Colorado Progressive

Memo to Mayor Hickenlooper: Please don’t pander for votes, okay?

Mike Littwin called it pretty well yesterday when he pointed out that campaign season must be underway, because  the mayor tried to pull a snow job on a conference call with the National Western Mining Conference & Exhibition.

And when asked whether the blizzard had changed his mind on global warming, Hickenlooper answered:

“I don’t think that the scientific community has decided with certainty that climate change is as catastrophic as so many people think.”

He said the science was uncertain, particularly on rate of change, but “in a snowstorm like this, you have to look at it with some skepticism.”

Seriously? While the science behind climate alarm comes under increasing scrutiny, there’s no call for illogical vote pandering. As the mayor surely understands, weather and climate are not the same. A) I doubt the statement did much to impress folks who were on the call. B) I strongly suspect the statement only harms Hickenlooper’s favorability among voters who are predisposed to like him.

Here’s Littwin:

Hickenlooper was a geologist. That’s what brought him to Colorado. He knows the science well enough. The obvious question was whether he was putting politics over science. It has happened before.

Well called. I think the mayor, on reflection, would probably enjoy a do over.