"Hickenlooper should do the right thing in death penalty flap after making the right call on Dunlap execution," is the editorial published in today's Aurora Sentinel.
You don’t have to be a political consultant to see where Gov. John Hickenlooper’s controversial death penalty decision last year was going to resurface.
It’s back, and it’s important to the election and Colorado’s future.
And:
Hickenlooper took a gamble last year that state lawmakers or others might strike Colorado’s death penalty, making his “temporary” reprieve for Dunlap a moot case. That didn’t happen, and now Hickenlooper is ripe for a political flogging because he’s on the right side of doing the right thing. Of course the governor would grant Dunlap clemency on his way out if he’s not re-elected, or he would do it in four years at the end of a second term, if Colorado doesn’t end the death penalty first.
His only mistake was to not force the issue into the political arena so voters can learn that the emotional decision to keep Colorado’s death penalty fails under the weight of the logical and practical arguments to end it. It is indisputable that the death penalty is nothing more than revenge killing, something beneath 18 states and almost all of the civilized nations. Hickenlooper should draw on the courage he needed to make this decision last year to fight the good fight against capital punishment during the current election battle, even if being on the right side of this issue just may not be the right thing to do to win a second term.
Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.
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