Last week, right-wing radio host Jeff Hunt topped off a sililoquy of damnations of 9News anchor Kyle Clark with something unusual. He condemned Clark’s coverage of a Democrat, not of a Republican, saying that Clark wastes his time and ours bringing up minor and irrelevant nitpicks instead of being “serious” and addressing the “problems that we’re facing.”
In June, Clark asked Democratic congressional candidate Manny Rutinel why he is no longer a vegan, after having been one in college and law school. That’s Hunt’s beef with Clark. He’s annoyed that Clark asked Rutinel about it.
“And for me, you see it even when [Clark] decides to jump into the Democrat primaries as well,” said Hunt on KNUS’ Jeff and Bill Show July 16. “For instance, Manny Rutinel and what he did as a college student and the issues he took on. Did you know he was a vegan? He was a VEGAN in college? Oh, wow, golly. So glad we’re focused in on that. I just, ah, I. I just wish we were serious about addressing the problems that we’re facing and the people who for the last decade have been promising to solve it. And we. Can we just focus in on that?”
“It’s important for me to be able to enjoy the delicious products that Colorado ranchers make,” Rutinel told Clark, adding that “Colorado ranchers and farmers are the envy of the world.”
U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, Rutinel’s opponent in his congressional race, has also said he doesn’t hold some views he had as a young activist.
Evans wrote in a 2004 letter to the editor when he was 17 years old, “If gay marriages are allowed, the institution of marriage will have been redefined to include all of the perverted and immoral practices mentioned above.” (He listed polygamy, incest, and bestiality, among others.)
Evans’ letter was referenced in a TV ad produced by Democrats, and an anti-LGBTQ streak can be seen throughout his political career, including in 2022 when he filled out a voter guide saying he strongly agreed that marriage is only between one man and one woman.
Evans responded to the ad by saying he’s “matured a lot” and disagrees with the “17-year-old Gabe.”
Rutinel has said elsewhere that he now sees good and bad actors in the agriculture industry. “They’re good stewards of the land, they care for their animals and they are the backbone of our economy and our communities,” he told the Colorado Sun. “Colorado ranchers are my friends and neighbors, and I’ve gotten to know them.”
For his part, Evans in 2024 said he now supports the Respect for Marriage Act, which recognized same-sex and interracial marriage.
Evans and Rutinel are competing to represent Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, north and east of Denver. It’s expected to be one of the most competitive U.S. House races in the country and will help determine which party controls the U.S. House after the midterm elections in November.
