It was on this day in both 2014, as well as 2015, that we published our original "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profile of South Dakota State Senator Phil Jensen, a man who drew national headlines back in March of 2013 for producing legislation that would allow businesses to disciminate against whoever they want, Civil Rights Act be damned. Jensen actually tried claiming that if a bakery owned by the KKK tried discriminating against an African American, that the matter would take care of itself, because customers would be too offended to patronize such a place. This logic, of course then fails to understand everything about the Jim Crow era South. Anyway, South Dakota Republicans threw Jensen under the bus for his remarks, but have never said anything about other extreme legilsation he's produced or supported, including drug testing welfare recipients, an unnecessary ban on Sharia Law in the United States, and an attempt to criminalize abortions as "attacks on a fetus". More recently, he has become obsessed with transgendered citizens, sponsporing as many transphobic bills as he can to limit their access to public bathrooms as well as high school locker rooms, while also co-sponsoring a "religious freedom" bill to try to make it legal to discriminate against the LGBT community. Believe it or not, Phil Jensen is enough of a crazy ***hole that we accidentally profiled him twice within a year, on May 15th.
Jerry Sonnenberg
It was in 2016, 2017, as well as in 2018, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Jerry Sonnenberg, a member of the Colorado State Senate, representing District 1, in what is most of rural eastern Colorado. Sonnenberg was a member of the Colorado House of Representatives for eight years from 2007-2015, and when he was term-limited in 2014, he successfully got himself elected to the upper chamber. Sonnenberg drew some attention back in 2011, when he had a meltdown and began screaming profanities at a medical marijuana advocate at the state capitol, and literally shredded up the written amendment that legislators had been working on because he was outraged that someone had dared to film him while he was negotiating with lobbyists (which was their right). Sonnenberg then claimed the cameraman had spit on a lobbyist during their exchange with the cameraman (which was false, because DUH, they filmed their exchange). Through the years, Jerry Sonnenberg has developed a reputation as being staunchly anti-gay rights, and perhaps the best measuring stick to determine that would be that he has voted against bans on gay conversion therapy on minors when Colorado Democrats have attempted to do away with the ridiculous practice back in April of 2015. Sonnenberg is an anti-abortion radical as well, co-sponsoring a bill to attempt to redefine what a "person" is in the legal definition of assault and murder so that it included "fetus" as a person. Y'know, to just outlaw all abortions as "murder", because that's constitutional. Mind you, he's so "pro-life" that he voted against Colorado's attempts to repeal the death penalty in 2009. Sonnenberg even voted against a bill to set regulations in youth corrections facilities, because he’s apparently comfortable with abusive conditions being placed on minors in custody. He also co-sponsored legislation while in the Colorado House of Representatives to attempt to nullify the Affordable Care Act back in 2012, but hands down, perhaps the most disgusting moment from Jerry Sonnenberg came in January of 2016, not long after President Obama announced several executive orders on gun control, after seeing Republicans in the Senate block all gun control legislation since the Newtown Massacre. Reflecting on several mass shootings, the president thought of the victims, and became emotional, with a tear running down his face. Sonnenberg thought it was a great time to be a partisan troll, so he got on social media to share a picture of a gun being lubricated with "Obama tears".
Not long after our last check-in with Jerry Sonnenberg, he added himself to the long, long list of Republicans who deny climate change, arguing that people who want to reduce carbon emissions would “kill all the trees and plants”:
While the Colorado State legislature has come under the control of Democrats, the 2018 Blue Wave was far from enough to sweep Jerry Sonnenberg out of office in District 1, as he was re-elected with 79% of the vote in that conservative bastion in the northeastern corner of the state.
Sonnenberg has had several votes we find problematic over the past year:
- April 17tth, 2019: Sonnenberg votes against HB 1039, a bill aimed at allowing transgender Coloradans to change the gender listed on their driver’s licenses.
- April 24th, 2019: Jerry Sonnenberg votes against SB 235, a bill aimed at expanding automatic voter registration.
- April 29th, 2019: Sonnenberg votes against SB 7, which would establish new, better standards for sexual misconduct at higher education institutions.
- April 30th, 2019: Jerry Sonnenberg votes against SB 85, the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act.
- May 2nd, 2019: Sonnenberg votes against HB 1210, an effort to raise the minimum wage in Colorado.
Sonnenberg is term-limited in 2022, a date that cannot come fast enough.