I tend to think about horses more than the normal person does. My daughter is a professional horse trainer up in the Fort Collins area and I spend time in my garage woodshop making things for horses to jump over. As I type these words, there are 16 feet sitting on my work bench, waiting to be final sanded, painted and then attached to poles that hold up the bars over which horses leap. These gizmos are called “standards” for some reason, and I sell them through a small online shop. I like horses and my daughter spends hours teaching people how to ride and to take care of these kindly beasts (transition in 3, 2, 1…).

Here in the pages of Colorado Politics, I’ve often written about show horses and workhorses in the Colorado delegation to D.C. (Ed: I see what you did there).

You may recall from my earlier dispatches that in political science terms, a “show horse” is any elected official who is more concerned with appearances and getting their face on TV than in actually working to get meaningful results. These folks want as much camera time as they can get, so that they can shout to the rooftops about how great they are; think Ted Cruz and you’ll know the type.

A “workhorse,” however, is an elected official who is interested in actually getting stuff done, and is not especially concerned about who gets the credit. The goal is to get the work done, the bill is passed, and for a new law or regulation to kick in that helps the good people of Colorado; think Sen. Michael Bennet (my old boss) and you’ll have the classic example of a hardworking elected person who cares about getting results and not retweets on Twitter.

A CP story caught my eye today that, yet again, illustrates where a couple of our elected folks fall on the show horse-workhorse scale – a cover story on my old friend Jason Crow and his recent trip to Ukraine.

And if I may, please allow me to yet again leap atop my old poli-sci professor’s soapbox to remind people that the name of that place is simply “Ukraine,” and not “The Ukraine.” I’m not sure how that “the” stuff started, but you don’t say “The France,” or “The Italy,” and the same is true of Ukraine. Sorry, but I needed to get that off my chest.

Now, where was I? (Ed: good question)

Oh yes, Crow in Ukraine.

Full disclosure: Jason helped on my 2008 campaign and is one of the most accomplished and remarkable people who honor me by letting me call them friend. Jason is, well, brilliant academically and is a battle-tested former Army Ranger, with combat tours under his belt. He was recently one of the congressional members who traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Crow later told reporters that, after a more than three-hour discussion with the president, ultimately it all boils down to weapons, weapons, weapons. Crow pledged to return to DC and to work tirelessly in support of additional Ukrainian aid.  And with his military experience, Crow’s views of what we should be doing in the region should carry a great deal of weight. I fully support these efforts to keep the Ukrainian army supplied with what they need to defend against a bully – an apparently incompetent bully, but a bully to be sure. That is a workhorse talking and is the model of what we should expect from our elected officials.

Meanwhile, back here in Colorado (which I think must be an old Hittite word for “the wind always blows,” but I digress) we saw how a show horse handles business. I speak, of course, of the actions of the Member from CD-3, Lauren Boebert. A quick look at her legislative history over her time in office shows an interesting pattern in terms of the types of legislation she introduces. A few of the bills she has introduced include the “We’re Not Paying You To Break Our Laws Act,” the “Stop AOC Act,” and I kid you not, the “Stop the Biden Caravan Now Act.” She has a few more “normal” bills in the hopper, but you get a sense of her show horse mentality from what else she puts forward.

Oh, and not a single one of her bills has gotten past being introduced. While it is true that Democrats control the House, so GOPers will have less success, there are (amazingly) bipartisan bills that get through. It appears Ms. Boebert has little interest in getting actual outcomes, but only in showing off how pro-Trump and anti-most things she is.

Crow, by contrast has introduced a host of bills with, well, workhorse-like titles, such as the “Small Business Energy Loan Enhancement Act,” and the “Transparency in Reporting for an Accurate Count of Combat Equipment (TRACCE) Act,” as well as the “Small Business Innovation Voucher Act of 2021.” Few of those titles will get voters very excited, but Crow is doing the real work of a true representative. Oh, and he also has bills that have passed the House and have become law.

I guess we should be grateful for Ted Cruz, in that the showiest of the show horses isn’t from Colorado. But the Centennial State does offer a dramatic example of the contrast between show horses and workhorses in the persons of Boebert and Crow. The good people of CD-6 are well represented by a smart, brave and honorable veteran, while the good people of CD-3, well, they can get pancakes served in a Rifle restaurant by showy people packing heat, because, I dunno, freedom?

The contrasts could not be more stark nor more important for our future.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.