To borrow a phrase from the lets-all-get-along crowd, politics doesn't always have to be black and white. Such is the case with Wednesday's vote by the CU Regents to hire former GOP chief Bruce Benson to lead the University's three campuses. While liberal activist groups attempted to frame Benson as a far-right ideologue, conservatives have been re-acquainting themselves with Benson's mixed record on taxes and social issues.
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Abraham Lincoln was right: you can't fool all the people all the time, and likewise you can't please everyone, either. Benson's hiring is a rare display of solidarity from a typically flimsy Republican majority on the Board of Regents. In opposing Benson, Michael Huttner and Co. opened up with both barrels, focusing on the wavering GOP Regents Pat Hayes, the chairwoman, and Paul Schauer, both of whom publicly criticized Benson prior to the vote. The flashy "Boycott Benson" campaign gained followers on campus, but faculty senates and student governments don't hire CU's president: the Regents do.
The partisan caucus held together, precisely because Benson isn't a hard-line partisan: he sold just enough conservatism to more solid GOP members while appeasing Schauer and Hayes.
Conservatives were far from thrilled with Benson's support of Referendum C in 2005, and liberals have demonstrated their willingness to fall on their swords for any cause that smears the oil and gas industry, where Benson grew his wealth. But when the dust settles, nobody will have gotten everything they wanted, even Republicans. Benson's record of support for public education will win over his share of liberals, too.
The lesson: Elections have consequences. The way democrats and their allies on the far left have gone all-in on Benson, it'd be understandable if you forgot liberal interests control all three branches of state government. It's nice to see the Regents flex their muscle, for once.