Leadership gets to the heart of the question. 3 syllables, easy enough to say, but elusive and even fleeting to find in practice. Saturday morning, people came to find it, to see it in the flesh. As one Republican put it to me later that day, in hearing the candidates dialog he was expecting to find a compelling reason to change commissioners. He expected the challengers to make a passionate case that something with the current commission had gone horribly wrong. He wanted to hear the compelling reason the commissioners should be ridden out of town on a rail, perhaps trailing tar and feathers. You know, a reason akin to the situation facing us with Obama in the presidential race. [Read more…]
Meet the candidates
Commissioner candidates answer questions at an Elbert County Republican Breakfast on Saturday, 5/12/12.
candidate positions
A couple things in Candidate Ross’s recently published campaign statements raise concerns. He said, “Elbert county government should not be in the business of facilitating the export of this precious water.” Fair enough as a political sentiment, but Elbert County really only has a legitimate authority over water properties underneath land it holds in the name of Elbert County. In Colorado, water is not the community’s property. It doesn’t sound like a Commissioner Ross would limit the scope of his water reach to county owned properties. This raises a concern of government overreach from aggressive water zoning and other county approvals and licensing that could become politicized. That’s just not a conservative, rule of law orientation.
Candidate Ross goes on to say, “Decisions regarding any development project must make economic sense and be of true benefit to Elbert County.” Hold on there. Since when is it government’s role to decide winners and losers in the market? In a free country private citizens take economic risks with their property and capital. What’s the constitutional basis for county government deciding beforehand what the prospective economics of a private project will be – and predicating licensing on that decision? Oh that’s right, there isn’t one. So, this is another big problem.
Turning to Candidate Rowland’s recent statements – which requires the turn of a page in this weeks’ Prairie Times, thank you to the Bishops – more effluvia from the tea-drinking upholder of “conservative values and principles” rises to the surface.
Skimming off the top layer, Candidate Rowland’s position appears to be that commissioners Schwab and Shipper intended to bankrupt the county, sell vast amounts of Elbert County water, pollute the pristine water they didn’t sell with dirty Arkansas River water, deny citizens a place to dump their garbage locally, and wrongly direct business to a struggling local employer. Then they succeeded in shutting out a clamoring mob from a non-policy making commissioner business meeting, and wrongly supported county employees in a harassment case.
I don’t see it that way at all. The commissioners I know have no such malice, short sightedness, or incompetence in their direction of Elbert County government.
On the contrary, people who exacerbate circumstances in favor of their personal political ambitions are a big problem in this Elbert County political season. These meeting occupants grab the limelight every other week to sling innuendo and mudballs at decent public servants doing a fine job for the county.
Someone asked me yesterday what I thought the biggest problem in the county was. I said jobs, but a close second would be political self-aggrandizement because it clouds everything and makes reality based decision making much more difficult.
The circus sideshow of public sharing at BOCC meetings does nothing to elevate discussions or add information that could be used to solve a real problem — which was the commissioner’s intent in giving them a microphone. Instead, they self-aggrandize with impunity and permit their lust for power to overcome all shame. As difficult as it is to witness these occupant monkey shines, I’m glad the commissioners put them on the web so we can see what our government is up against.
the loopy left
Republican committeepeople are expected to find unaffiliated voters to sign up as Republicans. Apparently it’s what we do. Except, what we’ve been doing has brought a heavy contingent of RINOs into the Elbert County Republican Party. And now we’ve got this hybrid party working that’s half liberal and half conservative. And I don’t mean just a little bit liberal. There are committed leftists calling themselves Republicans around here. I’ve been writing about this for years. Rather than potentially bring more RINO voters into the party before the primary election, I thought it would be best to focus on conservative people to try to bring into the party. So I wrote the Are You A Republican? blog item yesterday. The blog is an effective way to reach people since it gets about a thousand hits a day.
I really didn’t expect that the post would drive the New-Plains boys over the edge. But it did. Click on their editorial below.
Anyway, science, I love it! Now we have evidence that Republicans don’t have to be progressive-light to effectively campaign against the left. If Republicans just speak the basic messages and values they stand for, the left melts down. This stuff is like droplets of water landing on the Wicked Witch of the West, or a puff of air on a hillside of quaking aspen leaves. Simple truth has a mysterious power over them.
