Cringey is the best way to describe the September 2022 arrest video of Republican Rep. Mike Lynch of Wellington, as he took multiple missteps alongside I-25 north of Fort Collins.
Lynch, now former state House minority leader, was pulled over for speeding at 90 mph. When told to exit his vehicle to take a sobriety test, he did so armed without informing the Colorado State Patrol corporal.
It’s bad enough to watch the scene escalate after the patrolman told Lynch not to touch the knife in his pocket. It’s startling to see the patrolman quickly grab Lynch’s hand out of his other pocket, after Lynch said he had a gun.
“You have a gun?” the patrolman said. “Stop that. We’re not going to reach for guns when we’re out here.”
The tension is palpable.
This video, shot from inside the patrolman’s car, eliminates any doubt that could surface had details only been written in a police report. It also highlights the danger for a lone patrolman in pulling over a driver on a nighttime shift.
Things could have gone wrong in a hurry.
But despite these stunning moments, the one that stands out – when faith was lost – happened when Lynch said, “You do not understand how much I work for you guys.”
This poor choice was made worse when Lynch asked the patrolman to call the lobbyist for the Colorado State Patrol.
It’s difficult to come back from the “I work for you guys” comment. His sense of entitlement stayed with us. It’s all too familiar with elected officials and we’re tired of it.
Politicians caught trying to pull rank – Lynch is now a member of this club.
Soon after the request to contact the lobbyist, Lynch said “never mind” as the patrolman pressed to learn who Lynch was talking about.
But he went on. Lynch added, “If there’s anything we can do to kind of keep the press out of this, that would be great.”
It’s awful that Lynch drove drunk. He’s caught on video as saying he only had a beer and a swig of a margarita. Yet, his blood-alcohol level was about 0.16 – double the state’s driving limit of 0.08.
Also a member of this club is our soon-to-be-former U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, caught on video behaving poorly. Vaping, taking flash photos, recording, disturbing other patrons and more during the “Beetlejuice” musical on Sept. 10.
Like Lynch, we were embarrassed for her. But what really got us was when Boebert said, “Do you know who I am?” and “I am on the board,” and “I will be contacting the mayor,” as reported by The Denver Post from the incident report.
It’s difficult to know the shelf life of these videos. But the comparison between Lynch and Boebert’s may be a determining factor for 4th Congressional District voters.
The 3rd Congressional District appears to be in the rearview mirror for Boebert, as she just moved to Windsor. On Thursday, she joined Lynch on a crowded stage of candidates at a debate in Fort Lupton, vying for Rep. Ken Buck’s soon-to-be-vacant CD-4 seat.
One question that drew laughs from the audience was the number of candidates’ hands raised when asked who had been arrested.
Predictably, Lynch and Boebert got sideways with each other.
Lynch asked Boebert, “Could you give the definition of ‘carpetbagger?’”
In response, Boebert said, “The crops may be different in Colorado’s 4th District but the values are not, and I’m a proven fighter for the values that you all believe in.”
CD-4 is far from our own. But this is a situation where it’s difficult to look away from the spectacle.
We don’t expect politicians to be saintly. But we do expect integrity. The election there may come down to recordings of whom behaved the worst. Recordings that capture relatively short, embarrassing times, but have staying power.
