On the second day of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer’s trek through southern Colorado, the campaign of his Democratic opponent, Mark Udall, chucked a grenade in the form of comments in 2004 from former Congressman Scott McInnis, R-Colo.

McInnis, according to an August 2004 article in the Alamosa Valley Courier, accused Schaffer of walking out on legislation to create Great Sand Dunes National Park because it could keep Western Slope water away from the Front Range.

“What changed his mind was Front Range interest at his shoulder,” McInnis told the newspaper.

Schaffer, at the time, defended his vote, questioning how transferring roughly 100,000 acres of state land to the federal government could affect local water rights.

According to congressional records, Schaffer and Colorado Springs Congressman Joel Hefley, R-Colo., were the only two members of Colorado’s congressional delegation to vote against the bill during its final Oct. 25, 2000, vote.

Tara Trujillo, spokeswoman for the Udall campaign, disparaged Schaffer’s vote, calling it indicative of the former Fort Collins congressman’s priorities.

Dick Wadhams, Schaffer’s campaign manager, said the Democrats’ comments were preposterous in light of the fact McInnis has endorsed Schaffer for the open Senate seat.

McInnis said Thursday he supports Schaffer in spite of his vote against the Great Sand Dunes National Park bill.

“The fact is I was upset with Bob over that,” McInnis said. “I was very upset with Udall when he took a pass … on the Animas-La Plata water vote,” McInnis said.

Udall voted “present” during a July 2000 committee vote on a widely supported $343 million water-storage project that drew from the Animas and La Plata rivers in southwest Colorado.

Udall subsequently supported the Animas-La Plata water project, writing in a March 14 letter to the editor in The Daily Sentinel that he “championed” the Animas-La Plata issue later in his legislative career.