(click to enlarge)
Are you a Republican?
- Do you think people should try to help themselves first before they ask for help from others?
- Do you think it’s wrong to game the public treasury for your own personal advantage?
- Do you think government entitlements discourage individual initiative?
- Do you think as taxes go up, charitable giving goes down?
- Do you think death should be tax exempt?
- Do you think business taxation is just another way to tax consumers through higher prices?
- Do you think everyone should pay the same tax rate?
- Do you think unfunded government mandates should be eliminated?
- Do you think private enterprise based on the opportunity for profit is the fairest way to allocate scarce resources?
- Do you think government force is a negative power that leads to corruption when used to control private enterprise?
- Do you think it’s wrong for government bureaucrats to use law to force private property owners to use their property in certain approved ways?
- Do you think zoning laws and regulatory laws should be proven with demonstrated outcomes before they are allowed to become law?
- Do you think that government codes, regulations, statutes, and zoning have choked off way too much creativity from the private sector in a vain attempt to achieve utopia?
- Do you think the earth is far more vast and resilient than environmentalists have shown?
- Do you think private property owners are the best stewards of the environment?
- Do you think there’s too much government in America?
- Do you think government is the least desirable place to look to find a real solution to a problem?
- Do you think the ends do not justify the means?
There are a million ways to ask these questions; this is no official list. It’s just a few things that come to mind as I think about expressing some Republican values. Republicans hold values like these because they lead to a robust, creative, evolving, sound, reality based, equitable, and peaceful society where everyone benefits. Ironically, the beneficiary model the Left promotes benefits precious few beneficiaries and a whole bunch of bureaucrats.
If you answered yes to the above questions, then you believe in fairness, freedom, individual responsibility, non-socialist solutions for successful living, and you’d make a good Republican. You can register as a Republican before May 29th to participate in the Republican primary election. Do it online, just Google it.
Schlegel v Pippin
I went to the Schlegel v Pippin permanent protective order hearing today, 4-27-2012. The Denver Post’s immediate coverage of the hearing seems to be scripted to a narrative the Post is comfortable with. I have some different take-aways. [Read more…]
paranoia will destroya
In today’s BOCC webcast, Commissioner Schwab once again admonished that the BOCC’s open mic segment was not to be used for political campaign purposes. Shortly thereafter candidate Rowland led off with a little campaign number that could have been titled, “I’m Transparent And You’re Not.” [Read more…]
a flag of convenience
Democrats caucused this evening at Kiowa Middle School for precincts 2, 3 and 13. Once upon a time the Dems were thick as thieves in these parts. I went down to KMS tonight hoping to catch a glimpse of a few of the old guard from those times perhaps showing off a bit of their old leftist activism. I had my note pad and pen ready. I had a recorder in my pocket in case the debate got hot and heavy and I couldn’t keep up with handwritten notes.
I arrived moments before the scheduled start at 7:00 p.m. I had expected to slip in the door at the last moment as an observer, perhaps even go unnoticed as I took a seat in the corner while sliding my recorder out, turning it on, adjusting the input volume, and hoping no one would be alarmed by the blinking red recording light that would indicate the unit was capturing a form of speech it had never before captured.
I was hoping against hope that I might glean some insight, some clue about this weird sect of humanity that has given me so much consternation through the years while providing me with an unfathomably deep pool of sophisms to rebut, refute and report. In the spirit of Dian Fossey, I was about to mingle with the gorillas in their native environment. Perhaps I would find out something about my own distant genetic past before a couple of large union goons rose to escort me out of the room. I was ready to deliver my plea about the 1st. Am., political speech and public meetings, and to have it fall on deaf ears as they manhandled me into the cold night, away from the secret knowledge of their enclave. I was emotionally prepared for the arbiters of transparency to pull the curtains shut on me as they cast me out.
To say the evening was anti-climactic probably raises the bar for an anti-climax to a new height. I was definitely not prepared to be the first attendee to show up. Nor was I prepared for a very pleasant Patty Sward to greet me and welcome me to stay. This was at 7:00! Patty and I. And Patty’s not even a resident of one of the subject precincts. She had volunteered to conduct this caucus because there was no one else to do it.
