Ex-Colo. lawmaker defends Moore
After losing a statehouse race last year, former Colorado lawmaker Gordon Klingenschmitt has reappeared on the political stage — this time in Alabama in support of fellow Republican Roy Moore, a candidate for U.S. Senate who faces numerous accusations of sexual misconduct, including the molestation of a 14-year-old girl when Moore was 32.
A controversial figure in his own right, Klingenschmitt — an evangelical activist whose rhetoric was often criticized by fellow Colorado Republicans — joined Moore on Thursday at a news conference with other religious figures.
Klingenschmitt described Moore as someone “who does not lie,” and he questioned the honesty of his accusers — while admitting “I don’t know these ladies.”
His defense of Moore follows a bond Klingenschmitt said goes back a decade.
He said Moore supported him when he was a Navy chaplain at odds with the Pentagon over his insistence of referring to Jesus in official services; he later was found guilty in military court for disobeying orders by wearing his uniform to a White House protest.
“When I was faced in a Navy courtroom with a misdemeanor crime of worshipping in public, Judge Roy Moore and his attorneys flew to that Virginia Beach courtroom and stood with me and helped defend my honor,” Klingenschmitt said.
In a later interview with The Denver Post, Klingenschmitt said he arrived in Alabama on Wednesday to support Moore and planned to be in the state through Friday night.
He said he was with Moore’s wife, Kayla, in Montgomery for another event Friday and while in Alabama he said he has found “overwhelmingly support for Roy Moore” for Senate ahead of the Dec. 12 election.
Klingenschmitt lost a bid last year to join the Colorado state Senate.
The loss followed a controversial statehouse term during which he said U.S. support of abortion and a “curse of God” led to an attack on a pregnant Longmont woman whose baby was cut from her womb.
He also has compared former President Barack Obama to a demon and said allowing gay Boy Scout leaders would lead to child abuse.
Klingenschmitt’s defense of Moore contrasts with that of U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, another Colorado Republican. Gardner, in the hot seat as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has said the Senate should expel Moore if he wins the election.