State Chair Race Coverage

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PAGE 2 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ DEC. 24, 2010“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.” — Bill Vaughn

GOP Chair Wadhams caught in crosshairsBY LESLIE JORGENSENTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

If state Republican Party ChairmanDick Wadhams were handed a reportcard for his performance in the 2010election cycle, he would be awardedhigh marks by traditional GOPactivists and flunked by several teaparty groups. The anti-establishmentmood that wafted over tea party rallies— and was intoned by GOP gubernato-rial candidate Dan Maes — has driftedinto the election of party officers in2011.

Among those humming the“Anybody but Dick” mantra, the mostvocal is Colorado Change the Changethat blames Wadhams for not havingvetted Maes, failing to promote theGOP gubernatorial candidate and notwaging a vigorous defense of Repub-lican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buckwhose videotaped comments becamefodder for attack ads aired by leftleaning groups.

The losses of Maes to DemocraticGovernor-elect John Hickenlooper andBuck to incumbent U.S. SenatorMichael Bennet appear like a “glasshalf empty” in the GOP electionresults. The anti-establishment

activists not only want to replaceWadhams, but also restructure theparty’s bylaws and propose legislationto cure perceived election pitfalls.

“I am part of an effort to replace thestate GOP leadership — Dick Wadhamsand crew — with a new team that willtake the Colorado GOP in a differentdirection,” said Jim Courter of TellerCounty in an email to enlist supportfrom Otero County Republican Partyofficers.

“The final straw for our group wasDick Wadhams turning his back on thewinner in the governor’s primary,”asserted Courter. “When has theRepublican Party endorsed a thirdparty (candidate)? It seems somewhatinconsistent with the state GOPbylaws. At any rate it is a betrayal ofthe party.”

Wadhams’ supporters, however,perceive the election results as theglass nearly full — the GOP won amajority in the state House for the firsttime since 2002, picked up two congres-sional seats — Cory Gardner in the 4thDistrict and Scott Tipton in the 3rdDistrict — and seized three statewideoffices, Secretary of State-elect ScottGessler, Treasurer-elect WalkerStapleton and incumbent Attorney

General John Suthers.“I am a Dick Wadhams supporter

and hope he runs again. He has beenunduly criticized over things which heno control over,” said former AdamsCounty GOP chair and ex-state Rep.Mary Dambman. “He’s done a damngood job.”

Wadhams remains undecided aboutseeking a third two-year term as statechair. Waiting in the wings for his deci-sion are Denver GOP Chair Ryan Calland Americans for Prosperity leaderJeff Crank, who both applaudWadhams and said they would supporthis re-election bid.

Other rumored candidates haveincluded Maes and former stateSenator Tom Wiens, who appears to begaining traction in the tea party move-ment.

“I have not thrown my hat in thering for state chairman at this partic-ular time and place. I have no intentionto although I have received requests todo so,” Maes said this week.

The only announced candidate isBart Baron, an industrial engineer wholives in Palmer Lake and previously ranunsuccessfully for Congress inMichigan’s District 12 in 2000, and

Continued on Page 28

TO VET OR NOT TO VETGOP State Chairman Dick Wadhams told

The Colorado Statesman this week that ifColorado Change the Change — the groupwhich is reportedly trying to oust him from hisparty post — is truly committed to makingsure candidates are vetted, “They can beginby vetting candidates for state partychairman — starting with Tom Wiens.”

“He’s got a three-inch thick file of opposi-tion research on himself that he contractedthat includes his bankruptcies and more,”Wadhams said about the former statesenator.

Wiens’ bankruptcies and failure to paycampaign staff from a previous campaign arecommon knowledge within Republicancircles.

Wadhams also scoffed at a recent item inThe Statesman in which an unnamed sourceasserted that Wiens has the ability to snaremeetings with financial heavyweights such asoil magnate Phil Anschutz and beer tycoonPete Coors.

“That is absolute rubbish!” saidWadhams, who sounded like he’s gunning for

re-election.Wadhams said that Wiens was so inept at

raising big campaign bucks from powerbro-kers, he had been forced to loan more than$1 million to his defunct U.S. Senatecampaign.

Wiens, who said this week that heconsiders Wadhams a longtime friend,pointed out that he’s been on the ballotseveral times and has already gone throughthe vetting process as much as anyone.

“This is an emotional time,” Wiens said,“when Republicans are trying to figure out thedirection of the party. I won’t be (part of) thehigh emotion game,” he insisted. “It takescool heads and serious discussion.”

As for the bankruptcies referred to byWadhams, Wiens acknowledged that back in1984 and 1985 he was forced into bank-ruptcy when interest rates rose to 21.5percent and the oil shale industry in the statecrashed. “I lived through it and picked myselfup and kept going,” Wiens explained. “Thereare successes and setbacks in life.”

Wiens went on to acknowledge thatWadhams has important life decisions tomake in the near future and he intends to visitwith him “like one friend to another” over thenext few weeks.

“Being state chair is the most thanklessjob in the state,” the former state senatorsaid. “I do not lay awake at night thinkingabout it, although I am worried about the

future of the party.”Wiens also clarified that despite recent

reports that he’s working behind the sceneson his plans to run for state chair, it isn’t so.Further, said Wiens, he hasn’t attended anymeetings or returned phone calls on thesubject. “Nobody speaks for me,” Wienssaid. “It’s incorrect that there’s a strategy tohave others speak for me.”

As for Wadhams’ contention that Wiensdoesn’t have the wherewithal to land ameeting with noted Republican heavyweightssuch as Anschutz and Coors, Wiens coun-tered that it’s amazing how picking up thephone and calling people will grant someoneentry.

It isn’t like going to the Emerald City andhaving to click your shoes to see the Wizardof Oz, Wiens said.

HERE COMES THE BARONThere’s a new candidate in town, and he’s

gunning for Republican State Chairman DickWadhams.

Bart Baron announced his candidacy afew days ago and although he only moved toColorado in 2008, he thinks he knows the layof the land.

Baron, who says he currently divides histime between El Paso County and Denver,describes Wadhams’ tenure as state chair as


PAGE 28 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ DEC. 24, 2010“Every man regards his own life as the New Year’s Eve of time.” — Jean Paul Richter

We wish you peace and good politics in the new year.

...Newcomer activists call for vetting; Wadhams respondsDistrict 9 in 2002.

Tea partiers swarmed to caucuseslast year and won more than 40 percentof the state GOP assembly delegatespots. They flexed their muscle anddelivered top line on the primary ballotto Maes over Republican contenderfrom Congressman Scott McInnis, wholater lost the primary battle.

Both candidates lost credibility aftera series of damaging news mediareports — McInnis had plagiarizedportions of a water resource report andMaes had paid fines for repeatedcampaign finance violations, drained anestimated $90,000 from the campaigncoffer to reimburse himself and hisfamily members for expenses and gasmileage, and misrepresented his workexperience.

“Tom Wiens would be the mostformable candidate to run against DickWadhams,” declared Crista Huff duringa post-election potluck supper on Nov.20 at the Pike’s Peak Grange in Frank-town that drew more than 100 folks.She also talked with The Statesmanearlier this month about her supportfor Wiens and distrust of Wadhams.

Wiens is favored by Huff, who taughtnewcomers the ropes to winning dele-gate slots at precinct caucuses last year,and former Douglas County GOP ChairJohn Ransom, who was communica-tions director for Wiens’ U.S. Senatecampaign. The former state lawmakerabandoned the race after learning thata contractor had failed to obtain thenumber of petition signatures requiredto access the ballot.

Folks like Dambman said Maeswould be a long shot because the guber-natorial candidate won 11.1 percent ofthe general election vote and toppedAmerican Constitution Party candidateformer Congressman Tom Tancredo inonly six of Colorado’s 64 counties.Hickenlooper won 51.1 percent andTancredo trailed with 36.4 percent ofthe vote, 912,005 to 651,232 votes.

Chuck O’Reilly, who served as Maes’campaign organizational director,doesn’t disagree with Dambman’sassessment.

“Like most of you, I’m angry aboutwhat happened with the governor’srace. First, I’m angry at Dan for beingless than I thought he was. Then, I wasangry at Tancredo,” O’Reilly toldRepublicans at the Colorado Change

the Change supper last month.“I became angry at the leadership of

the state Republican Party leadershipand the action and lack of action thatthey did. They created a mess,”declared O’Reilly. “After much therapy,free counseling (and) alcohol, I havedealt with my anger.”

To improve the party’s performancein elections, O’Reilly said, “We mustfirst change the leadership of the stateRepublican Party. That will not bemeaningful until we also eliminate thepuppeteers that are pulling the stringsof the state leadership. Then, we mustchange the bylaws of the Republicanleadership to have transparency,accountability and do the things thatwe think should have been done likevetting our candidates instead ofselecting them.”

O’Reilly said the way to removeWadhams would be to court supportfrom the chairs, vice chairs and secre-taries of all 64 counties.

The fact that Maes won just 199,034votes has reduced the number of stateGOP Central Committee bonusmembers who, along with county partyofficers and Republican elected officials,will elect the state party chair inMarch. Heavily populated Republicancounties, such as El Paso, Jefferson,Arapahoe, Larimer and Douglas coun-ties, overwhelming supported Tancredoover Maes. Consequently, the ruralcounties are estimated to have 53percent of the vote for state GOP chair.

Wadhams and unnamed state GOPleaders were verbally pummeled for nothaving vetted Maes, allegedly selectingthe gubernatorial candidates to excludestate Sen. Josh Penry, who had aban-doned the race last year for personalreasons.

“They’ve gone from beating the hellout of me for being a so-called king-maker or powerbroker to now attackingme for not (vetting Maes),” saidWadhams. “They’ve come full circle intheir hypocrisy. They can’t have it bothways.”

“They decided they wanted anominee with no track record of experi-ence and they got it,” said Wadhams ofMaes. “They’re totally embarrassed bythis fraud who they elected. So now,they need somebody to blame.”

The state GOP Chair said hebelieves the majority of members of thetea party movement understand what

happened in the gubernatorial race andthe problems with Maes and hiscampaign. Wadhams clarified thatPenry chose to withdraw from the race,state GOP assembly delegates chosetheir nominees and the primary Repub-lican voters embraced Maes.

“We had a fair and open process tothe nomination,” said Wadhams. “Thegovernor’s race was a total aberration.”

Colorado Change the Change hasissued a multifaceted party reform planin courting tea party groups to jointheir effort — and win support fromparty officers in the counties.

That said, there are a number ofproposals that indicate the newcomeractivists are unfamiliar with state partybylaws and election laws.

In the “Preparation for 2012”report, the group proposed changingthe bylaws to have the state partytreasurer elected by the centralcommittee instead of being appointedby the chair — and require treasurercandidates to have a degree inaccounting and 10 years of professionalexperience.

Ryan Call, legal counsel to the stateGOP, clarified that the chairmanappoints the treasurer, which is actu-ally an attorney, to review and validatethe party’s audits and accountingreports which are public record andavailable on the websites of the FederalElections Commission and Colorado

Secretary of State’s office. The positionis currently held by Richard Westfall,an attorney with Hale-Friesen andformer Solicitor General for the Stateof Colorado, who was appointed byWadhams in 2008, and reappointed in2010.

The report proposes a vettingprocess that would require each poten-tial candidate to submit a copy of theirbirth certificate, a history of marriagesand all children, personal and profes-sional references and a detailed resumeof education and work history. If theinformation is not provided to the stateparty’s credential committee, the candi-date “will not be recognized by theRepublican Party as a viable candi-date.”

The group proposes posting thecandidates’ documents on the partywebsite — and passing legislation toforce other political parties to followsuit.

Call said the proposed requirementsexceed state and federal election lawsand conflict with the party’s goal to beinclusive and not impede candidatesfrom accessing the ballot.

Wadhams agreed with Call, andsuggested that if Colorado Change theChange is truly committed to thisvetting process — it is free to do so ownindependently of the state party.

— [email protected]

Continued from Page 2

a little bit of “good, bad and ugly.” There wassome good for local candidates but ugly forlosing the big two prizes, governor andsenator, Baron said. The Brooklyn-bredformer GOP candidate for Congress (inMichigan) said he hopes to “help and teachpeople” to take the GOP to the next level,even if it means steering them out of theircomfort level.

SECOND ANNUAL POLITICALANALYSIS & TRASH TALK DINNER

Yes, folks, the headline to this item isactually the real name of a spicy little dinnercooked up last Saturday night by none otherthan Arapahoe County Republican LynneCottrell. The private dinner party, which wasserved up at her and husband Bo’s holiday

themed home, began at 6:30 p.m. and lastedtil close to 11 p.m.

And the guest list? Joining Lynne and Bowere radio talk show host and Denver Postconservative columnist Mike Rosen and hisDouglas County date, attorney NathanChambers and DA Carol Chambers, JamesGarcia, political director of the ColoradoGOP (sans date…) and Dick Wadhams andhis new bride Wendy.

With such an interesting array of guests,we just had to ask Lynne about the dinnerdiscussion. But she was lax to spill thedetails. C’mon, we pried, couldn’t we just getthe basics, the meat and potatoes of whatwas talked about? Or in this case, the ham,potato casserole and beans?

“It was a social dinner,” Lynne said in hermost appeasing voice. “A lot of talk aboutbaseball.”

Rosen and Chambers (Nathan) are appar-ently big sports trivia buffs, we learned. Butwe couldn’t get her to tell us whetherWadhams revealed his plans about runningfor state chairman again. She confirmedonly that it really seemed as if Wadhamstruly hasn’t yet decided what he’ll do.


BY ERNEST LUNINGTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

At least three candidates are consid-ering whether to run for ColoradoDemocratic Party chair following anannouncement late last week thatincumbent party boss Pat Waak will notseek an unprecedented fourth two-yearterm in March.