Well, it was about to be a very strange caucus between a non-voting volunteer and an observer from the other party when a couple of nice ladies showed up, Janine and Lark I think. Ahhhh! Real local Democrats had arrived!
Well, the whole thing was over almost as soon as it began with the 2 Democrats, 1 volunteer, and 1 conservative blogger observer. No goon squad, no activism, and not a single note on my pad. When it became clear that nothing political would be discussed I offered to leave the caucus because I didn’t want my presence to chill their political speech. But they assured me that was not the case and that I was welcome to stay. And that was about it. They filled out some delegate paperwork, the ladies took their leave, Patty and I shared some parting thoughts, and the Precinct 13 Democrat Caucus was over.
You know, it wasn’t my place to confront them with opposing views at their caucus, nor was it even my place to speak at their caucus, so I did not confront them. Nor did they seem too interested in airing out any prototypical issues from their side. I could speculate about reasons for this but it would be pure speculation. They were very nice, you know, people I would be happy to call friends.
And I respect that they represented without guile their political preference, even though they didn’t care to get into it in much detail.
Perhaps more importantly, I have to conclude that everything I’ve said in the past about the Republican Party in Elbert County being used as a flag of convenience for the great majority of local leftists has been proved correct. There may only be a handful of Democrats in Elbert County, but it’s simply not plausible that there are so few leftists in Elbert County.
This points to a glaring problem with the Elbert County Republican Central Committee Bylaws which are framed from the perspective that all local Republicans are bona fide Republican. Now I have proof this is not true. Still, ECR executive members are bound to support without prejudice all Republican candidates, notwithstanding the real nature of those candidates.
This is a thorny problem. The current system tolerates, even encourages this gaming. To those of us who’ve had a few years to observe the game, it’s fairly obvious. My guess, however, is that many if not most county assembly delegates — the people who will place the next commissioner candidates on the primary ballot — may not appreciate the full spectrum of political preferences represented by their Republican candidates.
In this game, the labels “Republican” and “Tea Party” cannot be counted on to mean conservative. Perhaps the Republican Party Bylaws can be amended before the next election so that the local GOP can no longer be abused as a flag of convenience. Solving this problem, while preserving the power of the delegates’ voting franchise through the county assembly, should be a priority for the ECR Central Committee.
Elbert County has a perfectly viable Democrat Party and it should be used as such. Political questions are meant for resolution in the public square, not the stealthy back channels that Robert Rowland advises.
transparency and accountability
I’ve probably had enough of transparency and accountability.
Look, I get it. I know the liberals want to be in charge of the county. I know they won’t rest until it’s them actually sitting in those seats, them making those marginal calls from imperfect information, and their decisions revealed in 20/20 hindsight to have been insufficiently prescient. I know they feel a deep need to micro-manage and second guess every decision the commissioners might consider making. I get the subtext of their vigilance – that the current commissioners are incompetent and that only a liberal, green, populist, anti-growth, country-in-county approach will do for us. We all know these agendas won’t ever directly sway the greater demographic of unwashed Republican voters in Elbert County. And I understand the activists will find a way by any means possible to insert themselves into our governance because they believe without question in their agendas, and their entire world view hangs in the balance of these matters.
The cast of characters on the BOCC morning show last week included Richard Miller, Robert Rowland, Jill Duvall, Rick Blotter, Belinda Seville, plus two commissioners. They were all too comfortable in the process to not be typical.
Apparently when the commissioners serve the planner/liberal/green agenda, everyone is convivial, full of mutual admiration, even a bit smug about how correct things are. But oh, when the agenda is in doubt, or when the commissioners might actually make a move counter to the agenda, it’s Katy bar the door and we’d better book the Exhibit Hall at the fairgrounds because it’s time for a demonstration.
What do you call this sort of government? Representative democracy doesn’t quite fit because the cast of characters constantly nipping at the heels of the commissioners don’t represent any majorities. They’re all about their various agendas. And republican statesmanship doesn’t fit either because the leadership panders to whomever shows up, and it’s the planner/liberal/greens who always occupy that field. This is government by the threat of force upon the governors, something way beyond the consent of the governed.
