A GOP candidate for Colorado's 5th Congressional District signs petition against Dems' proposed congressional rule

Jeff Crank, a Republican candidate for Colorado's 5th Congressional District, added his name to a petition Friday that counters a Democratic proposal to adopt a congressional rule regarding where members can post videos on the Internet. 

Crank said the initiative is not cost effective and hinders the ability for elected leaders and their constituents to communicate, adding that he would support the petition's originator, U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), in any situation that Crank felt would "limit communication between members of Congress and their constituents."

"The Democrat proposal would stifle the ability of members of Congress to communicate with their constituents," Crank said in a statement issued Friday. "The goal of government should be more transparency, not secrecy."

U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), who originally proposed the congressional rule, said in a previous interview with PolitckerMA.com that conservative criticisms were "largely inaccurate assertion(s)" and "temper tantrums."  

"The only item we seek to address is loosening existing rules to allow members to post videos as a first step toward making the rules meet our constituents' expectations regarding how they communicate with us in the 21st century," Capuano said. "This was completely ignored during the years that Republicans controlled Congress while the Internet grew exponentially. It is currently against House rules to post video on any site with commercial or political advertising or to use taxpayer-funded resources to post outside of the House.gov domain."

Capuano added that the rule would only apply to videos, and that his primary concern was the commercialization of the films.

Crank is one of three Republicans running to represent the 5th Congressional District and will face current U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn and Bentley Rayburn in the party primary. Should Crank sink the GOP nomination, he will square off against Democrat Hal Bidlack in November.