One potential candidate is a formerstate lawmaker who interned for thestate Democratic Party nearly 50 yearsago and spent more than a decade onthe Democratic National Committee.Also weighing bids are a former countychair and a longtime legislative aidewith both state-level and high-profilenational partisan experience. At thesame time, a bevy of prominent Democ-rats, including several who were term-limited or defeated at the polls in thelast election, have turned down sugges-tions they run for the state party’s topoffice.

Before Waak announced on NewYear’s Eve that she had decided againstseeking another term as party chair,

she said shespent morethan a monthtalking topotentialsuccessors —casting whatshe termed a“widespreadnet” — whileat the sametime consid-ering sugges-tions that sherun again.

Amongthose Waaksounded out —but who haveall declined todeclare them-selves candi-

dates for the unpaid position — wereformer U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey, stateTreasurer Cary Kennedy, Secretary ofState Bernie Buescher and former CURegent at-large candidate Melissa Hart,all of whom went down to defeat in thelast election. In addition, Waak said shediscussed the possibility with term-limited Colorado Speaker of the HouseTerrance Carroll and former stateHouse Majority Leader Alice Madden,

Weighing runs are former state Sen.Polly Baca, who sat on the DNC for 16years, including eight years as anational vice chair; former LarimerCounty Democratic Party Chair AdamBowen, who lost a bid for countycommissioner in the fall election; andlongtime legislative aide Rick Palacio,who worked for Madden, U.S. Rep.John Salazar and, most recently, as atop political aide to U.S. House Demo-cratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Whoever wins the Democrats’ topspot at the March 5 central committeemeeting — conducted in the afternoonat the Colorado Convention Center inDenver before the party’s annualJefferson-Jackson Day Dinnerfundraising bash that night — will beleading a statewide operation almostentirely different than the one led byWaak. Only one of the other statewideofficers, party secretary Carolyn Boller,plans to seek re-election, and stateparty staffers have already found otherjobs or don’t intend to stay long (five-year veteran organizer Mike Weissmanplans to attend law school in the fall).“There’s going to be a lot of change-over,” Waak said in an interview withThe Colorado Statesman this week.

Baca, whose career in state and

national politics stretches back to theKennedy administration, has waged themost public deliberations over a candi-dacy and already has a Facebook groupdedicated to encouraging her to run.

“Yes,” Baca wrote in an e-mail toThe Statesman, “I am seriously consid-ering running for (Colorado DemocraticParty) chair and am in the process ofexploring the possibility.”

A Facebook group formed earlierthis week is named “Draft Polly Bacafor Colorado Democratic Party Chair”and, as of Wednesday night, boastednearly 100 fans. The page features avideo touting Baca’s qualifications,including her distinction as the firstHispanic woman to serve in bothhouses of a state legislature — Bacawas first elected to the Colorado Housein 1974 and finished her state Senatecareer in 1986 — and stints in theJohnson and Clinton administrations.(A 2008 profile in The Statesmanpoints out that Baca might be the onlyliving Democrat who has attended 12straight national conventions as a dele-gate.)

But in the last year, Baca was some-times at odds with the state party.Baca, who co-chaired former ColoradoHouse Speaker Andrew Romanoff’sprimary challenge against U.S. Sen.Michael Bennet, was prominent amongDemocrats protesting what they saidwas the state party’s involvement inthe primary. Last February, before aBennet fundraiser in Denver thatfeatured President Barack Obama —entwined with the state party morethan it should have been, Romanoffsupporters charged — Baca appearedalongside a handful of former partyofficers to denounce what they termedunprecedented interference in aprimary.

Waak — who unseated her prede-cessor, Chris Gates, amid complaints hehad tilted the party unfairly during the2004 Senate primary between KenSalazar and Mike Miles — dismissedsuggestions any Bennet-Romanoff riftmight influence the party’s direction incoming months.

“The party had no thumb on thescale in the primary,” she said,sounding exasperated with the topic.“It’s kind of the same thing we gothrough every time we go through aprimary. It is just the nature of whathappens when you have a primary.”Waak noted that she received a total of70 letters complaining about Obama’sendorsement of Bennet — “out of amillion Democrats” — and portrayedgrumbling over the primary as unrepre-sentative. “Are there probably stillsome people out there who arecomplaining? Yeah, there probably are.But it was always a very small group ofpeople.”

One reason Waak announced herintentions before the end of the year,she said, was so potential candidateswould have time to traverse the state togather advice on whether to run andround up support if that’s what theydecide.

Still, she cautioned, “The statecentral committee could change verydramatically through the reorganiza-tion process,” as Democrats electprecinct and county officers over thenext six weeks. “We could end up witha very different committee than youhave right now.”

The state central committee is madeup of roughly 500 people, includingelected officials, county officers andothers picked at county meetings inFebruary.

After the committee elects statewideofficers in early March, the new state

chair has to name additional members“to create balance within thecommittee to make sure all of yourconstituencies are represented,” Waakadded. It’s a balancing act unique toDemocrats and can vary widely year toyear, she said.

For instance, based on registrationfigures, roughly 10 percent of thecentral committee should be Hispanic,and both various groups and thecommittee as a whole are supposed tobe balanced equally between men andwomen. Toward that end, Waak said,she named two dozen Hispanic men tothe central committee two years ago.This year, she said, the national partyis encouraging states to make sureyoung people are adequately reflected

among party officers, somethingColorado Democrats have been doingfor years.

Waak said she has had detaileddiscussions about the job with all threepotential candidates and added thatthey each bring different strengths tothe table.

“My biggest concern is whoever doesthis needs to be committed to doing a64-county program,” Waak said.

For now, she said, she doesn’t planto endorse a candidate for her job, butthat’s not set in stone.

“Who can tell?” she said. “Let’s seewhat happens. At this point, I’m notintending to, but that could change.”


PAGE 11 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ JAN. 7, 2011“Winter either bites with its teeth or lashes with its tail.” — Proverb

Waak won’t runBaca ‘seriously considering’ bid

for state Dem chair

Former state Sen. Polly Baca, center, who sat on the DNC for 16 years, speaks to reportersoutside Colorado Democratic Party headquarters in Denver on Feb. 17. Baca, who co-chairedAndrew Romanoff’s primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, joined other past party officers saying she was “dismayed and alarmed” President Obama and the state party appearedto be taking sides in the Senate primary. Nearly a year later, Baca is one of three possible candidates for state party chair. FILE PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

“Mybiggest

concern iswhoever doesthis needs tobe committedto doing a 64-countyprogram.”

— Pat Waak, DemocraticParty chair

INSIDETHIS WEEK’S ISSUE:★ ★

A toast to newlywed Perlmutterin Politics Uncorked — Page 34

Jake Jabs introduces new Guvat CACI luncheon — Page 2

CML Prez Jim White sees townsas economic drivers — Page 6

AFL-CIO’s Mike Cerbo pitchesReinvest in Colorado — Page 6

Larry Burkhardt joins Governorat Weld Co. meeting — Page 8

FOUNDED IN 1898 ★ VOL. 112, NO. 3 ★ DENVER, CO ★ JAN. 21 2011 © $2.00

BY LESLIE JORGENSENTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

COLORADO SPRINGS — At least 11mayoral candidates are vying to leadColorado Springs out of the economicwilderness and into a new landscape ofprosperity by growing jobs in existingbusinesses and attracting new companiesto the city where unemployment hoversat 9.4 percent and foreclosures set arecord of 5,470 in 2009 and 4,825 in 2010.

“We just got the award from Forbesmagazine about being the communitythat’s the hardest to find jobs in thecountry,” said former Colorado Springs

Councilman Richard Skorman during hismayoral campaign kickoff at PenroseLibrary.

Forbes ranked Colorado Springs at thebottom, tied with Akron, Ohio andColumbia, South Carolina, for projectedjob growth in the first quarter this year.

“I’m going to be the jobs mayor,”declared Skorman. He’s not the onlycandidate chanting the “jobs mayor”mantra particularly among the top tiercandidates that include Brian Bahr, presi-dent of Challenger Homes; Steve Bach,commercial real estate broker; Gregory“Buddy” Gilmore, president of ShapeTechnologies; and Dave Munger, past

president of Council of Neighbors andOrganizations.

“My top priority is to implement acollaborative effort to help bring new jobsto the region,” said Gilmore.

All of the five candidates interviewedsaid that if elected mayor, they wouldwork closely with The Greater ColoradoSprings Chamber of Commerce, ColoradoSprings Economic Development Corpora-tion, business community and civic organ-izations to develop a strategy to help localbusinesses grow and attract new compa-nies to the community and the PikesPeak region.

Springs mayor candidates eye change

Pete Coors, the 2011 Citizen of the West, shares a laugh with outgoingGov. Bill Ritter at the annual Citizen of the West Dinner. The event benefitsthe National Western Scholarship Trust and 67 scholarship recipients whostudy agribusiness and rural family medicine. — See pages 18-19.

PHOTO BY JODY HOPE STROGOFF/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Pete Coors: Citizen of the West

GOP Wadhams seeks reelection

BY MARIANNE GOODLANDTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

Statehouse Republicanswasted no time getting to thebills that they championedduring the campaign seasonand beyond — eliminating theso-called “dirty dozen” taxexemption repeals, anArizona-style immigrationlaw, and a change to FASTER.

But the chances of most ofthem getting to Gov. JohnHickenlooper’s desk, based ontheir committee assignments,are likely slim to none.

Just weeks after the Nov. 2election, members of theRepublican Study Committeeof Colorado, an unofficialconservative caucus, promisedto sponsor legislation onillegal immigration similar toArizona’s Senate Bill 10-070.On Wednesday, they kept thatpromise with SB 11-054, spon-sored by Sen. Kent Lambert,R-Colorado Springs, and 12out of 14 of his Senate Repub-lican colleagues. Not signingonto the bill: Sen. EllenRoberts, R-Durango, and Sen.Jean White, R-Hayden.

Under SB 54, a policeofficer may arrest, without a

Republicans roll out repeals on ’10 legislation Good luck getting‘dirty dozen’ to guv



Colorado Republican Party Chairman DickWadhams announced Tuesday he is running for athird term.

“I want to serve as state chairman during the2012 election cycle because of the extraordinaryopportunities Colorado Republicans have to dramat-ically impact our state and nation,” Wadhams saidin a lengthy e-mail to state Republicans.

Republicans will pick a party chair in March,but lingering discontentamong party faithful couldmake a bid for another two-year term difficult forWadhams, who cruised to re-election two years ago with85 percent of the voteagainst two little-knownchallengers.

Over the last year,Wadhams took flak from theranks over how he handled


Continued on Page 5Dick Wadhams


Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, who ranfor governor of Colorado on the AmericanConstitution Party ticket, is a Republicanagain.

“I just now, 10 minutes ago, changed myregistration to Republican,” Tancredo toldThe Colorado Statesman in a phone callduring the lunch hour on Tuesday.

He said he changed his affiliation at theSecretary of State’s office downtown after anAssociated Press reporter called asking for hisreaction to news about Dick Wadhams’ plans toseek a third term as Colorado RepublicanParty chairman. “I said, good thingyou called, that reminds me I haveto change that.”

Tancredo — who left theRepublican Party in late Julyto launch a third-party

Tancredo rejoins GOP, is resigned to another Wadhams term

Continued on Page 9 FILE PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNINGTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

PAGE 5 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ JAN. 21, 2011“Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.” — Seneca, A.D. 65

The Colorado Association of REALTORS®

(CAR) and its 22,000 members is thelargest trade association in Colorado.

...Wadhams to run for third term as GOP State Chairmandivisive primaries and a third-party runby gubernatorial candidate TomTancredo, a former Republicancongressman, who wound up with morethan three times as many votes as theGOP nominee. And while ColoradoRepublicans posted impressive wins inNovember, Democrats won the state’stwo top races, stemming a red tide thatswept Republican senators and gover-nors into office across the country.

The only announced candidatesopposing Wadhams so far are JohnWagner, who ran the hapless campaignof Republican U.S. Senate hopefulCleve Tidwell, and recent Coloradotransplant Bart Baron, who ran forCongress in Michigan. But conserva-tives and Tea Party supporters havepromised to field a challenger up to thetask of knocking down Wadhams, afixture in state politics for decades.

One potential challenge is formerstate Sen. Tom Wiens, who launched abrief campaign for U.S. Senate butfailed to make the primary ballot. Lastmonth, a group of Republican Party

officers, current and former electedofficials and conservative organizerssettled on Wiens as the best candidateto take on Wadhams but so far, theDouglas County rancher has demurredin public. “Being state chair is the mostthankless job in the state,” Wiens toldThe Colorado Statesman late lastmonth. “I do not lay awake at nightthinking about it, although I amworried about the future of the party.”

In the e-mail to state Republicans,Wadhams acknowledges the past elec-tion yielded “disappointments,”including a governor’s race he termed a“soap opera” and GOP nominee KenBuck’s narrow loss of the U.S. Senateseat to Democrat Michael Bennet,events Wadhams notes “were frus-trating for all of us.”

Last summer and fall Wadhams tookheat from Republicans who accused thechairman of failing to vet GOP guber-natorial nominee Dan Maes, whogarnered a bare 11 percent of the votein the November election afterTancredo jumped into the race as aconservative third-party candidate

against the eventual winner, DemocratJohn Hickenlooper.

Critics also blasted Wadhams forfirst backing Maes after the Evergreenbusinessman upset former U.S. Rep.Scott McInnis in the August primary,and then pulling his support after Maescame under scrutiny for exaggeratinghis resume, among other problems thatbedeviled his rookie campaign.

“But we also had some extraordinaryvictories that Colorado Republicanshave not experienced for years if notdecades,” Wadhams counters in his e-mail.

In the last election, Wadhams pointsout, Republicans unseated twomembers of Congress and twostatewide officials — feats no party hasaccomplished in Colorado since at leastthe early 1970s — and won back amajority in the Colorado House ofRepresentatives for the first time sinceDemocrats took control in 2004.