The left have taken elements from the Constitution designed to protect and enforce the people’s consent to be governed, and turned those protections into a license to issue threats, extort money from the public treasury, and force their minority agendas upon the majority. The constitutional guarantee of Freedom of Speech was not intended as a cover for subversion, threats, and bad faith.
Despite what most of these participants and would-be “we-the-people” leaders will tell you, the people don’t really enter into the process of county governance. The people are unintended beneficiaries who bring two interests relevant to the process: 1) The degree to which their property can be made to serve one of the planner/liberal/green agendas, and 2) The degree to which they can be mined for tax revenue.
That makes us like the wild boar at a luau — dinner. The transparency and accountability imposed upon the BOCC have done little to improve the people’s prospects under county governance. Seeing how we get stuffed into these sausages of government each week does not improve the taste when it’s still us on the plate.
Protecting the people’s interests under county governance — that is, the interests of the majority of people who don’t have time to hang out at BOCC morning shows and zoner meetings — has yet to be addressed in this election cycle.
Although no commissioner candidates seem much concerned about those interests, as Republicans it would be encouraging to hear something from them about limiting government, shrinking the legal domain of zoning, lowering taxes, lowering spending, increasing freedom, enlarging liberty, and allowing the free market to work to create a vibrant local economy.
Newcomers to Elbert County might wonder about having to enumerate basic Republican concepts to an all Republican field of candidates. I do too.
Rowland, you protest too much
“Hoist with his own petard; and ‘t shall go hard” – Shakespeare
~
Robert Rowland co-hosted a radio talk show on a station in the Springs the evening of Feb 9th, and it just came to my [Brooks Imperial] attention yesterday. He trashed me personally, our Precinct 13 Caucus, the Chair of the ECR, Republicans in general, the Chair of the State Party, and a variety of other people, issues and events.
I thought our caucus went very well, and though I’m sure I don’t agree with some of our delegates on some things, I came away from the night feeling very confident that our delegation will represent the major sentiments of our caucus fairly at the county assembly on the local candidates and big issues. What more could one ask of a delegation?
Roland was wrong to use the Precinct 13 Caucus for his warped political and entertainment purposes, and I responded accordingly below. More could and probably should be said to defend against his misrepresentations, however this is a start.
Audio clips of Robert Roland and radio co-hosts have been excerpted from the following Grass Roots Radio Colorado podcasts from February 9, 2012: Hour 1 Permalink Hour 2 Permalink
Audio clips of Brooks Imperial from Precinct 13, 2/7/2012 Caucus, recorded that evening.
~
The ECRCC Bylaws contain no such language.
ECR Bylaws Misrepresented again
The ECRCC Bylaws constrain executive members of the Central Committee from endorsing candidates. Precinct Committee Persons, however, are only constrained from endorsing non-Republican candidates. In all other matters Precinct Committee Persons may express political viewpoints at will.
Principled Republican Like I Am
“Although he is running as a Republican, Rowland does not believe Party should matter at the County level.”
~
Rowland defines permissible political speech
Über defender of the Constitution, Candidate Rowland, should know that the 1st Am. protects political speech above all other kinds of speech, yet Rowland would dictate the terms of our free speech at caucus.
Über defender of transparency and accountability in government, Candidate Rowland, wants delegates to act as free agents without any accountability to the caucuses they represent at assembly.
Rowland falsely describes Brooks Imperial’s comment to prospective delegates
The above three Rowland comments are emblematic of past corruptions in the caucus process. This notion that a representative process – the selection of delegates to represent a caucus at a higher assembly – should be a secretive and “stealthy” process offends me, and I have every right under the 1st Am. to express just why.
Precinct 13 – Brooks Imperial’s comment to prospective delegates
The statement speaks for itself.
~
Rowland describes attempted bribe
Candidate Rowland neglected to mention that what he’s referring to is one of the gift bags that he and Candidate Ross offered to each of the Precinct Committee People at the February 1, 2012 Elbert County Republican Central Committee Meeting. I thought the practice repugnant, I had no idea what their decorated gift bags contained, and wanted no part of it.
