South Jeffco Resident Taking Run at Congress

by: Jeffco Pols

Wed Mar 11, 2009 at 12:07:48 PM MDT

Republican Tom Tancredo represented South Jeffco in Congress for 10 years after first winning the seat in 1998. His successor, Aurora Republican Mike Coffman, has been in office for less than three months - and the potential challengers already are lining up.

One is John Flerlage, a South Jeffco Democrat who says he's the only one who can go toe to toe against Coffman and win.

"I cede nothing on security or economics as a Democrat," Flerlage said during an interview at a South Jeffco Starbucks on March 4.

If anyone can battle Coffman on national security issues, an ex-Marine with years of military experience, it might be Flerlage.

He, too, is an ex-Marine. Flerlage served 22 years in the Marine Corps (11 on active duty and 11 in the Reserves) before he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2000. During his Marine years, he flew the F/A-18 Hornet and A-4 Skyhawk, and was eventually placed in leadership positions to train young pilots in world affairs, strategic commitments and other tactical aircraft at the Marine aviation advanced tactics school. In the 1990s, he flew support missions in support of NATO operations in Bosnia.

After he retired from the Marine Reserves in 2000, Flerlage went to work at Delta Airlines, where he is now a captain and flies long-haul international flights.

Flerlage has at least one hurdle to clear before he can even match toes with Coffman - Democrat David Canter has also announced plans to run in CD-6.

Coffman: Lack of Regulation a Problem

by: Jeffco Pols

Tue Feb 17, 2009 at 14:40:37 PM MST

From The Columbine Courier:

In a break from traditional Republican ideology, Coffman said a lack of regulation led to the current economic morass.

"The demise of this economy was really a failure of government to properly regulate the economy," Coffman said. "We had these subprime loans infecting a lot of balance sheets. I don't see the appropriate oversight there, and it eventually brought the economy down."

The lack of discipline wasn't limited to profit-seeking banks, Coffman said.

"Essentially, the problem was spending beyond our means," the congressman said. "Too much easy money, too much easy credit, and spending beyond our means as individuals and collectively as a nation. I don't know how, again, spending and borrowing is going to be the cure here. It's a real concern."

Coffman, of course, doesn't have an answer of his own for what should have been done - specifically - to fix the economy. But at least he shows that he may be willing to break the party line on the talking points that really make no sense at all. Like pretending a lack of regulation wasn't the problem, for example. Because Republicans need leaders who can sound reasonable, for a change.