Wadhams says in his e-mail that theunusual circumstances of the 2012 elec-tion, with only the presidential raceappearing statewide on Coloradoballots, will give state Republicans arare opportunity. The party’s “entirestatewide focus will be on defeatingPresident Obama and giving our nineelectoral votes to the eventual Repub-lican nominee,” Wadhams writes,adding that “Colorado will be one of ahandful of states that will determinethe presidency in 2012 because of thepossibility it will shift from Blue toRed.”

In order to capitalize on Colorado’sstatus as a key state, Wadhams says heplans to propose a change to Repub-lican bylaws this fall to make the 2012

preference poll held at causes bindingon national delegates. “Making the pollbinding will enhance the role ColoradoRepublicans will play in what will be avery competitive presidential nomi-nating process,” he says.

Wadhams notes in his e-mail that heran some of the signature Republicancampaigns of the last two decades,including the ones that elected U.S.Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allardand Gov. Bill Owens, the only Repub-lican to win that office in 40 years.Wadhams also helmed the winningcampaigns of U.S. Sens. Conrad Burnsof Montana and John Thune of SouthDakota, the latter who made nationalheadlines by unseating Senate MajorityLeader Tom Daschle. Calling thosecampaigns “all exhilarating, consequen-tial election victories,” Wadhams goeson to say, “But as someone whosefamily came to this great state morethan 120 years ago, serving as ColoradoRepublican Chairman has been themost gratifying and proudest challengeof all.”

Wadhams’ Democratic counterpart,three-term state Party Chair Pat Waak,announced at the end of the year shewouldn’t be seeking a fourth term.Candidates to replace her so far includeformer state Sen. Polly Baca, who hasheld nearly every office in the Demo-cratic Party over five decades; formerLarimer County Chair Adam Bowen,who lost a bid for county commissionerthis year; and longtime legislative aideRick Palacio, who most recently servedon the staff of former House MajorityLeader Steny Hoyer in Washington, D.C.



Former U.S. Sen. Hank Brownjoined historic preservationists andstate officials on Wednesday to kick offa campaign to raise $8 million to fix theColorado Capitol’s iconic gold dome.

“For the people of Colorado, ourCapitol dome is an architectural,historical, and cultural treasure thatmust be preserved,” Brown said. “I’veeagerly agreed to serve as officialchairman of this campaign to helppreserve our state’s history for genera-tions to come.”

Last year the Legislature approvedspending $4 million from the StateHistorical Fund — raised from taxes onthe gaming industry — but privatedonations will need to make up thebalance for the three-year, $12 millionrestoration job, which gets under waythis spring. The nonprofit ColoradoPreservation, Inc., is taking charge ofthe Share in the Care Coloradocampaign and has already lined upsupport from AngloGold Ashanti,AT&T Colorado and Historic Denver,Inc., organizers said.

The gold is in good shape but thecast-iron that holds it up is crumbling— a big chunk fell off a few years ago— and the structure shows signs ofpervasive corrosion and decay, saidstate architect Larry Friedberg.

The dome was completed in 1908and is covered with 200 ounces of puregold, according to state archives.

The restoration work starts thisspring, when the dome will besurrounded by scaffolding and drapedwith a scrim. Once the dome is covered,probably by June, preservationists planto stage an elaborate laser show on theCapitol, including choreographed musicand scenes from the state’s history. Therestoration work isn’t expected to

curtail any activity in the Capitol,which houses Colorado’s GeneralAssembly and offices of the governorand other statewide officials.

Brown stressed the civic and historicimportance of the Capitol dome. “WhenI started as a state senator in 1972, oneof the most exciting moments was thefirst time I entered our state Capitol,”he said. “Walking up those steps, withthe gold dome gleaming majesticallyabove me, was so exciting. It is some-thing I’ll always remember and some-thing I want my children, grandchildrenand future generations to experience.”

To donate $5 to the Share in theCare Colorado campaign text the wordDOME to 50555 from any wirelessphone and any provider. All proceedswill go to the dome restoration fund,though text and data charges mightapply. Donations to the fund are tax-deductible and can also be madethrough the website atwww.shareinthecarecolorado.org.

Campaign launched to repaircrumbling Capitol dome

Private donations are needed to aid in thethree-year, $12 million Capitol restoration job.

PHOTOS COURTESY COLORADO PRESERVATION INC.

PAGE 9 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ JAN. 21, 2011“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” — William Butler Yeats

example, more fuel-efficient cars couldsoon drain already strapped revenueallocated for highway maintenance.

Burkhardt said Weld County is“doing quite well with regard to jobcreation,” calling the county “theenergy capital of Colorado,” with moreoil and natural gas wells thananywhere in the state as well as athriving alternative energy industry,including plants devoted to wind, solar,biomass and electric propulsion. “Wesee energy as a driver, a very firmdriver, of our economy, but it’s not theonly one,” he added, pointing tomassive investments in agriculture andfood processing in the county.

“Our challenges include infrastruc-ture planning and funding,” he said.“We need our partnership with thestate to be working on all cylinders.”

Masciola sounded a similarly opti-mistic note about neighboring LarimerCounty.

“Larimer County is in great positionto be very bullish about 2011,” he said.“Our economy is very strong up here,as you know it’s one of the strongest inthe state.”

He pointed to burgeoning local cleanenergy, bioscience, geospatial softwareand water industries, all helping keepLarimer County’s unemployment rateseveral points below the rest of thestate’s. “I challenge anybody in thisroom to find another area in the state,or maybe in the country that has thatkind of coordination and concentrationavailable.”

The county’s success, he said, is duein large part to higher education — notjust Colorado State University, but alsoa network of community colleges —and added that funding for higher ed iskey to keeping the economic enginemoving, calling it a “critical partner-ship for us.”

Turning to another hot topic, busi-ness incentives, Masciola suggested the

state needs to refocus how it thinksabout attracting businesses from out ofstate.

“We don’t compete on incentives inColorado, we compete on the totalvalue proposition,” he said. “But it is away of life, and to assume incentiveswill not be part of the equation in acorporate relocation is just simply notreally facing reality. There’s just toomuch money going around. I’m notsuggesting we increase incentives, butwe make sure they’re flexible andusable to the end-user. It needs to be inthe arsenal, and we just need to be ableto use them as effectively as possible.”

Others in the audience lobbed arange of suggestions at Hickenlooper,including a man who said adding a five-cent tax to every bottle of beer sold inthe state would be a painless way tofund higher education.

“I’ll have to run that by Pete Coorsfirst,” Hickenlooper quipped.

Suggestions from the floor alsoincluded minding the state’s waterresources, instituting a non-profitsingle-payer health care system, andbetter funding of White’s tourismoffice.

As the meeting came to a close,Hickenlooper summarized what he’strying to achieve.

“We’re trying to create a sense ofplace about what’s different aboutColorado,” he said, “and why youngentrepreneurs from other parts of thecountry should automatically think,wow, this is a place where we’ve gotaccess to capital, where there arepeople that care about their schoolsystems, people investing in bike bathsand outdoor recreational opportunities,where people are willing to maintainand protect their environment, andreally promote a quality of life that iswhere a young entrepreneur wouldwant to go and build a business andbuild a life.”


...Hickenlooper promotes economic development in state Continued from Page 8

gubernatorial bid after candidates DanMaes and Scott McInnis refused to stepdown — said he’d always intended toreturn to the GOP. “I’d not done itbecause I was trying to avoid it orwondering if I should,” Tancredo said.“I just hadn’t gotten around to it.”

Wadhams branded Tancredo aspoiler and engaged in high-profilearguments with the former five-termcongressman. But Tancredo went on topull more than three times the voteswon by Maes, the eventual Republicannominee, though both lost to DemocratJohn Hickenlooper. With a hair over 11percent of the vote, Maes cleared the10-percent threshold required for theColorado GOP to keep major-partystatus until the next election forgovernor.

Tancredo described himself as a life-long Republican when he changed hisaffiliation last summer but reiteratedTuesday that political parties are“losing their relevance” because ofchanges to campaign finance laws. Hesaid the federal McCain-Feingold lawand a state ballot measure affectingcampaign finance have stripped polit-ical parties of their traditional rolesand handed power to shadowy groups.

“What they did — unwittingly,perhaps — is to simply allow the entireprocess now to fall into the hands of527s and other groups that have muchless transparency. Again, the irony,”Tancredo added. “I’m sure they weredoing it because they wanted to reducecorruption — that was at least thestated purpose, but it’s idiotic, they areidiots.”

He said reformers were to blame for

making campaign financing more secre-tive and for sidelining political parties.

“I hope they’re satisfied, because allthey have done is drive it into thehands of Jared Polis, Tim Gill and PatStryker” — three liberal donors whohave poured millions into electingDemocrats over the past decade —“who can essentially establish a shadowparty, put all the money they want tointo it,” Tancredo said.

Republicans and conservatives can’teasily compete, Tancredo said.

“We could do the same if we had anydedicated heterosexuals who were socompletelydevoted toheterosexuality,”he said, claimingthat, “the motiva-tion for Gill andPolis was toadvance thehomosexualagenda. We don’thave anythinglike that — weconservatives — so we are at a distinctdisadvantage.”

Gill and Polis, who won a secondterm representing Colorado’s 2ndCongressional District this fall, areboth gay and Gill has made little secretof his intention to elect lawmakersnationwide who are friendly toward gayrights.

As for Tancredo’s choice to run thestate Republican Party?

“I would not support Dick,”Tancredo said, noting that there wasnothing personal about it.

“Even though we had our differ-ences, certainly, he eventually came

around and understood what I wastrying to do (in the governor’s race).It’s not because I have any animositytoward him — I really and truly don’t,I mean that entirely.

“In politics, the ultimate goal is, forme, conservative victory. And if Ithought Dick Wadhams was the best wehad to ensure conservative victories inColorado, I would absolutely besupporting him 100 percent, regardlessof the names he called me. But I don’tthink he is the person who can deliverthat.”

Tancredo said he would support

state Sen. Ted Harvey if the DouglasCounty Republican gets into the race,but he also acknowledged thatWadhams wouldn’t have announced abid for a third term if he wasn’t confi-dent he could win.

“I’m disappointed because I don’tthink it’s the best thing for the Repub-lican Party or conservatives because Idon’t believe Dick bridges the gapbetween, let’s call them Liberty groupsand traditional Republicans,” Tancredosaid. “And as a result, you’ll have anongoing insurgency that just will not behelpful to conservatives.”

Nonetheless, Tancredo surmised, the

die is cast.“I know Dick, and he’s a good vote

counter,” Tancredo said. “I’m positivehe looked carefully at the numbersbefore he made this decision. There’sno way Dick Wadhams wants to go intowhatever will be his next career as alosing candidate for party chairman.”

The reason the poor showing byMaes at the polls ensures Wadhams’reelection, Tancredo said, is becausethe state GOP allots so-called bonusdelegates to the state central committeebased on how well counties turn outvotes for the governor’s race. SinceTancredo swamped Maes in most coun-ties, that means only a scant 18 bonusdelegates — presumably up for grabsby Republicans outside the rank-and-file — will be created this year,meaning activists who have operatedapart from the party structure won’thave a vote for party chairman.

Tancredo couldn’t stop laughingabout what he called “the greatestirony of all time” in his conversationwith The Statesman.

“The disaster we call the Republicangovernor’s election, the disaster thatwas for the Republican Party — and towhatever extent Dick Wadhams hasany responsibility there is up for debate— will almost certainly ensure DickWadhams’ re-election,” he said.

“The insurgents were responsible forputting Dan Maes on the ballot, andthat, in turn — his candidacy was adisaster for the Republican Party —means they cannot do anything tochange it. It’s hilarious, really, whenyou think of it.”


...Tancredo concedes that Wadhams will likely be reelectedContinued from Page 1

Tancredo described himself as a life-longRepublican when he changed his affilia-

tion last summer but reiterated Tuesday thatpolitical parties are “losing their relevance”because of changes to campaign finance laws.


The next chair of the Colorado Demo-cratic Party won’t stand for it if outsiderstry to influence a state primary.

All three Democrats running for stateparty chair agreed during a forum at aunion hall in Lakewood on Jan. 29 whenchallenged by an audience member — theoutspoken John H. Kennedy — to “take apledge to oppose and publicly fight anyeffort by Washington Democrats to takeover a primary again while you’re inoffice.”

In unison, former state Sen. Polly Baca,past Larimer County Democratic PartyChair Adam Bowen, and longtime legisla-tive aide Rick Palacio all stood, along withthe candidates for vice chair, secretary andtreasurer. The roughly 50 Democrats gath-ered to hear the candidates all applauded.

Last year’s divisive Democratic Senate

primary between former House SpeakerAndrew Romanoff and U.S. Sen. MichaelBennet cast a shadow over the discussionat the Sheet Metal Worker’s hall, but all

the hopefuls made it clear they wantColorado Democrats to pick their owncandidates.


Restaurant lobbyist Meersmanwants law to go light — Page 34

Bill Vidal, mayor “for a term ofundefined duration” — Page 2

SoS Scott Gessler won’t moon-light at law firm afterall — Page 2

The Webbcast: A litmus test forproposed new bills? — Page 5

Rep. David Balmer apologizesfor ‘losing his cool’ — Page 9

FOUNDED IN 1898 ★ VOL. 112, NO. 5 ★ DENVER, CO ★ FEB. 4, 2011 © $2.00

Revenue measureKO’d by House


Charging that two-termColorado Republican PartyChairman Dick Wadhams haslost the confidence of grassrootsRepublicans, state Sen. TedHarvey, R-Highlands Ranch,announced on Monday he plansto challenge Wadhams in nextmonth’s GOP election.

“It's time for new direction,new leadership and newperspective for the state party,”said Harvey, who unveiled a list

of legislative endorsementstotaling nearly half the Repub-lican lawmakers at the StateCapitol. Harvey said if he winsthe chairmanship he plans togive up his Senate seat, “roll upmy sleeves and take this fightdirectly to the Democrats.”