~
Rowland misrepresents Brooks Imperial’s tea party comment to delegates
Listen to what I actually said: Brooks Imperial’s comments after nomination to alternate
The comment speaks for itself. I’ve published extensively through the years on this subject of the “mixed use” of the Elbert County Republican Party as a flag of convenience for all sorts of candidates in this county.
~
Rowland misrepresents Precinct 13 Committee Person
I, Brooks Imperial, was appointed by the ECR Executive Committee to fill a vacancy in Precinct 13. I was then elected at the 2/7/2012 caucus to continue in that role. I was not “demoted” or in any way disenfranchised from this role.
I am honored to serve in the capacity of Precinct Committee Person for Precinct 13 and only wish that candidates like Robert Rowland did not make analysis such as the above necessary.
knowing your right from left
…in Elbert County
First of all, forget the labels. Republican, Democrat and Tea Party mean nothing out here. They’re all nominally Republican.
————————————————————————————————————————-
On the right you have Limited Government, Personal Responsibility, Protection of Private Property Rights, and Fiscal Responsibility.
————————————————————————————————————————-
On the left you have New-Plains and Elbert-Grab.
————————————————————————————————————————-
Candidates promoted on New-Plains: Larry Ross * Robert Rowland * Steve Valdez
Rowland “is running as a Republican” but “does not believe Party should matter at the County level.” Valdez says, “Republican or Democrat-it doesn’t matter.” Ross believes in government regulation and is active in trying to shut down oil and gas development in the county.
The three have made statements indicating openness to increasing taxes, increasing debt, favoring zoning control of private property and private resources, and growing government.
————————————————————————————————————————-
Against these three candidates, real Republicans have opportunities to defend the actual conservative principles enumerated on their Lincoln Day Dinner advertisement above.
Now would be a good time to start.
Let em drill
2012 current ECRCC Bylaws
Elbert County Republican Central Committee Bylaws
“[R]esolutions introduced by registered Elbert County Republican participants at the precinct caucus are eligible for action by each precinct caucus. A majority vote by the caucus shall advance that resolution for consideration of the Resolutions Committee, and must include name, address, phone and if available email of the person submitting the proposal.
The Resolutions Committee shall meet after the precinct caucus and prior to the county assembly for the purpose of confirming the precinct caucus action and to determine if the resolution conforms to the requirement of expounding a fundamental principle of the Republican Party. A two-thirds majority vote by the committee shall advance that resolution for consideration of the county assembly.”
Caucuses are February 7, 2012.
Note: The Resolutions Committee has 5 people on it. That means it will take 4 out 5 affirming committee votes to pass a precinct caucus resolution on to the the county assembly.
here we go…
The declared Republican challenger to the Elbert County commissioner district 3 seat, Mr. Larry Ross, briefly introduced himself at a Republican Central Committee meeting last night. He told the members that the poor condition of the local economy had motivated him to run for commissioner. And he told the members that he was a strong proponent of regulation.
It was during a period of brief introductions of various candidates and the purpose of the meeting was not to vet candidates, so no one questioned him on the juxtaposition of those two statements.
No one remarked about how regulations suppress economic activity.
No one mentioned how county zoning is an authoritarian process for imposing government takings in a heavily tilted playing field where the government holds practically unlimited power and the citizen is treated as a serf.
No one informed him that a pro-regulation position is an inherently unconservative and unRepublican stance.
And no one asked him why in the world he’s running as a Republican.
Even though there wasn’t time for it last night, these things needed to be mentioned.
~
By the way, all Republican caucus attendees should pre-register for the 2/7/2012 caucus at http://www.caucus.cologop.org This is quick process that simply verifies your Republican party voter registration, a requirement to vote in the caucus. Pre-registration is not mandatory but it will help those running your caucus speed things along that night if you are pre-registered.
~
Passau
“The fortress was attacked five times between 1250 and 1482. Twice, 1298 and 1367, the citizens of Passau themselves rebelled against the Bishop.”
After a couple hundred years of open government in America and the advent of domestic terrorism, many of our government buildings have been converted to secure fortresses. Public union demonstrators recently took over the Wisconsin state capital. There’s no doubt that given access, today’s “occupants” would be camping in, and shouting down all visitors to, government buildings in cities across the country. Fortress America must now protect itself from its own people. The Founders would conclude that our republic has been forfeited. Reasonable political debate does not occur under the threat of force, at the point of a leftist spear.
