Morgan Carroll’s 6th Congressional District campaign kicked off this week and she came out swinging against incumbent Rep. Mike Coffman for his “failed leadership” in dealing with the problem-plagued VA hospital project in Aurora.

But a Coffman surrogate dismissed Carroll’s “shrill” attack as ridiculous. And a political analyst questioned whether attacking Coffman — a war veteran — on the VA issue is wise strategy to win a House race that will be on the national radar next year.

In an interview with The Colorado Statesman Wednesday, Carroll, a Democrat, blasted the effectiveness of the Republican Coffman’s role in overseeing the workings of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Coffman sits on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

“He was set up to be in a prime position to help shepherd and deliver the VA hospital to this district,” Carroll said. “It’s his district. He’s on the committee. He’s chairing the oversight committee. And what happened?

“It’s the poster child for a failed project. It’s failed leadership and failed oversight.”

The proposed VA hospital – which should have been up and running already, but may not be completed before 2018 – is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.

Carroll — a state Senator from Aurora who recently stepped down from her minority leadership role to run her campaign against Coffman — said Coffman should have been more involved in overseeing construction management and costs, given his position in Congress.

“It’s called an oversight committee for a reason,” she said. “And they serve a terribly important checks and balance. I guess my point is that this was preventable. If you’re the chair of the committee and you’re not doing any oversight, then I don’t understand why it exists.”

Coffman adviser Josh Penry, who was a Coffman consultant during the congressman’s successful re-election bid last year, fired back against Carroll’s attack.

“Morgan Carroll is living up to her reputation and record as Morgan Carroll the legislator,” Penry said. “She is very partisan, very shrill and very liberal.

“It’s incredibly disingenuous. No one is buying it; no one is believing it. My guess is she’s having a hard time keeping a straight face.”

Penry reminds Carroll that the hospital project was put in motion prior to Coffman representing his current district (Coffman’s district was redrawn in 2012 to include the hospital’s Aurora location). And Penry said Coffman has been an outspoken critic of VA leadership and has been involved in legislation to deal with the issues related to the hospital.

“If you reflect on the last several years, no person in Washington has had a larger role in rooting out the waste, the abuse and frankly corruption within the VA than Mike has,” he said. “When veterans were dying on waiting lists for medical care and (there existed) obfuscation in covering it up, Mike Coffman was one of the first to blow the whistle.”

Meanwhile, veteran independent political analyst Eric Sondermann wonders whether Carroll’s strategy to attack Coffman on VA-related issues is wise.

Sondermann said it might be difficult for Carroll to tie Coffman — who has served in two military branches — to the VA’s troubles, considering that the problems occurred under President Obama’s watch.

“Color me dubious that that’s going to be a successful message for her,” Sondermann said.

Tight race expected in competitive district

Sondermann said Carroll must prove to national donors who might be turned off by the results from last year that she is a true contender. In 2014, Coffman soundly defeated former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff in a contest national Democrats initially had hoped would have resulted in a pick-up for the party.

Carroll can already tout a key endorsement from the influential Emily’s List, an organization that provides support for women candidates. The group, whose backing the Carroll campaign announced this week, will greatly benefit Carroll’s ability to raise funds and will help provide ground game organization.

Sondermann said Carroll has some things going for her in her attempt to unseat Coffman.

“She’s Aurora through and through and she has the better fortune of running in a presidential year,” Sondermann said.

Romanoff was criticized for moving to Aurora just before waging a campaign against Coffman. He lost in a mid-term election cycle that benefited Republicans across the country.

Carroll has roots in Aurora. Her mother went to high school there and Carroll has represented Aurora in either the state House or Senate since 2005.

“It’s true that it helps to be running in a presidential year and the (district’s) demographics have shifted my way,” she said. “But I have literally knocked on thousands of doors every single year. It gives me a really good idea of the kinds of things people are concerned about.

“What people are concerned about right now is nobody can afford to go to college. Student debt is crippling a generation. People are working, but barely paying the bills. There’s fewer retirement security on the private side.”

The district is one of the most diverse in the country, featuring cultures and dialects from around the world. The district’s large Latino population will be heavily courted by both candidates – and Carroll is already on the attack on the issue of immigration reform.

“He’s never even introduced a bill,” Carroll said of Coffman. “And he can’t figure out where he stands on immigration reform. His party is in charge. He could have been introducing bills to actually solve these kinds of problems for people in the district and at least show he was trying.”

Coffman has softened his tone on immigration issues since his district was remapped to include a large Latino population. He took Spanish classes and even debated in Spanish against Romanoff last year. Coffman has also bucked his party on some immigration measures.

“It takes more than learning Spanish,” Carroll said. “I give him credit for realizing he can’t be where Tom Tancredo was in this district, but the problem I have is actions speak louder than words.”

But Penry said Carroll is off the mark on immigration and all other attacks she is leveling against Coffman.

“Morgan will say lots of things,” he said. “Morgan is a personal injury lawyer. In her day job as a legislator, she says lots of things. As a personal injury lawyer, she says lots of things. There will be plenty of time to talk about those things.”

Zach Hunter, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, blasted Carroll as being “ultra-liberal” and “out of sync with 6th District voters.”

“Just like the much heralded Andrew Romanoff, Carroll will soon find out what happens when a blue liberal pretends to be something, anything, else,” Hunter said in an emailed statement.

But Carroll laughed when Hunter’s statement was read to her.

“It’s like a cookie cutter,” she said. “They say that about every (Democratic) candidate in any district in the country. Those labels don’t help people pay the bills. They don’t put food on the table. They don’t make school affordable. They’re meaningless.”

— Twitter: @VicVela1