AURORA | Less than two weeks after state Sen. Morgan Carroll’s announcement of her run for Congress set national political observers atwitter, she now has a challenger for the Democratic mantle in Congressional District 6.
Perry Haney, a Greenwood Village resident and spinal physician who had a short-lived run for the CD6 Democratic nomination in 2012, filed to form a committee for a 2016 CD6 run. Carroll, who recently stepped down as Senate Minority Leader, is the only other Democratic candidate to file for the race.
According to federal candidate committee filings, Haney took out a $1-million loan to fund his campaign.
Haney previously ran for the CD6 nomination as a Democrat in 2012, eventually dropping out. He faced a formal complaint to the Federal Election Commission from then-Colorado Republican Party chairman Ryan Call in early 2012, accusing him of violating campaign laws by raising funds before filing formal candidacy papers and the requisite disclosures to the Federal Elections Commission. Haney withdrew shortly after the accusation was made; Joe Miklosi went on to win the Democratic nomination for that race.
Pollsters also floated the idea of Haney as a primary challenger to eventual CD6 Democratic nominee Andrew Romanoff in the 2014 race, but Haney never formally filed for that race.
Haney is a graduate of Hinkley High School and has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Colorado-Boulder and an M.D. from the University of Colorado at Denver. He currently serves as medical director of SpineOne medical center in Lone Tree, specializing in non-operative orthopedic medicine.
Zach Hunter, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, issued a statement on the NRCC blog — adorned with a meme of the character Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” films — playing up Haney’s $1-million loan for the campaign and the potential for it to cost the Democrats in the CD6 race to spend money on a primary battle.
“Democrats better buckle up, because there’s a big primary brewing in the 6th District,” Hunter wrote. “With Haney dropping $1 million in his account, a long, bloody fight seems inevitable, badly hurting whoever is the eventual Democratic nominee’s chances in the general election.”
When Haney announced his run for the 2012 election, he said he is running for Congress because “career politicians in Washington have made a mess of things.”
“Washington is broken and corrupt. Congress has been bought and paid for by special interests,” he said in a December 2011 release. “Those on the right want to destroy Medicare and hand it over to big insurance companies, and Congress simply hasn’t been tough enough on Wall Street or bold enough in fixing our economy. We can do better, and Coloradoans deserve more.”
The CD6 seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, who previously announced he would not run for U.S. Senate in 2016 in a bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, instead focusing on re-election to the House seat in CD6.
If Perry Haney has any future political aspirations at all, he cannot afford to bail on this race like he did in 2012.
Frankly, it is refreshing to see a primary on the Democratic side. The party seems adverse to offering the rank and file Democrats a chance to pick their own candidate, instead of have the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) do it for them.
I think Haney can capitalize on the uneasy feelings that a lot of 6th CD Dems, outside of Aurora, have that Carroll may be too liberal for the rest of the district. She could get hammered worse than Andrew Romanoff in the general election against Mike Coffman.
I can tell you that Dr Haney is not going to represent anyone but his own personal interests in Washington. He has built a successful business by threatening doctors to perform unnecessary procedures to ensure financial goals are met. In addition, he despises Obamacare and wants to put an end to it because of the impact it has had on his business. Bottom line, Dr Haney is not the candidate for us Colorado – please don’t let him buy his way to Congress with his own millions (make no mistake, the “loan” he took out is no loan, he already has millions). Please don’t be fooled by his sound-bites from focus group studies on what we want our candidates to represent for us in Congress, Dr Haneyis in it for no one else but Dr Haney as a way to make even more millions and collect a pension for the rest of his life…
Telling It Like It Is, could you please refer me to factual data to validate your claim about Dr. Haney. I’ve lived in Aurora now for about four years and would definitely like some insight. Fraud is pretty big in the medical industry; what is different from Dr. Haney and the rest in that environment?