The conservative darlingfrom Douglas County has beenall over the news in recentweeks — pushing a bill torequire proof of citizenship toregister to vote, leading a charge

Harvey mounts challenge to Wadhams for GOP chair


The battle over a nonbindingresolution on state revenues isat an impasse, with the Senaterejecting a $195 million cutadded into the resolution by theHouse, and the House rejectingthe Senate changes. And thestalemate over the spendingresolution raises seriousconcerns for one legislator, Rep.Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen, whosaid that if the House andSenate could not reach aconsensus on the resolution, itmight signal future trouble forthe entire state budget bill thatthe equally divided Joint BudgetCommittee will write later.

According to long-time capitolobservers, it’s the first time

anyone can remember the reso-lution, which is required bystate statute, has not beenpassed.

The resolution, House JointResolution 11-1007, wassupposed to go to a conferencecommittee noon Thursday, butthat meeting never happened inlight of actions taken by theHouse Thursday morning. Theannual resolution certifies theamount of revenue available forthe next fiscal year’s budget.The resolution states that theGeneral Assembly must first paythree obligations: capitalconstruction, fire and policepensions and local governmentpayments. Then, the state coversappropriations for the executive,legislative and judicial depart-

State Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, and U.S.Rep. Scott Tipton, Republicanfrom Cortez, at the state CapitolWednesday. See pages 18-19. PHOTO BY

JODY HOPE

STROGOFF/THE

COLORADO

STATESMAN

Continued on Page 6

Dem state chair candidates stand upagainst outside involvement in primaries

True Blue sponsored a forum for statewide Democratic Party leadership positions Jan. 29 at the SheetMetal Workers union hall in Lakewood. From left, Rick Palacio, Adam Bowen, True Blue organizer andforum moderater Rebecca Browning and Polly Baca. PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Continued on Page 6

Denver Mayor Bill Vidal and his wife Gabriella join Larry Mizel, left, in toasting the Mizel Museum’s new exhibit “4000 Year Road Trip:Gathering Sparks.” Mayor Vidal, an immigrant from Cuba, said theexhibit reminds people that, “As we discover someone else’s journeyand reflect on our own, we begin to understand that the things wehave in common with one another are a lot more valuable than thethings that divide us.” — See story on page 20.

U.S. Rep. Tipton welcomed back at Capitol

Continued on Page 7

PAGE 6 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ FEB. 4, 2011“Politics are a labyrinth without a clue.” — John Adams

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper torun the state Department of Labor andEmployment, and introducing legisla-tion to make it easier for new taxi cabcompanies to operate.

“Liberal Democrats have enjoyedfour years of unchallenged success inColorado, far beyond their party regis-tration,” Harvey said in the statementannouncing his bid. “The reason theyhave been so successful is because theyhave run better, more strategic andaggressive campaigns than Republi-cans. I am running to beat the Democ-rats with better talent, funding andconservative leadership than we havehad in the past,” he said, promising to“return the Republican Party back tothe majority.”

Wadhams told The ColoradoStatesman on Monday that he had nocomment on Harvey’s candidacy at themoment but added, “I’m absolutely inthe race.”

The other announced candidates forRepublican Party chair are recentColorado transplant Bart Baron, whoran for Congress in Michigan, and JohnWagner, who ran the campaign ofRepublican U.S. Senate hopeful CleveTidwell and is running on a ticket withvice-chair candidate Jeremy Goodall.

The GOP central committee meetsto pick officers on March 26 at DouglasCounty High School in Castle Rock.

Former state Sen. Dave Schultheis,R-Colorado Springs, hailed Harvey’scandidacy in an interview with TheStatesman.

“I sense that he is the one candidatewho truly can bring our party backtogether. He’s well spoken, he knowsthe issues extremely well. He’s direct,people know exactly where he stands. Icouldn’t have more admiration foranyone than Sen. Harvey, quitefrankly,” said Schultheis, who servedalongside Harvey in the Legislature fornearly a decade.

Schultheis said Harvey’s conserva-tive bona fides point out Wadhams’“basic weakness.” One lesson the GOPlearned in the last election is that grass-roots conservatives and Tea Partyactivists “want the party to move backto its roots and its core beliefs,”Schultheis said. “That is the Achillesheel for Dick Wadhams.” Schultheisadded: “I believe the (central committeemembers) who are going to be electedare going to be very hungry for creatinga strong direction for our party again.”

Two years ago, on the heels of Presi-dent Barack Obama’s 2008 victory inColorado and Democrat Mark Udall’sU.S. Senate win over Republicannominee Bob Schaffer — whosecampaign Wadhams managed while

serving as state party chair —Wadhams easily won a second termwith 85 percent of the vote against twolittle-known challengers.

In the last election, Wadhamsoversaw historic gains by ColoradoRepublicans but also took heat from theranks over how he handled divisiveprimaries and a third-party run bygubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo,a former Republican congressman.Republicans ousted two Democraticmembers of Congress, unseated thestate treasurer and secretary of state,and took back control of the ColoradoHouse for the first time since 2004. ButTancredo won more than three times asmany votes for governor as Dan Maes,the GOP nominee, although both lost toHickenlooper. And appointed U.S. Sen.Michael Bennet fended off a challengefrom Republican nominee Ken Buck,placing Colorado athwart a GOP tidethat swept Republican senators andgovernors into office across the country.

In his announcement, Harveypounced on Wadhams’ mixed results.

“Unfortunately, this last election sawthe fracturing of our conservative polit-ical base, and whether or not it iswarranted, Chairman Wadhams haslost the confidence of our grassrootsand many of our Republican leaders.We did not raise the money and dedi-cate the resources appropriately to winthe statewide and legislative battlesthat needed to be won. The ColoradoGOP needs a bold new leader that willre-energize our entire party,” he said.

In this year’s GOP election, becausegubernatorial nominee Maes did so

poorly — he received 11 percent of thestatewide vote, barely clearing the 10-percent threshold to retain “majorparty” designation for Republicans —the Republican central committeewon’t have its usual number of so-called bonus delegates, picked at thecounty level to augment the party offi-cers and elected officials who automati-cally sit on the committee. That’sbecause Republicans award bonus dele-gates based on how well each countyturns out the vote in the governor’srace, and Maes only performed well in ahandful of rural counties.

In an interview with The Statesmanlate last month, Tancredo — who saidat the time he did not supportWadhams and hoped Harvey wouldjump into the race — called it “thegreatest irony of all time” that theMaes debacle might ensure Wadhams’reelection because it will keep non-establishment activists from having avoice in the chairman’s race.

“The disaster we call the Republicangovernor’s election, the disaster thatwas for the Republican Party — and towhatever extent Dick Wadhams hasany responsibility there is up for debate— will almost certainly ensure DickWadhams’ re-election,” Tancredo saidin between bouts of laughter. “Theinsurgents were responsible for puttingDan Maes on the ballot, and that, inturn — his candidacy was a disaster forthe Republican party — means theycannot do anything to change it. It’shilarious, really, when you think of it.”

For his part, Baron said Harvey’sentry into the race increases his ownchances of winning. Baron said thechoice between the “unacceptable,status-quo” Wadhams and the conser-vative purist Harvey will highlight hisown platform, which involvesapproaching the state GOP the way aturnaround expert might take on afailing company.

“You’ve got Dick (Wadhams), who’sbasically been asleep at the switch,”Baron said. “And the thing is, I believein Reagan’s big tent. Sen. Harvey istalking about bringing together the TeaParty and conservatives — hissupporters say they want to purge theparty of moderates and RINOs. But youcan’t win elections in Colorado withoutindependents, Blue Dog Democrats andmoderates, there aren’t enough conser-vatives in the state to make thathappen.”

Referring to Harvey’s vision of theRepublican Party, Baron said, “That’snot a party of inclusion, like whatReagan was trying to do, that’s a partyof exclusion.”

Forums for Republican Party candi-dates are set for Feb. 16 at the Granby

Library and March 10 at the CopperFields Events Chateau in Wheat Ridge.

Harvey lives in Highlands Ranchwith his wife, Janie, and their two chil-dren. He was picked to represent HouseDistrict 43 in a vacancy election andwon reelection to the seat twice beforemoving up to the state Senate, wherehe won a second term in November.Early in his career, Harvey spent twoyears as House reading clerk beforetaking a job at the Independence Insti-tute and then as district office managerfor U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley.

Harvey wanted to take Tancredo’splace representing the 6th Congres-sional District when Tancredo retiredin 2008 but placed third in the Repub-lican primary with 15 percent of thevote, trailing Wil Armstrong and theeventual winner, U.S. Rep. MikeCoffman.

When he’s not legislating, Harveyworks as a licensed mortgage broker atGreenwood Village-based AmericanHome Funding. That job made head-lines last spring when Harvey clashedwith Colorado Division of Real EstateDirector Erin Toll in a committeehearing over attempts by the state toregulate mortgage lenders.

Toll told the press that Harvey andhis company were under investigationfor sending misleading mailers, butsubsequent reporting by The DenverPost revealed that Toll had announcedthe investigation before it was formallybegun. Harvey, it turned out, wasn’t atarget of the probe, which claimed loanadvertisements looked too much likeofficial government documents. (Tollwas placed on leave during the fracasand ultimately reached a monetarysettlement with the state beforeembarking on another career.)

Across the aisle, three Democratsare vying to take over for state Demo-cratic Party boss Pat Waak, whoannounced a month ago she wouldn’tseek a fourth term. Those candidatesare former state Sen. Polly Baca, whohas held nearly every office in theDemocratic Party over five decades;former Larimer County DemocraticChair Adam Bowen, who lost a bid forcounty commissioner this year; andlongtime legislative aide Rick Palacio,who lost a primary in Pueblo County’sclerk and recorder race a while back,and has worked for then-HouseMajority Leader Alice Madden, formerU.S. Rep. John Salazar, and formerHouse Majority Leader, now Demo-cratic Whip Steny Hoyer in Wash-ington, D.C. Democrats pick state offi-cers on March 5 at the ColoradoConvention Center in Denver.


...Harvey challenges Wadhams for Republican state chairContinued from Page 1

ments; followed by appropriations tothe general fund reserve. Any newprograms can be paid for if there ismoney left after all of the other obliga-tions are covered. The annual resolu-tion is intended to provide guidance tothe JBC when they begin figure-settingthis month, and is usually based on themore conservative of two revenue esti-mates provided by the LegislativeCouncil economists and the economistsfrom the Office of State Planning andBudgeting. This year’s revenue esti-mate, as reflected by the originalversion of HJR 1007 and the amendedversion that came from the Senate,uses the Legislative Council figures.

In its trip through the House,Republicans cut the revenue estimateprovided by the Legislative Council by$195 million, reflecting concerns thatthe state needed to be more carefulabout its spending.

The Senate restored HJR 1007’soriginal revenue estimate, to $7.093billion, based on an amendment offeredby Senate Majority Leader John Morse,

D-Colorado Springs. In addition torestoring the original revenue projec-tion, Morse’s amendment also decreedthat any revenue above the $7.093billion would go to restore funding toK-12 public schools. The Senate votedalong party lines on Monday to pass theamended resolution, with 20 Democratsin favor and 15 Republicans against.

Senate Republicans offered fouramendments of their own, attemptingto point out that Morse’s amendmentdealt with an appropriation, whichRepublicans said is not the resolution’spurpose. Similar efforts by Democratsin the House last week led to intensepartisan wrangling over the resolution.

The House on Tuesday rejected thechanges, voting nearly unanimously todo so, although House Minority LeaderSal Pace, D-Pueblo, called the Senatechanges “fine work.”

On Wednesday, Gerou dismissed thenotion that the resolution was nearingstalemate, and said not passing theresolution could spell trouble fordealing with the budget down the road.While she acknowledged that the reso-

lution is non-binding, Gerou said shehoped the conference committee couldcome to some resolution on the matter.“We’ll take it to committee and seewhere we’re at,” Gerou told TheColorado Statesman. However, “myproblem is that it sets a bad precedent.This is the first resolution that’s comeforward on the budget, and if we can’tget this thing settled, how will we dealwith the budget?”

Ferrandino has referred to the reso-lution as meaningless. He told TheStatesman Wednesday that missing theFeb. 1 deadline also didn’t matter.While the resolution is required bystatute, “there’s no recourse if we don’tdo it,” Ferrandino said. And in light ofthe current situation, one option is torepeal the statute, which he called a“better policy. [The resolution] doesn’thave any bearing on the budget, sincewe will get an updated forecast inMarch” and will update the revenueestimate without updating the resolu-tion. “There are political games beingplayed on all sides for something that ismeaningless.”

But on Thursday, the resolution offi-cially died for good. HJR 1007 sponsorRep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland,asked the House to adhere to its posi-tion during the morning session, andtold The Statesman later the conferencecommittee would not meet. HouseDemocrats pointed out that theGeneral Assembly was in violation ofstate law by refusing to pass the resolu-tion, but DelGrosso said the Legislaturehad been in violation of the statutesince Feb. 1, when the resolution failedto meet that deadline for passage.

Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, a memberof the never-to-be conferencecommittee, told The StatesmanThursday that failure to pass the reso-lution pointed out the differences inphilosophy between the two parties,with one party wanting to be morecautious about state spending. He saidhe believed March revenue forecastswould be more positive, but Republi-cans still wanted to set a lower revenuefigure in the resolution.


...Non-binding resolution on state revenues at impasseContinued from Page 1

State Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch,has been endorsed by a bunch of Republicanlegislators in his bid to become state chair.

Bennet, appointed to the seat inearly 2009, had the backing of Presi-dent Barack Obama and the Demo-cratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.He went on to win the primary andthen beat Republican nominee KenBuck, though he trailed Romanoff inDemocratic caucuses, county assembliesand at the state convention.