2012 no brainer
Return to the Article |
September 21, 2011
Republicans to Obama: The Whole Country Can be Rich
The good news is that America has wealth beyond dreams that can be realized in the next decade, producing a million new jobs. According to a recent Congressional report, the United States’ combined recoverable natural gas, oil and coal endowment is the largest on Earth. Our resources are larger than Saudi Arabia, China and Canada, combined. Our known resources can meet the country’s need for oil and gas for the rest of the century. That’s not including shale oil, the true energy future. If we used our own oil, we could replace imported oil from the Persian Gulf for the next fifty years. By then cars will probably be running on something else.
Now turn your eyes to where real jobs are being created. [Read more…]
Elbert County TV
I love the broadcast of Elbert County Commissioner meetings on the internet! See here for today’s broadcast. It’s most interesting to see the local parade of interested parties pulling the levers of public decision making.
The Fragile Community
WikiLeaks and a fragile community – David Brooks NYT Opinion
Consider the effect computers have had on the insurance industry, and consequentially, on all of the risks (health, life, fire, accident, loss) funded by the insurance industry. Prior to computers, the historical price for an insurance provider to cover a beneficiary was the product of static market conditions. Insurance is a financial service product based on knowledge of risk, and the knowledge of various risks to beneficiaries had been stable for many years. With the advent of computerization, beneficiaries and risk could be correlated in the machine so that insurers could now choose which beneficiaries were least likely to cost them benefits. Computer correlation of beneficiary data fundamentally shifted the bargaining power between insurers and beneficiaries, and as we can see with health insurance, the consequences to this radical shift are still playing out in a myriad of market and government reactions. [Read more…]
no heroes in Colorado
Dan Maes thinks he saved the Republican Party in Colorado from minor party status and future obscurity and that he is a hero. He probably also thinks that his heroism was aided by divine intervention.
Colorado Tea Party people who supported Dan Maes think they saved the Republican Party too. They bought the myth fed to them during last Spring’s precinct caucuses that they represented the people of Colorado, and all the higher ideals of our constitutional representative system of government were invested in them. Trouble is, the people of Colorado never give their consent to be represented by the caucus system or those individuals who just show up one night in April to take charge of the caucus system. So, armed with a myth, Maes-supporting Tea Partyers soldiered on and now feel like heroes too.
Republican Party leaders appeared to sit the whole thing out. They watched from the sidelines while Maes and Buck worked the idealistic Tea Party types to their own advantage. All they could muster was a hope that the Tea Party wouldn’t fragment the Republican party. So, obsessed with their own political survival, they neglected to defend Jane Norton, or Josh Penry, and they left Tom Tancredo adrift–the only ones who really did embody Tea Party ideals.
They kept the Tea Party under the Republican umbrella all right, but threw out any candidate who actually walked the Tea Party walk. That left them with remainders who could be manipulated–the 11% who bought them a narrow dodge of minor party status in Colorado in an historic Republican wave that washed over the entire country. How they managed to avoid queering the Colorado statehouse turnover is kind of a mystery.
On the issues we had key government-limiting tax and debt measures to win, the death cult of abortion to defeat, immunity from Obamacare to enact, and the Republicans stood by and watched it all go down.
They really earned minor party status in my book. There are no heroes in this election in Colorado.
the waning Maes
Looking at this political year in toto, lots of things stand out. Maes stands out for pure bitterness and vituperation. With each new day that Republicans allow themselves to be represented by this jerk, they do more lasting damage to their political brand.
reaction to elitism and narcissism
PCuicide
In the wake of NPR’s PC-spasm firing of Juan Williams, consider The Travails of Modern Islam by Daniel Pipes:
QUESTION: In relation to the two questions of what went wrong and how do we fix it, do you see a difference between hardcore Islamists and those that are less committed?
