Earlier this week I noted that Joel Hefley, the Republican Congressman who is retiring after representing Colorado's fifth district for ten terms, was publicly considering a write-in candidacy this fall to block James Dobson favorite Doug Lamborn, the GOP nominee, from being elected. As it turns out, Hefley opted to embrace retirement rather than run again, though he may still have at least one trick left up his sleeve, as Jennifer Talhelm reports for the AP.

Nearly a month later, the hard feelings linger, with Lamborn's opponents trying to draft Hefley to run as a write-in candidate.

Hefley, 71, turned them down this week but criticized Lamborn. In an interview Tuesday with The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Hefley called Lamborn's primary run "the most sleazy, dishonest campaign I've seen in a long, long time."

He even implied that he might endorse the Democrat -- Air Force veteran Jay Fawcett.

Hefley declined requests for an interview. Spokeswoman Jenny Walberg said she didn't know what his plans were.

"I doubt he would throw over the Republican Party and endorse Fawcett at this point -- a straight-out endorsement," she said, "but you never know."

While Hefley's clear opposition to Lamborn will no doubt do at least some harm to Lamborn's candidacy, a Hefley endorsement of Fawcett could turn this race upside-down and give the Democrats yet another potential pick-up opportunity. Make no mistake, even with an endorsement from Hefley, Fawcett would have a difficult time; that said, the race in Colorado's fifth district would be more clearly competitive in November and make the Democratic establishment at least take some notice -- something the Netroots are already doing.

This site, as well as the rest of the Netroots Alliance, has already raised significant funds for Fawcett through ActBlue, and today Fawcett, along with fellow Colorado Democrat Bill Winter, appeared in Howie Klein's Blue America series over at FireDogLake. So if you want to help make a difference in Fawcett's campaign and send a signal to Congressman Hefley that Jay Fawcett is someone he should support, throw him a few dollars today.

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Think the culture of Washington hasn't become more unsavory over the course of the Republicans' dozen years at the helm of the House of Representatives? Former House ethics committee chairman Joel Hefley, a Republican stalwart from Colorado who is retiring this year after ten terms on Capitol Hill, disagrees with you, as Alexander Bolton reports in tomorrow's issue of The Hill.

Former House ethics committee Chairman Joel Hefley last week quietly inserted a statement into the Congressional Record defending Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan's service on the panel and scolding GOP leaders for attempting to change ethics rules at the start of the 109th Congress.

[...]

On Wednesday, the same day he defended Mollohan -- Hefley also introduced legislation that would ban the use of so-called leadership political action committees by members of Congress, taking a direct swipe at the fundraising culture that former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) helped institute in the House in the mid- to late '90s.

[...]

Hefley's bill on campaign-finance reform is a shot at the broader culture that has taken root since Republicans captured the House 12 years ago. Since Republicans ascended to the majority, the number of leadership PACs, which lawmakers use to raise money for their colleagues, has proliferated wildly. And the amount of money raised for colleagues has become a major factor in determining the assignment of committee chairmanships and other plum panel spots. [emphasis added]

Taking a look at the specifics of the Hefley measure, which has literally no chance of being enacted during the currenty GOP Congress, the proposal appears to be a good start towards cleaning up Washington and beginning to decrease the power of the insider lobbyists and special interests. As Democracy 21's Fred Wertheimer explains, leadership PACs are the "perfect vehicle for lobbyists and trade associations and PACs to gain access and influence with members."

The fact that one of the very few Republicans on Capitol Hill willing to try to clean up Congress was not only stripped of his committee chairmanship and blocked from assuming the chairmanship of the House Resources Committee by his own party but also pushed into retirement is nearly as stunning an indictment of GOP domination of Washington as Hefley's comments, themselves.

And though the special election in California's 50th district back in June showed us a number of things, one of which is that the "Culture of Corruption" meme is not a panacea for all of the Democrats' woes, the fact that the former ethics panel head -- a conservative Republican, at that -- has called out his own party's activities does offer further ammunition for the Democrats as they seek to paint the Republicans as soft of ethics and retake the House of Representatives.

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From the Rocky Mountain News and other sources, Rep. Joel Hefley - recently deposed from his Ethics Committee chairmanship, will retire in 2006 after a 20-year stay in office.

The retirement opens up CO-5, the most reliably Republican district in Colorado.  The district is home to Focus on the Family, New Life Church, and no fewer than 4 military bases (including the Air Force Academy).  Jay Fawcett is the declared Democrat in the race - one of the Fighting Dems and a former Air Force Academy instructor.

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