The three announced candidates forstate party chair are Baca, who was thefirst Latina elected to the ColoradoSenate and sat on the DNC for 16years, including eight years as anational vice chair; Bowen, who servedtwo terms as Larimer County chair andlost a bid for county commissioner inthe fall election; and one-time PuebloCounty clerk and recorder candidateRick Palacio, who worked for then-Majority Leader Alice Madden at thestate Capitol, then for former U.S. Rep.John Salazar, and currently serves as atop political aide to former U.S. HouseMajority Leader and current Demo-cratic Whip Steny Hoyer.

Democrats pick state party leadersat a central committee meeting onMarch 5 at the Colorado ConventionCenter in Denver. Over the next twoweeks, county parties meet to pick offi-cers and additional central committeemembers, who, along with elected offi-cials, all get a vote. Three-termColorado Democratic Party Chair PatWaak announced in late December shewouldn’t seek reelection to a fourthtwo-year term.

The forum was organized by TrueBlue Colorado, a group formed to pres-sure state party officials to stay true toDemocratic principles.

“Our strategy has relied too muchon those used by our conservative oppo-nents, who not only rely on but aredefined by money, influence andpower,” said True Blue organizerRebecca Browning, who moderated theforum. She added: “We are a progres-sive party, and we should stop waggingour tail between our legs about that.”

And keep outsiders out, she added,though she emphasized the groupdidn’t want to reopen old wounds, justprevent new ones.

“We came together after a primaryseason subject to too much influenceoutside the state of Colorado,” she said.“But this is not about ‘he said, theysaid’ — it’s not about the past, it’sabout the future.”

Still, casting at least a glance towardthe past, not one of the three candi-dates for state party chair supportedBennet before the primary.

Baca co-chaired Romanoff’s Senatecampaign. A year ago, on the eve of avisit by President Barack Obama for aBennet fundraiser, she appeared alongwith other past and current party offi-cials outside Colorado Democratic Partyheadquarters in Denver to demandObama stay out of the Colorado Senate.

At the forum, Baca explained whyshe’d taken that position.

“The reason I wrote that letter isbecause I really believed it was going tohurt President Obama,” she said. “Ilove our political party, but I alsounderstand how harmful it can bewhen you try to do it top-down.”

She said she wanted to dispelmisconceptions about her position.“Some would say when I did that thatwas not being nice to the White House,and that the White House would hateme forever,” she said with a laugh.“I’ve heard rumors I somehow havethis clash with the White House — itisn’t true,” she added, noting that shewas one of only a handful of ColoradoDemocrats invited to the White HouseChristmas party.

Palacio said he stood firmly withRomanoff up to the primary.

“I worked for Andrew Romanoff, Iwas a strong supporter of AndrewRomanoff, I gave Andrew money,” hetold the forum. “And when Andrew losthis primary, I cried for a day, and I was

one of the most disappointed people inthis room. The next day, I made a checkout to Michael Bennet.” Invoking aboating metaphor, Palacio went on: “Wedon’t all just need to row together, weneed to row in the same direction.”

Bowen, who was bound by partyrules from endorsing a candidate in theprimary, said he declared himselfuncommitted at his precinct caucus lastyear and remained neutral through hiscounty assembly.

“I’m not seeking to reopen wounds,but I think there are people who reallyneed to be heard,” he said. “It’s impor-tant as the leader of an organization tomaintain neutrality,” he added.

It was a theme sounded by TrueBlue organizers and audience members,who had a chance to tell the candidateswhat they thought of the party’sstraits. “Democrats are losing confi-dence in the party, including because ofthe national party’s involvement in theSenate primary,” said one Democrat.

But the group had plenty of otherconcerns about the party and itsperformance in the last election, whenDemocrats lost control of the stateHouse — by fewer than 200 votescosting a single seat — and ceded twocongressional seats to Republicans.

“Our next leaders of this party aregoing to find themselves stuck betweena rock and a hard place,” Browningsaid. “The rock of increasingly convo-luted regulations and cultural attitudesthat favor money, influence andpower… And the hard place ofincreasing voter apathy, distrust, anddisaffection with the political process,our government and our party. We’velost the message. Democrats, taxes andgovernment are the failing principles inthe eyes in many in our country, andwe need to turn that around.”

Each of the state party chair candi-dates weighed in.

“My concern about the party rightnow is that we have a lot of disillu-

sioned Democrats, for a variety ofreasons,” Baca said. “I’m running forstate chair of the Colorado DemocraticParty because I believe I can help re-energize — not only the disaffectedDemocrats statewide, but also Democ-rats who might be participating in theparty but they need a little bit morejuice, they need a bit more action, moreinvolvement. And that’s why, as statechair, I will have a 64-county strategy,because I believe in organizing from thegrassroots up.”

Palacio referred repeatedly to his“Three M’s” campaign slogan, standingfor money, mobilization and messaging.

“The Colorado Democratic Party hasan incredible opportunity to reclaimsome of the things that are rightfullyours and we need to take back,” hesaid, adding that next year’s election iscritical. “Our Democratic values areseriously at risk unless we do all we canto make sure Barack Obama isreelected president.”

More than once, Palacio looked overthe diverse crowd and pronounced,“Unity is not the same as unanimity.”

“We have a huge tent, which is ablessing, but it’s also a curse,” he elab-orated. “Oftentimes we expect partypurity. There’s room under this tentand at this table for Democrats that arenot in agreement with one another.” Headded: “It’s vitally important that wehave unity, someone who can bring theparty together.”

Bowen — who described himselfafter the forum as “an evolutionarycandidate, not a revolutionary candi-date” — said his experience leadingLarimer County Democrats andrunning for office in the last electionhas prepared him to helm the stateparty.

The northern Colorado countyalmost perfectly mirrors the statewidevoter registration breakdown —Democrats, Republicans and unaffili-ated voters each make up about onethird, with Republicans holding a slightedge — and it’s a near-perfect bell-wether for statewide candidates.

“It’s one of those counties that’sabsolutely a must-win, for a Demanyway,” Bowen said. “If a Dem doesn’twin Larimer County, then the Demdoesn’t win Colorado.” He pointed outthat Bennet and Democratic Gov. JohnHickenlooper both carried LarimerCounty by about the same marginsthey won statewide.

“I’ve been a down-ticket candidateand I know how important it is tohave some enthusiasm from the top-level candidates, because that reallyeffects our (get-out-the-vote) effort,”Bowen continued. He recountedknocking on doors across the countyand told the audience it’s important toreach out to Republican and unaffili-ated voters in order to win elections inColorado.

“A lot of Republicans, if you askthem, feel the party has moved awayfrom them,” Bowen said. “They are notculture-war Republicans. Frankly,people who are gay, who are immi-grants, who are state workers, feel theyhave been demonized by a lot of Repub-lican office-holders, and that’snonsense. We shouldn’t let the Repub-lican Party get away with that.”

The state GOP picks its leaders at acentral committee meeting on March26 at Douglas County High School inCastle Rock. Current Republican PartyChairman Dick Wadhams is seeking athird two-year term. He facesannounced candidates John Wagner,who ran the campaign of RepublicanU.S. Senate hopeful Cleve Tidwell; BartBaron, who ran for Congress inMichigan before retiring in Colorado;and state Sen. Ted Harvey, R-HighlandsRanch, who announced his candidacythis week along with a list of endorse-ments from about half the Republicansserving in the legislature.


PAGE 7 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ FEB. 4, 2011“They worry one another like mastiffs, scrambling for rank and pay like apes for nuts.” — John Adams

...Dem state chair candidates pledge to stay ‘true blue’Continued from Page 1

True Blue put on aforum for statewideDemocratic Partyleadership positionsJan. 29.

Top, union organizerand True Blue leader Tim Allportand Polly Baca.

Right, state DemSecretary (andcandidate for re-election) CarolynBoller and candidatefor 2nd Vice ChairVivian Stovall.

Below, former stateRep. Sara Gagliardiand her campaignmanager Elliot Goldbaum watchthe forum.

PHOTOS BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Neither snow, nor sleet ... The lengths some people will go to get the attention ofthe press: Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, braved 7 degreetemperatures Tuesday to ridehis mountain bike around thegrounds of the state Capitol asa way to promote a bill beingheard in the House this week.

PHOTO BY MARIANNE GOODLANDTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

SEE PAGE 28


Tom Clements confirmed ashead of Corrections — Page 15

Dennis Gallagher on the art ofsitting in right place — Page 2

Dr. Chris Urbina to head PublicHealth & Environment — Page 6

Rep. Laura Bradford unpluggedin case you missed it — Page 6

Lamborn is co-chair of Repub-lican Israel Caucus — Page 15



It’s February in an odd-numberedyear, which means Republicans andDemocrats are meeting county by countyto pick officers, name bonus delegatesand otherwise conduct off-year business

in advance of state central committeemeetings next month. Both majorparties will pick new state chairs inMarch — along with other less-contestedofficers — and the races are being vigor-ously contested on both sides of theaisle, making the county “reorgs” all themore important.

The snow and cold have hamperedsome of this week’s county reorgs (shortfor reorganizations), but with the excep-

tion of a few postponements, most havegone on without a hitch. We checked inwith some of the larger counties to seewhat happened and report results below.

Every two years, county parties aresupposed to gather county centralcommittee members — precinctcommittee people, elected officials andcounty party officers — to set things up

GOP Chair Wadhamsquits bid for third term

New party leaders could affectstate chair races in both parties

County parties undergo biennial reorganization

Mesa State bill moves forward BY MARIANNE GOODLANDTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

Democrats mounted a furious effortthis week to defeat a bill that couldallow Mesa State College to opt-out of

the state personnel system.House Bill 11-1007, sponsored by

Rep. Laura Bradford, R-Grand Junc-tion, survived the Democratic fightWednesday morning and passed on a

Employeepartnershipsorder still on the booksBY MARIANNE GOODLANDTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

The second attempt by Sen. ShawnMitchell, R-Broomfield, to kill a 2007 execu-tive order on employee partnerships fell bythe wayside Monday. The Senate State,Veterans and Military Affairs Committeekilled his Senate Bill 11-038 on a 3-2 party-line vote. However, Mitchell got a bit ofencouragement for one facet of his concernsover the largest state employee union,Colorado WINS, from the Senate PresidentPro Tem.

SB 38 would have allowed classified stateemployees who choose to do so to remainmembers of employee organizations, but itwould have terminated the existing partner-ship agreement formed as a result of Execu-tive Order D 028 07 signed by former Gov.Bill Ritter.

During Monday’s hearing, Mitchell pointed

Continued on Page 3


Warning against the notion that“uniting conservatives” is all ittakes for Republicans to win elec-tions in Colorado, state GOPChairman Dick Wadhams onMonday dropped his bid for a thirdterm. A day later, the state party’slegal counsel — and a key Wadhamsdeputy — jumped into the race,which also features a conservativeDouglas County lawmaker who haspromised to do just what Wadhamssaid will lead Republicans to defeat.

In a letter informing state Repub-licans of his withdrawal from therace, Wadhams wrote that he has

grown “tired of those who areobsessed with seeing conspiraciesaround every corner and who haveterribly misguided notions of whatthe role of the state party is.” Headded that he fears a push for ideo-logical purity could cost the party“the votes of hundreds of thousandsof unaffiliated swing voters in2012,” when Colorado will be acrucial state in the presidential elec-tion.

The next day, Ryan Call — thestate GOP’s chief lawyer and theimmediate past Denver CountyRepublican chairman — announcedhe is running for state partychairman pledging to concentrate onorganization, fundraising and candi-date support rather than trying tohew the party toward its mostconservative members.

“One of the strengths of our

Continued on Page 3

Party’s legal counselRyan Call announcesrun for top GOP spot

Continued on Page 5

Ryan Call, who declared his candidacy for state GOPchairman this week, rallies volunteers at Denver RepublicanParty headquarters last summer in this file photo.

PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN


PAGE 3 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ FEB. 11, 2011“Lincoln was not a type. He stands alone — no ancestors, no fellows, no successors.” — Robert G. Ingersoll

party is that we are all a group of prin-cipled and independent-minded individ-uals,” Call wrote in a letter sentTuesday afternoon to state GOPcentral committee members. “Thatsometimes makes it a challenge to buildconsensus and agreement, but I believewe need a broad and welcoming Partyin order to win elections and governeffectively — the stakes are just toohigh for us to be divided.”

Call’s chief rival for the GOP’s topspot is conservative stalwart state Sen.Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, whounveiled his candidacy for state chairlast week along with the endorsementsof roughly half the state’s Republicanlegislators.

Wadhams has been under fire fromconservative Republicans and Tea Partyactivists for much of his second term —alternately for pulling strings to swaywhich candidates ran in GOP primariesand for not interfering enough byfailing to vet candidates.

In the 2010 election, state Republi-cans scored historic wins by taking twocongressional seats, two statewideoffices and the majority in the stateHouse from Democrats. But in thesame election, as GOP candidates sweptinto office across the country, ColoradoRepublicans lost a tight contest for U.S.Senate and finished third in thegovernor’s race, a debacle Wadhamstermed a “soap opera” in his reelectionannouncement.

Republican gubernatorial nomineeDan Maes won just 11 percent of thevote — against the winning Democrat,former Denver Mayor John Hicken-looper, and a third-party challenge byformer U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, whotemporarily left the GOP to mount hiscampaign — coming within 20,000votes of costing state Republicansmajor-party status under state law.

Just weeks after declaring he wantedanother two-year term — and only days

after drawing a challenge from Harvey— Wadhams wrote that he enjoyed thesupport of a “clear majority” of centralcommittee members but, after giving itsome thought, he could do without theheadaches caused by his critics.

One of the state’s top Democrats,former House Speaker TerranceCarroll, called Wadhams’ announce-ment the “most surprising politicalnews of 2011 so far” in a post to hisTwitter account on Monday night.