DR DANIEL PIPES: They are roughly the same. Various versions of Islamism exist. For example, in Saudi Arabia women can’t drive, can’t do this, can’t do that. In Iran, they can. The Iranian idea is that they’ve created an Islamic republic where women are safe. In the Saudi vision, danger lurks in every corner and females need to be protected. There are many such differences in both style and substance. But in the end, all Islamists aspire to the same thing which is the application of Islamic law. Islamic law differs slightly in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and India. They have different schools, but these are again details and in general the aspiration to apply Islamic law is common to all Muslims.
The generalizations abhorred by the politically correct need the most scrutiny.
Maes is over
People who still support Dan Maes have effectively withdrawn from meaningful participation in this election for governor. Whether Maes goes or stays, you can make a plausible case that voters currently dedicated to Dan Maes are irrelevant to the outcome of the race.
Let’s assume he stays, which seems the most likely case. If all those pledged to him remain loyal and vote for him, they won’t effect the outcome of the race for governor. That race will be decided completely by people who vote for Tancredo and Hickenlooper.
On the other hand, let’s assume Maes withdraws–the unlikely case. Some of his pledged voters will still vote for him, and won’t effect the outcome of the race. Some will choose not to vote at all, and won’t effect the outcome of the race. Some will vote for Tancredo on the principle of conservatism, while others will vote for Hickenlooper purely out of spite. Let’s face it, after all that’s gone wrong with Dan Maes, of the people remaining in his camp today who don’t end up in one of the nullifying outcomes, they’re as likely to go one way or the other (conservatism or spite), and those two camps will cancel each other out.
The bottom line is, whether Maes stays or goes, his voters have become irrelevant. The race is between those who relevantly declare for Tancredo and Hickenlooper, and Tancredo has about pulled even in that contest.
we the people…
…did not found the Elbert County Tea Party and did not elect its self-appointed Chairman. When will the Elbert County Tea Party embrace the consent of the citizens that it claims to uphold and elect its own party leaders? When will the Elbert County Tea Party hold its own leadership accountable for supporting Dan Maes and for siding with the left on Proposition 1A?
tea party and liberal against 1A
Tea Party self-appointed leader Robert Rowland sides with Democrat Whistler on Elbert County Proposition 1A.
ELBERT COUNTY FINANCIAL WOES
by Robert Rowland on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 1:30pm
WE NEED EVERYONE IN ELBERT COUNTY TO SEE AND READ THIS, PLEASE PASS ALONG. ELBERT COUNTY – BALLOT INITIATIVE 1A [Read more…]
Join the Game
Tancredo’s K w/ Colorado
Vote YES on 60, 61 & 101
Blue Book w/out govt bias
“Anyone who accuses the legislative council staff
[who wrote the Blue Book] of bias,
will be ejected from this hearing.”
-Chairman Terrance Carroll opening the only public hearing
With Colorado’s Blue Book Alternative you can avoid our government’s conflict of interest and bureaucratic bias, and get information about ballot initiatives straight from the proponents.
Proposition 101 (Cut car, income, phone taxes)
Amendment 60 (Limit Property Tax)
Amendment 61 (Limit Colorado Debt)
clock is ticking
Time is almost up to do the right thing Mr. Peterson.
The right thing would be to stop promoting the grifter for governor and get behind the man with real answers, real experience, real leadership and real command of the office he seeks.
And doing the right thing for the greater good would be to support tax limiting proposals instead of big public money interests.
When Republicans align with the NEA, the Colorado Progressive Coalition, the Democratic Governors Association, and the SEIU, it’s time to say goodbye to the Republicans.
Tancredo dominates debate tonight
The Governor’s Forum debate begins at about 23 minutes into this video.
Dems’ Ad Strategy
Ad Strategy Worked: Weak Tea Party Candidate Won Primary
“The most recently filed campaign records from Colorado Freedom Fund indicate that the Democratic Governors Association donated $150,000, while wealthy Colorado philanthropist Pat Stryker gave $108,000. The SEIU Small Donor Committee gave $200,000 and the Public Education Committee, an education union, gave $150,000. Two other groups gave $5,000 each to the committee.
“Democrats spent more money on Maes in two weeks than he raised in his entire campaign,” said Rob Witwer, co-author of “The Blueprint,” a book about the Democrats takeover of Colorado. “They wanted Dan Maes to be the Republican nominee and they got him.”