have that sense about the nuances that can be a part of this conversation."

Accusations flym

No sooner had Republican Bob Beauprez and Democrat Bill Ritter finished their debate Friday than their campaigns accused the opposing candidate of flip-flopping and floundering, including:

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

• Beauprez said he wanted to get Western governors together to "continue to pressure Washington to get their act together and do the right thing." "The governors have been almost completely silent on this question," he said.

• Ritter's campaign pointed out that Western governors already are pressuring Congress. In fact, Gov. Bill Richardson, of New Mexico, and Gov. Janet Napolitano, of Arizona, declared states of emergency to free up disaster aid to help with border issues.

ABORTION

• Ritter, when asked about the possibility of the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade, said whether he would sign or veto a bill outlawing abortion depended on "what it looks like when it comes to my desk." He said it was "important to understand the existence of exceptions, rape, incest, even fetal anomalies" and to make sure that doctors and women were not subject to criminal penalties.

• Beauprez's campaign said Ritter, in a political blog last year, was much more emphatic and never mentioned anomalies. "If Roe v. Wade is overturned, and the decision of whether or not to legalize abortions reverts to the states, and if the Colorado legislature passes a bill banning abortion, I will sign the bill only if it provides protections for women who are victims of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother," Ritter said at the time.

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