Meanwhile,two lesser-knowncandidates whohad been vyingfor Wadhams’ jobcombined forceswith a thirdRepublican onWednesday tooffer a slateunder the “Elect Respect” banner.Retired engineer Barton Baron, arecent transplant from Michigan andpast congressional candidate in thatstate, is the chairman candidate on aticket with former rival turned vice-chairman hopeful John Wagner, whomanaged the U.S. Senate campaign ofalso-ran Cleve Tidwell last year. CohortJeremy Goodall is running for stateparty secretary along with the othertwo.

The day before he announced hisbid, Call told The Colorado Statesmanhe would bring a lot to table aschairman but needed to first check withhis young family and clients at HaleWestfall, the LoDo law firm where heserves of-counsel. (Richard Westfall, apartner in the firm, is the appointedtreasurer for the state RepublicanParty.)

“I think I do bring a unique andvaluable skill-set to the job,” Call said.

He went on to praise Wadhams whileat the same time making clear hewould offer more than just a continua-tion of the current regime.

“I have nothing but great admirationfor Dick and saw first-hand the amountof hard work and the difficult spot hewas put in the last couple of years,”Call said. “I think every Republican inColorado should be grateful.” Headded: “There’s no criticism from mefor Dick, but this does present anopportunity to turn the page and lookahead.”

In his announcement letter, Call saidhis experience as the state party’s legal

counsel — including work helping“candidates fix problems if they everget into any trouble” — along with ahistory of grassroots organizing and acommitment to developing andsupporting county parties are amonghis qualifications.

Call told The Statesman his work asan organizer — including a stintrunning the state College Republicansand two years as National Co-Chairman of the College RepublicanNational Committee — and hisexpertise “navigating increasinglycomplex campaign finance and organi-zational rules that govern our party”are key assets he brings to the statechair race. Then he added that thestate chairman should “focus the coreoperations on operational pursuitsrather than ideological ones.”

That’s a direct challenge to Harvey’scampaign, which enjoys the support ofRepublicans who believe the party loseselections because it doesn’t draw a clearenough distinction with Democrats.

“We have to recognize in the state,in every single county, you win elec-

tions by building coalitions,” Call said,“by demonstrating that our message oflimited government, fiscal responsi-bility and fiscal discipline is somethingthat leads to good government.”

“In Colorado,” Call continued, “wehave to understand there’s a very broadsection of the electorate that sees them-selves as independent-minded. Thatindependence is also at the core and isthe strength of the Republican andconservative moment. That’s why theparty needs to focus its efforts on thosethings that unite us.” He added thatthe disagreement with GOP puristswould be “part of the healthy discus-sion the leadership election andchairman’s race will bring out.”

It’s similar to the criticism Wadhamsleveled at his Republican opponents inthe letter announcing his withdrawalfrom the chairman’s race.

Though he didn’t mention Harveyby name, much of Wadhams’ messagewas clearly aimed at the conservativelawmaker, who charged when helaunched his campaign that Wadhamshas lost the confidence of grassrootsRepublicans.

“I intend to unite our base andreturn authentic conservative leader-ship to the Party structure,” Harveysaid in his announcement.

That’s not enough, Call said.“We need to reach out to many folks

— not just in the party, but outside theparty as well,” Call said. “We win bybuilding and growing the party, andbringing people into the party, ratherthan by becoming narrow.”

The GOP central committee meetsto pick officers on March 26 at DouglasCounty High School in Castle Rock.County parties are spending the nextcouple weeks selecting officers andother state central committee members,a process that winds up Feb. 22 whenArapahoe County Republicans convene.



...Wadhams ends bid, Call joins Harvey, Baron in GOP race

...County parties pick officers and delegates this monthfor the next two years. In addition to electing acounty chair, vice chair and secretary — who then siton the state central committee — county Democratsand Republicans pick district captains, other officers,and name vacancy committees.

Counties also get to select so-called bonus dele-gates to the state central committee, which is thegoverning body for the state party. But the divergingfates of the Democratic and Republican gubernatorialcandidates in the last election spells very differentsituations for bonus delegates between the parties.

Those delegates are allotted by county based oneach party’s turnout in the governor’s race — basi-cally, each county gets two delegates for every 10,000votes cast — so the historically low vote for Repub-lican nominee Dan Maes means there won’t be verymany bonus delegates to the GOP state centralcommittee. In fact, only five of Colorado’s 64 coun-ties — Arapahoe, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson andLarimer — get to pick state bonus delegates on theRepublican side, and between them they only get 18.Democrats, on the other hand, will be seating asmany as 244 bonus delegates from across the state,based on votes for Gov. John Hickenlooper, theDemocratic nominee.

The low number of GOP bonus delegates couldswing influence in the Republican state chair race tosmaller, rural counties, since every county — nomatter what the size — gets to send its chair, vicechair and secretary as voting members of the centralcommittee. (Other members are current state partyofficers, Colorado’s two Republican NationalCommittee delegates, congressional district chairsand elected officials, from district attorneys andlegislators to statewide officials and members ofCongress.)

County reorgs wrap up by Feb. 15 for Democrats,who convene to elect state officers on March 5 inDenver, and a week later for Republicans, who gatheron March 26 in Castle Rock. (The Arapahoe CountyGOP has the latest scheduled reorg, moved from afrigid Feb. 8 to Feb. 22, closer to spring.)

Arapahoe County Democrats met Feb. 5 atRangeview High School in Aurora. In addition to the155 Arapahoe County Central Committee members,U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter showed up, along with the

three announced candidates for state party chair,Polly Baca, Adam Bowen, and Rick Palacio.

Incumbent party officers didn’t seek additionalterms, so an entirely new slate was elected. None ofthe races were contested. Todd Mata is the new chair,Pam Gail is 1st vice chair, John Buckley is 2nd vicechair, Mary Pritchard is secretary and Matt Salek istreasurer.

“Despite a bruising U.S. Senate primary battle justsix months ago between U.S. Sen. Michael Bennetand former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, therewas little sign of any remaining friction in the audito-rium,” Mata reported. He said Arapahoe Democratsare “fiercely united” for next year’s elections.

Nearly 100 Boulder County Republicans braved aterrible storm the night of Feb. 3 to convene at theLongmont Public Library. State Party ExecutiveDirector James Garcia showed up to thank outgoingcounty Chairman Scott Starin — who also mounted acampaign against Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Polis— and state Party Chairman Dick Wadhams toldRepublicans the 2012 election could be the mostimportant election yet, one that could determine thefuture direction of the country.

All the new officers were elected unanimously. JoelChampion is the new chairman; Gregory Carlson,Ellyn Hilliard and Chad Rathbun are all vice chairs;and Al Kolwicz was named secretary. Among districtofficers, former state lawmaker Betty Swenson wasnamed vice chair for House District 11, along withChair Cathy Jarrett.

El Paso County Democrats met Feb. 5 at the Hill-side Community Center in Colorado Springs and hada few contested races for party officers. County ChairKathleen Ricker ran unopposed for chair. Incumbent1st Vice Chair Judi Ingalido survived a challengefrom Dave Bryan. The 2nd vice chair spot was also arace, with Chuck Bader winning over RobertNemanich. Treasurer Bob Dyer ran unopposed.Incumbent party Secretary Carolyn Cathey will beserving another term, besting Nancy Jo Morris in thevote.

Mesa County Democrats got together on Feb. 5 atthe International Brotherhood of Electrical Workershall in Clifton and picked a set of fresh faces to runthe party. Karl Castleton and Arn McConnell werenamed co-chairs; Claudette Konola was elected treas-

urer; Laura Fowler becomes secretary; and fourDemocrats will be vice chairs, in descending order:Rick Baer, JoLynn Phillips, James Milligan, and JudyHegge.

“I feel the new central and executive committeesare a good mix of new volunteers and past committeemembers,” Castleton told The Colorado Statesman.His co-chair, McConnell, had this to say: “The newofficers are smart and technologically savvy. We seereal opportunities to grow the party during thecoming years.”

Denver Republicans elected a new chairman onFeb. 5 at Hill Middle School. The previous chair,Ryan Call, didn’t seek a second term but announcedthis week he’s in the running for state party chair.Past state House candidate Danny Stroud defeatedBob Lane, who also ran for a House seat in lastyear’s election, for chairman. The county will havethree vice chairs: Michelle Lyng, Jeff Krump andPauline Olvera. Brett Moore was elected secretary.

Adams County Democrats picked new officers —and a few assistants — on Feb. 6 at the county fair-grounds in Brighton. Marty Wisniewski is chair;Richard McCutcheon is 1st vice chair; Larry Pace is2nd vice chair; Michael Scanlon is secretary; ToveForgo is assistant secretary; Diane Christner is treas-urer; and Aurita Apodaca is assistant treasurer.

Broomfield Democrats spent the morning of Feb. 5at Sill-TerHar Ford. Matt Gray is the new chair, JudyEnderle is 1st vice chair, Dottie Rawsky is 2nd vicechair, Mike Byrne is treasurer, and Jim Holitza issecretary. Democrats also named Tom Parsons to bepublicity chair and Mark Snook to run the countyparty’s website.

Larimer County Democrats gathered on Feb. 5 atBoltz Middle School in Fort Collins. William Russellis the new chair, Charlotte Miller is vice chair, AnneWilseck is secretary, and Lynn Aldrin is treasurer.

Boulder County Democrats had some contests forparty officers when they met on Feb. 6 at New VistaHigh School in Boulder. Dan Gould won the office ofchair over Harry Hempy. Laura Spicer was electedvice chair in a race against Alan Rosenfeld. TriciaOlson ran unopposed for treasurer. Linda Cornettovercame a couple of hopefuls for the secretary job.



“I have nothing but great admirationfor Dick and saw first-hand the

amount of hard work and the difficult spothe was put in the last couple of years.”


A little wine and politics withstate Rep. Andy Kerr — Page 35

Sen. John Morse makes grabfor SoS Gessler’s $ — Page 3

Pat Teegarden on Civil War’s150th Anniversary — Page 7

Lilly and Joe Nuñez, DouglasGOP’s royal couple — Page 18

Denver Dems Chris Romer and Ben Klein — Page 20


The lighter side of Capitol life ... and heavyburden of

budgetingGuv slashes 2011-12

budget, Dems outraged BY MARIANNE GOODLANDTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

Gov. John Hickenlooper Tuesdaypresented his plan to get the state intothe black for 2011-12, but it hasmembers of his own party seeing red.

Hickenlooper’s budget proposalwould cut $375 million from K-12education, and local school districtswould take an additional $117 millionhit in lost property tax revenues thestate won’t backfill.

The budget proposal rolled out onTuesday won favor from House Repub-licans, who hold a slim one-votemajority in that chamber. SenateDemocrats, on the other hand, willneed to be won over on the plan. Theycalled the proposal “disappointing” andsaid they would not “rubber-stamp”the governor’s request because it fliesin the face of their highest prioritiesfor the 2011 session.

Traditional Democratic allies, suchas education and public policy groups,also chimed inwith their disap-proval this week,as did stateemployees, whowill be required tokick in another 2percent of thestate’s contribu-tion for PERA, ontop of the 2.5percent they’realready covering.And Hicken-looper’s proposalwould cut more than 250 positions instate government, although thegovernor’s budget director saidTuesday the positions eliminatedwould come through vacancies ratherthan layoffs.

The governor’s budget proposalmodifies the one submitted by Gov. BillRitter on Nov. 1. It contains $570million in cost reductions; in addition


The race for Colorado Republican Partychair was upended last week by two-termChairman Dick Wadhams’ unexpectedwithdrawal but the dust is still settling.

This week, a fourth candidate joined therace while three other Republicansweighed whether to run, including aformer statewide candidate and two localchairmen from key swing counties.

State Republican Vice Chairman Leon-dray Gholston added his name to the

expanding field this week, saying he wantsColorado Republicans to have the optionof voting for a candidate who knows thestate party inside and out while bringing astrong background in grassroots organ-izing to the table.

Gholston jumps into crowded GOP state chair race

Gov. Hickenlooper

Above, Cupid, played by Cody Ortiz-Oldham, left, and ONE Colorado communications manager JessicaWoodrum, right, present “links of love” in support of a new civil unions bill on Valentine’s Day to stateRep. Kathleen Conti, R-Littleton, at the Capitol on Monday. PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Right, Colorado RestaurantAssociation President PeteMeersman and Sen. JeanWhite are tickled aboutpassage of Senate Bill 60.

— See page 2


Below, CSU Chancellor JoeBlake and university mascotWolfie are all smiles at theState Capitol.

— See page 16

PHOTO BY JOHN SCHOENWALTER/THE COLORADO STATESMAN


Continued on Page 8

Gholston, who was first elected to histerm as vice chairman two years ago,said he had committed to staying out ofthe race while Wadhams was runningfor reelection but reconsidered afterWadhams dropped out last week.

“I asked several questions, and whatI came up with was (that) I do havesomething to offer the party aschairman. It is a difficult job and I’mable to accomplish it, and I wanted theparty to have that option,” he said.

Jefferson County GOP ChairmanDon Ytterberg, his Larimer Countycounterpart Larry Carillo, and CleveTidwell, the international businessmanwho failed to make the ballot in lastyear’s U.S. Senate Primary, all told TheColorado Statesman they spent lastweek pondering whether to run for thestate Republican Party’s top job at theMarch 26 central committee meeting.Early this week, Ytterberg announcedhe was instead running for state partyvice chairman and Carillo said he’ddecided against a bid. The enigmaticTidwell hadn’t declared his intentionsby press time.

In addition to Gholston, three candi-dates are already in the running: stateSen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch,state party legal counsel Ryan Call, andrecent Michigan transplant BartonBaron, who is running on a ticket withTidwell’s former campaign manager asa vice chair candidate. Call — whochaired the Denver GOP until lastweekend’s local party elections, whenhe declined to seek a second term —jumped into the race a day afterWadhams dropped out.

In his letter quitting the race,Wadhams said he was tired of Republi-cans who see “conspiracies aroundevery corner and who have terriblymisguided notions of what the role ofthe state party is.” He also warnedagainst chair candidates who promise tounite conservatives at a cost of pushingaway moderates and unaffiliated voters,which he said would jeopardize GOPchances of winning in Colorado.

