Coming under fire recently, conservative Republican state senate candidate Mike Kopp has found himself engaged in a fierce political battle that wasn’t anticipated a few months ago. Senate District 22 in southern Jefferson County has a significant edge in Republican voter registration. But ever since the distinguished Army veteran and father of three edged out appointed incumbent Kiki Traylor in a tough primary vote, a race that should have been safely in the Republican column is now in play.

Smelling blood and hoping for an upset victory, Democrats set their big gun targets on Mike and have not let up, hoping to put their candidate Paula Noonan on top. Besides the usual bag of cheap dirty tactics (e.g., stealing campaign signs), pro-Noonan thugs have sent hate mail to Mike’s wife. Meanwhile, Noonan’s campaign exploited the school shooting tragedy in Bailey by sending out mailings that grossly distort Mike’s stance on the gun issue. Another mailing she sent out accuses Kopp of opposing “stem cell research,” without mentioning the important distinction of adult vs. embryonic.

Typical deceitful trash.

But it’s easy to see why the Democrat candidate and her cohorts are slinging mud and bile as fast as they can: to take voters’ eyes off her own record. She repeatedly refuses to submit responses to voter surveys and answer the tough questions. Instead, it’s been about practicing the politics of personal destruction, both personally and via her liberal cohorts.

Meanwhile, as Peter Blake has pointed out, Noonan has dumped more than $200,000 of her own money into her campaign to win the state senate seat. Maybe, it’s just the typically bad judgment of a big government spender (how much less frugal would she be spending YOUR money?), but it also strongly signifies an ideologically-driven attempt to win elected office. That right there should be enough to give pause to voters in SD-22.

If she is running an ideologically-driven campaign yet won’t disclose her views on voter surveys, what can we know about Paula Noonan’s political worldview? We look at her endorsements, affiliations, and campaign contributions. So with that, just a few questions (controversial 527-funded phone calls aside, voters still deserve to know the answers to these questions to make the most informed choice):

1. Taking money from Colorado Ceasefire and earning the endorsement of the radical gun control group Secure Colorado, what does she think of your right to bear arms?

2. Taking money from the Mountain West Regional Council of Carpenters, what is she going to do to ensure better enforcement that employers are abiding by immigration laws?

3. Taking money from the Colorado Education Association, whose interests would she look out for first: students & families, or education employees?

4. Taking money from Tim Gill and the GLBT Caucus of Jefferson County, is she going to push forward the radical agenda of homosexual marriage?

5. Taking money from NARAL, what is she going to do partial-birth abortions and government funding of abortions?

6. Married to a liberal environmentalist financier whose foundation fought to forcibly remove water rights from the Mountain Ute tribe, what does she think of private water rights and of private property rights in general?

Voters in SD-22 deserve to hear the answers to these questions before making this important choice. Noonan herself has credited Mike for being a straightforward and honest candidate. We know where he stands on the issues – even if his opponent tries to lie and distort his record.

So why is Paula Noonan so afraid to tell us why she wants to spend $200,000 of her own money for a seat in the state legislature?