Gholston declined to draw distinc-tions between himself and the othercandidates. “I’m not running againstanyone for chairman,” he said. “Weare all different men with differentperspectives and different ways of

doing things.”He also refused to distance himself

from the Wadhams regime.“I would stress that I don’t in any

way, shape or form claim to divorcemyself from any criticism that mayhave been levied at the state party lead-ership, because I was there, I am thesitting vice chairman and I take my fullshare with the chairman and anyoneelse,” he said. “It’s important to me as apoint of integrity that people know I’mnot trying to dump on our establish-ment or our sitting chairman, becausethat’s not who I am.”

Gholston, a longtime political ally ofAurora City Councilman and 2010congressional candidate Ryan Frazier,won his spot in GOP leadership bydefeating former Arapahoe CountyChairman Nathan Chambers afterseveral rounds of voting at the stateparty’s 2009 reorganization. He pointsto a decade in the military and experi-ence leading the Colorado Black Repub-licans and the National Black Republi-cans Association, as well as experiencerunning campaigns.

“My focus, my background is organi-zation and grassroots — I’m a grass-roots guy,” he said. “I want to makesure we’re looking at someone with thistype of background.”

Gholston said the party chairman-ship should be a paid position and thathe’ll devote full time to it, if elected, buthe also plans to keep his day job as adefense contractor with Raytheonworking out of an office near BuckleyAir Force Base in Aurora.

“It’s an incredible job to ask someoneto do and do well and expect some

success for free,” he said.Ytterberg said he was

considering whether thestate party would benefitfrom the organizationaland party-building skills hehas honed in one of thestate’s top battlegroundcounties.

“I have been thinkingabout getting in,” Ytter-berg told The Statesmanlate last week. “We hadsome successes in JeffersonCounty. I believe we couldhave a model that couldwork at the next level.”

Ytterberg, who wonanother term leading Jeffco

Republicans at the county centralcommittee meeting earlier this monthin Lakewood, said he considered anumber of factors before deciding tostep back from the chairman race andrun for vice chairman.

“My extensive experience runningsuccessful businesses, combined withwhat I have learned as both a countyparty chairman and a former candidatefor State Senate provides me the skillset necessary to aid in the rebuilding ofthe Colorado Republican Party,” Ytter-berg said in the statement announcinghis candidacy for vice chair. “‘Businessas usual,’ and ‘politics as usual,’ are notthis candidate.”

Ytterberg sounded themes similar tothose articulated by Wadhams when thedeparting chairman said Republicanspush aside moderates at their peril.

“Further, I will continue the opendoor policy I have in Jefferson County,to bring in and welcome all interestgroups of the Party. We cannot besuccessful without an open, friendlyhand to all Coloradans. Being ideolog-ical does not have to mean being exclu-sive. We welcome all Republicans andunaffiliated voters to our GOP family,”Ytterberg said.

It’s a challenge of sorts to Harvey,who has said he’ll make it a priority tomake sure the GOP’s most conservativemembers feel at home in the party.

Harvey, Call each have some baggage, critics contend

Some Republicans have qualmsabout supporting Harvey because of thelawmaker’s endorsement of third-partygubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredoin last fall’s election.

During the divisive 2010 gubernato-rial election, Tancredo bolted theRepublican Party to run under theAmerican Constitution Party bannerand wound up with more than threetimes as many votes as Republicannominee Dan Maes, who upset formerU.S. Rep. Scott McInnis in the Repub-lican primary after a plagiarism scandalderailed his campaign. Across the state,local Republicans split over whichcandidate to back, and charges flew thatlocal GOP officers violated party rulesby supporting Tancredo instead of theRepublican nominee.

Ytterberg’s hands are clean, hepointed out.

“I was bound by the bylaws ofJefferson County — bound to theRepublican candidate,” he said. “I wasnot able then to recommend or toendorse Tom Tancredo, despite the factthat the race became very difficult.”

Call could face an internal backlashof his own over concerns he publiclychampioned U.S. Senate candidate JaneNorton over primary rival Ken Buck,who went on to win the nomination butlose the general election to DemocratMichael Bennet.

“All rules have been thrown out tohelp Norton this year,” complained aBuck supporter in an e-mail to TheStatesman last summer just hours afterCall rallied volunteers at Denver GOPheadquarters for Norton during anendorsement visit by former U.S. Sen.Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

Carillo said Republicans had urgedhim to run for state party chair and he

gave it plenty of thought after Wadhamspulled out. He said he received phonecalls and e-mails from around the state— surprisingly, he said, since LarimerCounty isn’t always considered in thethick of things in Colorado. But thoseurging him to run point to his successbringing together Republicans of allsorts, including passionate Tea Partyand 9/12 groups who bemoan the coldshoulders they’ve gotten from partyregulars elsewhere in the state.

“We’ve managed to find a seat at thetable for everyone,” Carillo said.

Of all the possible candidates,Tidwell sounded least involved in apotential run.

“I’m just down here to see the fire-works,” Tidwell said with a chucklefrom the sidelines at the DouglasCounty GOP central committee meetingon Feb. 10 in Castle Rock. Tidwell toldThe Statesman he was thinking moreabout finding a sunny place to gofishing than he was about running foranything. But, when pressed, headmitted the thought of running forstate party chair has crossed his mind.

“I’ve had a lot of — naturally, out ofcourtesy, people just being nice — I’vehad a lot of push to run for the chair,”Tidwell said and then declined tocomment on his plans.

He said that Call’s entry into therace was what triggered the pressure onhim to run. “That’s when the callsstarted,” he said, grinning ear-to-ear.

But he was firm that he hadn’t madea decision. “Believe me, I would tellyou,” he said and then smiled at hiscompanion, whom he jokingly called hiscampaign manager. “You can mentionyou saw us here.”

Maes said he was “likely to endorse”Gholston in the chairman race and wasalso a big fan of Ytterberg, who henoted was a neighbor and longtimefriend.

Although he told The Statesman hehad to speak with another candidatebefore making a final decision on thechairman’s race, Maes spoke highly ofGholston.

“Assuming I do endorse Leondray, Ibelieve he’s the right person at thegiven time with what’s going on withthe Republican Party. We need someonepeople have faith in and trust to do theright thing. Leondray walks a perfectmiddle line, respected by both sides,”Maes said, and then added: “But if theRepublican Party does not return to itsconservative roots and stand by thoseroots, I don’t think we are ever going torecover in our major races.”

Last week, Maes unleashed a broad-side against Harvey in an email sent tosupporters. Comparing Tea Partyactivists to the brave soldiers at theAlamo, Maes called on conservatives to“Remember November!” and rejectRepublicans — including Harvey, repeat-edly branded “a traitor” by Maes — whosided with Tancredo in the election.

“My apologies in advance to my dearfriends and supporters in DouglasCounty,” Maes writes, “but Senator TedHarvey is a traitor and participated inthe attack of the peoples’ candidate toaid and assist the old guard mentalitythat would not accept the hard workand dedication of the revolution.”

Maes told The Statesman that Ytter-berg’s behavior during the last electiondiffered sharply from Harvey’s. Maessaid he has “enormous respect for Donabiding by party bylaws and playing bythe rules. He didn’t take a side, he didhis job — that’s the kind of leadershipthe party needs to move on. This intra-party bickering and game playing, espe-cially by the old guard, has to stop.”

A number of candidate forums forstate GOP chairman candidates havebeen set for around the state. Anorganization called R Block Party hasscheduled forums for Feb. 21 in North-glenn and Feb. 24 in Littleton. Candi-dates will also gather in Wheat Ridgeon March 10.


PAGE 8 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ FEB. 18, 2011“The way my luck is running, if I were a politician I would be an honest man.” — Rodney Dangerfield

...Current Vice Chair Gholston seeks top state party postContinued from Page 1

Leondray Gholston, right,shakes hands with GOPChairman Dick Wadhamsafter being elected vicechair of the party in 2009.


A noisy noon gathering at thestate Capitol Tuesday drewaround 1,000 union supporters,who rallied in solidarity withWisconsin public workers whoare protesting at their stateCapitol to keep collectivebargaining rights.

The rally, on the west steps ofthe Colorado State Capitol, faceda much smaller group of around150 Tea Party and anti-union

supporters, who were restrictedto the public sidewalk alongLincoln Street because theydidn’t have a permit to be onthe capitol grounds.

Wisconsin Governor ScottWalker last month submitted abudget proposal to theWisconsin State Legislature thatseeks concessions on pensionand health care costs frompublic employees, as well aseliminating most of the state’scollective bargaining rights for


Freshman Rep. Deb Gardnerprofiled this week — Page 31

Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio— Birthday Boy on Feb. 28!

More from columnist Teegardenon the Civil War — Page 8

Matt Arnold is latest candidatein GOP Chair’s race — Page 8

Craig Hughes returns to RBI in lofty new position — Page 8


Wisconsin public workers at center of controversy

Above left, anti-union supporters rally at the state Capitol in support ofWisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose budget proposal calls for elimi-nating most of his state’s collective bargaining for state and municipalworkers. Above, union supporters voice solidarity for those in Wisconsin.PHOTOS BY JOHN SCHOENWALTER (ABOVE LEFT) AND JODY HOPE STROGOFF/THE COLORADO STATESMAN


Two of the four men bidding to bethe Colorado Republican Party’s nextchairman pitched their candidaciesMonday night in Northglenn.

Ryan Call and Leondray Gholstontold a crowd of nearly 100 grassrootsconservatives and elected officials theyeach have what it takes to run theparty and build the coalitions necessaryto move Colorado back into the Repub-lican column in next year’s presidentialelection. They also talked about howthe party should deal with “bad candi-dates” and gave their definitions of“RINO” — a pejorative term used inGOP circles meaning “Republican in

Race forGOP chairin full gear

Party-line votes keep instate tuition bill alive BY MARIANNE GOODLANDTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

Democrats’ latest effort to pass a billgranting instate tuition to undocumentedstudents moved through two committeesin the past week and was approved along

party-lines both times.Senate Bill 126, sponsored by Sen.

Angela Giron, D-Pueblo, and Sen. MichaelJohnston, D-Denver, was reviewed andapproved by the Senate EducationCommittee on Feb. 17 and by the SenateFinance Committee on Feb. 22. The bill is

now before the Senate AppropriationsCommittee for further action.

The bill, known as Advancing Studentsfor a Stronger Economy Tomorrow(ASSET), would grant unsubsidized in-state tuition to undocumented students,

Colorado Democratic Party chair candidates Rick Palacio, left, Polly Baca and Adam Bowen stretchtheir legs after sitting for an InnerView in The Colorado Statesman office on Feb. 20. See Page 6.


Inside: InnerView with Dem party chair hopefuls


Continued on Page 2


CAPITOL RALLY DRAWS UNIONSUPPORTERS, OPPONENTS

PAGE 6 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ FEB. 25, 2011“Becoming a politician is the only step down I could take from being a journalist.” — Jim Hightower

BY JODY HOPE STROGOFF & ERNEST LUNINGTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

The three candidates running for Colorado Democratic Partychair talk about the state of the party and what they have to offerin an in-depth interview with The Colorado Statesman. Twoweeks before state Democrats pick new leadership, Polly Baca,Adam Bowen and Rick Palacio took stock of their campaignsand had a lot to say about the races that will be run in Coloradonext year, when the state is considered a must-win for PresidentBarack Obama’s reelection campaign.

All three candidates got into the race last month after PatWaak announced she wouldn’t seek an unprecedented fourthterm as party chair. Democrats pick party officers on March 5during a biennial reorganization meeting of the party centralcommittee at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. (Thatnight, the party holds its annual Jefferson-Jackson Dayfundraising dinner, this year featuring keynote speaker Massa-chusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.)

Baca is a former state senator from Thornton and now lives inDenver. She has held just about every position in Democraticpolitics except state chair, starting with an internship with thestate party almost 50 years ago. She served 16 years on theDemocratic National Committee, including eight as a nationalvice chair. When she was elected to the General Assembly in the1970s, she had the distinction of being the first Latina everelected to both the Colorado House and the Colorado Senate.She lost a race for Congress in 1980 to Republican Hank Brownand has been an assistant to several Democratic presidents.

Bowen was chairman of the Larimer County Democratic Partyfor two terms until stepping down to mount an unsuccessfulcampaign for county commissioner last year. Originally fromNorthern California and the Midwest, he has said he was inspiredto get heavily involved in politics by the Howard Dean campaign.He describes his bid for chair as “evolutionary, not revolutionary,”and points to his management and sales skills, as well as experi-ence running a Democratic Party, as the qualities that set himapart. He has a business installing solar energy devices in FortCollins.

Palacio works in Washington, D.C., currently but came upthrough the political ranks in Pueblo County, where his family hasbeen a political force for decades. He ran an unsuccessfulprimary campaign for Pueblo County clerk and recorder in 2006,losing the election by two votes — a margin he says means he’llnever take a single vote for granted. He worked for HouseMajority Leader Alice Madden at the Colorado Capitol. He alsoworked both in the district and in the nation’s capital for U.S.Rep. John Salazar before landing a job with then-Majority LeaderSteny Hoyer, where he continues to work. Palacio’s campaign forstate chair has a slogan — he regularly refers to the “Three M’s,”which stands for message, money and motivation, three thingshe says he’ll emphasize if he gets the opportunity to lead thestate party.

The candidates joined Statesman editor and publisher JodyHope Strogoff and political reporter Ernest Luning for an hour-long interview at The Statesman offices on Feb. 20. Over the pasttwo years, The Statesman regularly conducted interviews withWaak and her Republican counterpart, state GOP Chairman DickWadhams, most recently in late November and early December.Read those, along with more than a dozen others with prominentColorado political figures, archived online atwww.coloradostatesman.com/innerview.

Below is a transcript of the conversation with Baca, Bowenand Palacio. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Colorado Statesman (CS): How are the campaigns going? Are youall getting around the state, talking to central committeemembers?

Adam Bowen: Yes. I’ve been as far southeast as the ArkansasValley and as far northwest as the Yampa Valley.

CS: Polly, how about you, are you traveling much?Polly Baca: I’ve been traveling as well. I was up in Eagle

(County) this past week and that was good for me. And then fromWeld (County) down to Colorado Springs and over on theWestern Slope.

CS: And, Rick, what about yourself?Rick Palacio: I have been a little limited because of work

schedule, unfortunately, but I have — as far south as Pueblo, ofcourse, which is home. I think the furthest I did was GrandCounty, which was the first reorg (county party reorganization) ofthe season. And then I’ve done some — other than reorgs —coffees in Eagle and Summit and Clear Creek, Cañon City.

CS: Do you run into each other a lot?Baca: Mm-hmm.Bowen: Sometimes, yeah. Palacio: We do, we see each other several times a day (laughs).

We should just start commuting. Baca: We’ve gotten to know each other.

CS: There’s a forum that you all are headed to after this. Arethere any more between now and the central committeemeeting?

Bowen: It’s the only formal one. There’s other events and thingsgoing on that are not related to the central committees.

Baca: Yeah.

CS: And do you feel that it’s adequate opportunity to meetwith central committee members and talk to them?

Baca: Mm-hmm. Bowen: I think it’s a good opportunity, I don’t know that it’s an

adequate opportunity. I think that it’s really — I’ve spent hoursand hours on the telephone every single day — I think just one-on-one conversations seem to be the most helpful, as opposedto the forum setting.

Palacio: Yeah. If you’re talking to — if you’re giving a stumpspeech to a group of 300 people, or whatever, you have a limitedability to really connect with those people. I think it’s what wemake of it. I think it’s really what we make of it. It gives us plentyof time to get out and talk to folks separately from the groupmeetings.

CS: What are you finding are the issues that people are askingyou about? Do they have a lot of concerns for the party?

Baca: Well, one of the big issues is concern over the fact thatthe DNC (Democratic National Committee) got involved in ourlast primary.

(The White House and DNC got behind U.S. Sen. MichaelBennet, who had been appointed to the seat, in his primaryagainst former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. Baca was a co-chair of Romanoff’s campaign.)

CS: Do you find that people —Baca: There’s a lot of concern about that around the state.

CS: Polly, is that part of the reason that you decided to run?You were talking about running even before Pat Waak hadsaid she wasn’t. (Waak announced at the end of Decemberthat she wouldn’t seek a fourth term as state party chair.)

Baca: Mm-hmm. People were talking to me about that. I reallydidn’t even consider it until after the election. And then peoplestarted approaching me about running. And when I had enoughpeople approach me, I finally decided that I would do it because— again, my concern was 2012 and the importance of re-ener-gizing and bringing the party back together, reunifying the partyand re-energizing it. And that was the key.

CS: But there are no major races — there’s no Senate race,there’s no governor’s race in 2012 —

Baca: But there’s a presidential race and there are the Houseraces. So 2012 is about the president and about taking back theHouse.

Palacio: And the redistricted congressional seats — that’s goingto be huge.

Baca: Yes. Palacio: That’s going to be huge and will set the stage for the

whole decade, I think.

CS: But in terms of the White House’s involvement in theraces, I mean would you anticipate that they would —

Baca: No.

CS: That was kind of a one shot deal?Baca: Mm-hmm.

CS: The party’s ready to move on from that or — ?Baca: I don’t see it ever happening again.

CS: OK. And is that still an issue?Palacio: I don’t know that the party’s ready. I don’t know that

the majority of the party activists are — sorry, let me take thatback. I think a majority of the party activists are ready to moveon. I think that there is a constituency of people that feel asthough they don’t have a place at the table, and they’re vocalabout it. I think Polly’s absolutely right, they’re upset about theDNC’s involvement and the White House involvement, and theyjust want to make sure that we don’t have a situation like thatmoving forward.

So I think that there’s a big job for the next chair in ensuringthat everyone that has an opinion has a place to express thatopinion, because there is not a sense of unity. I think a majority of

people out there are united in what we’re trying to do, but there isa vocal constituency that feels like they need to be heard.

CS: So it’s not the same as it was two years ago, fresh off theObama victory and Mark Udall (the Democrat who won theSenate seat previously held by Republican Wayne Allard),things had gone very well for Democrats? Everyone wasmoving in pretty much the same direction two years ago?

Baca: We were at a high in 2008. We had a high.

CS: Do any of you feel that as chair you would discourageprimaries?

Bowen: Primaries are, I think, basically healthy. It sort of battle-tests people, it gets them organized. I mean, you know, there’sthe whole money, expenditure issue of it, but I think that thisstate demographically is changing — I think it’s becoming more— it’s going to trend more — we’re going to have our ups anddowns, right, but I think overall the trend is that the state is goingto become more Democratic. And so that means the Democraticnominee has a better chance of winning the seat, which meansmore people are going to want the nomination.

I think the primaries are a fact of life and that we’ve all got tohave, I think, a level of political maturity to deal with it, right? Todeal with the fact that we’re going to have primaries and tounderstand that we’re on the same team, and we’re going tomove forward together when those are done. But you know, thethought of making primaries go away or trying to reduce thenumber of primaries we have, I think helps to create the kind ofsituation we had in 2010.

Baca: I think primaries are healthy. They engage people. Somany more people get involved when there’s a primary. The keyis that primaries need to be about issues and not about person-ality. And then the two candidates need to come together after aprimary and be supportive of whoever wins — as we all ought todo as good Democrats.

Palacio: I think primaries are a very important part of the Demo-cratic process. I was involved in my own primary in PuebloCounty in 2006. It was a very divisive primary, as far as primariesgo in Pueblo County — I lost my election by two votes. A fewdays later I endorsed my opponent. I think that they help to —it’s sort of that “forged by steel,” they help candidates to comeout on the other end stronger.

CS: One of the things that Pat Waak has said to us is that shetried to vet, as best she could, some of the potential candi-dates who wanted to run for some of the major offices —governor, senator. What are your feelings about the role ofthe state chair in trying to discourage or encourage candi-dates to get into specific races, or to become candidates?

She had kind of a nuanced take on vetting — she said,“Well, we’ll look into folks’ backgrounds and we’ll have agood, hard discussion with them if they’re thinking aboutrunning for a statewide office or Congress.” And she mighthave some other opinions to offer to them. So it’s not king-making, but it’s getting involved in the process.

Bowen: Candidate recruitment is a really important part of theparty’s function, I think. Before I really got involved politically, onething that just sort of stuck with me is that – I live up in FortCollins, I’m in Congressional District 4, and there was no Demo-cratic candidate for CD 4 in 2000. We just gave that to theRepublicans. And I mean for a congressional level office, that’s— I don’t know how many seats might go uncontested out of the435, but I would guess there are not many. And that just standsout to me as the state party didn’t come through that year.

It’s really important that we field candidates everywhere. Andsome people are going to have personal reasons for not wantingto do it. Maybe they’ll think about it for a few months, then they’llsay, “You know what? I’m not up for this.” And so a good,vigorous candidate recruitment effort I think is important to startearly with the state party. That’s something the state party needsto be doing now.

CS: What about weighing in about candidates you might thinkare not right for (a particular race)?

Baca: I think first of all I want to agree with Adam that the firstpriority is to have a candidate in every single race. I don’t carewhat race it is, we’ve got to have a Democratic candidate. I actu-ally ran for Congress in the 4th District in 1980 to do just that, sowe would have a candidate. It was in the middle of my (state)Senate term so it was – I didn’t have to worry about —

Bowen: No big risk to you —

CandidatesBaca, Bowenand Palacio

Polly Baca, standing, one of three candidates for state Democratic Party chair, speaks as fellow candidates Rick Palacio, left, andAdam Bowen look on Feb. 20 at the C.B. & Potts restaurant in Greenwood Village. PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Continued on Page 7

PAGE 7 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ FEB. 25, 2011“A fanatic is one who won’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” — Winston Churchill

Baca: No big risk at all. And I was in a position to do that. And Iran against Hank Brown (laughs) who was the darling of theRepublicans that year, and it was a Reagan year.

But I believe that because I ran, Gary Hart got elected thatyear. He won by less than 1 percent of the vote. But I know that Iturned out people in Weld County and Larimer County and youknow, even in the mountains, the mountain communities, I knowthat I did. And Grand Junction — (the 4th District) used to goover to Grand Junction.

So I took great pride in helping Gary get elected in 1980. Andso I agree wholeheartedly. I think there’s some validity in taking alook at candidates, and if they’ve got some issues in their back-ground, we need to sit and talk about that. I don’t see anythingwrong with that. The key is to field the best candidate, but ofcourse that’s why I support primaries. Because even though ifsomebody has some issues in their background, you need to letthem know they’ll probably come out because, let’s face it, gosh,I’ve led such a public life there’s nothing I can do, still, without itending up in the newspaper. And I know that, and anybody thatgets involved with politics needs to know that—you no longerhave a private life — you just don’t — even when you don’t thinkyou’re going to be involved in politics any longer.

How many former elected officials do we still hear about thatsomething happens, they do something, they get a ticket forsomething and it’s in the paper. And you no longer lead a(private) life once you become a candidate or an elected or evena party official. So you need to let folks know that, so they haveno qualms about — I think it’s a matter of informing the candi-dates of what they’re facing. The fact that they will be scruti-nized, everything that they do will be scrutinized. And they willlive in a goldfish bowl from the moment they announce. So ifthere’s anything in their background, it’s going to come out soyou might as well say it up front. The big issue for me was, quitefrankly, that I married a priest — and I just dealt with it up frontwhen I ran for office (laughs).

Bowen: (Laughs) That doesn’t seem very scandalous, Polly. Isthat the best you can do?

Baca: It was 1974 (laughs).Bowen: Not these days, not these days.Palacio: I agree with both Polly and Adam. I agree that it’s the

role of the state party to vet candidates and to recruit candi-dates. I think I would go a little further, though — not justcongressional or statewide candidates, we need to talk aboutstate rep, state house seats as well. But do the vetting, talk tothe candidates, inform all of the parties involved before decisionsare made. But then respect the wishes of the local party, of thelocal county or the congressional district or wherever it is.

I think that, pointing back to some of the divisiveness, thereare a lot of people that feel as though the will of Denver or thewill of Washington is shoved down their throats, so what wedon’t want is to vet candidates and the state party say, “No, thisisn’t the guy,” and that be the guy for the local party.

CS: We’re going to do kind of a lightning round. This is a tip ofthe hat to (former 9News political reporter) Adam Schrager,who did these in all the debates last summer and fall. Can wego around and we’ll just have one- or two-word answers?

Since this could be an issue for the Republican chaircandidates, we want to ask you. Have you ever donatedmoney to Republican candidates or committees?

Bowen: No.Baca: Unh-uh. Palacio: No.

CS: Should the chair position be volunteer or salaried?Baca: Volunteer.Bowen: Volunteer is good. There’s an executive director posi-

tion which is separate. Sometimes a chair will wear both hats.Pat did that in some years.

Palacio: I think it should be a discussion by the entire centralcommittee to figure out what the best strategy is moving forward.

CS: Do you plan to work full time or will you keep your dayjob? Adam?

Bowen: Full-time. Palacio: Full-time. Baca: Full-time.

CS: Who do you hope wins the Republican Party chair race?Who would you like to have as a counterpart?

Bowen: I would like to see (state Sen. Ted) Harvey. Baca: I don’t have a preference.Palacio: Yeah, no preference.

CS: OK. Rick, who do you think will win?Palacio: Harvey.

CS: (Directed to Baca and Bowen) Concentrating on your ownrace? (They nod.)

(Directed to Palacio) Since you’re the only one who has apreference, why do you hope he wins the race?

Palacio: Because he represents the extreme of the RepublicanParty in Colorado. I think that it would be a good opportunity toshine the light on those issues that he represents, that he hascarried the torch for.

Bowen: I think generally speaking, the Republicans are takingan ever-more extreme position on issues, focusing on social,wedge issues, that sort of thing. So it’s good either way for us.

Baca: And I’d be glad to take on whoever they nominate. Itdoesn’t matter (chuckles).

CS: Speaking of the Republicans, over the last few years (two-term Republican State Chairman) Dick Wadhams seems tohave had a more direct role in Republican politics on a kindof day-to-day, micro level than Pat Waak did with Democrats.When a Republican legislator, you may remember, was“taken to the woodshed” for some things he’d said, he hadto go and apologize to Dick Wadhams. And there was somegossip about a Republican legislator calling up DickWadhams during committee sessions, asking how to vote onbills. Pat Waak doesn’t seem to have had her fingers in theday-to-day politics to that same extent. What role should aparty chair have, both in establishing and enforcing a “partyline” in Colorado?

Bowen: I think Republican DNA and Democratic DNA are muchdifferent from each other in that sense. We’re not this very pater-nalistic, top-down sort of party, that’s just not our style, frankly.And if Pat tried to do that as chair, she wouldn’t be chair foranother cycle, it wouldn’t have happened. We’ve got a lot ofpeople who have very strong opinions, very independent

thinking, people that are in different parts of the political spec-trum. And frankly, if we’re going to keep the big tent, we’re goingto be successful with keeping the big tent. I think we’ve got toallow people to have an honest and open conversation aboutthings and not say, “Here’s the line that Big Brother’s feedingyou, period.”

CS: Rick, you’ve said one of your Three Ms is messaging, andhaving a consistent message. Is that partly the party chair’sjob to make sure that the party’s on the same page?

Palacio: I think messaging is a huge part of it. It’s one of thethree big roles I think that the party chair and the state partyneeds to fill. I don’t believe in party purity tests. I don’t think thata Democrat from Lincoln County is going to be the same shadeof blue as a Democrat from Denver County. I think the importantpart is that they’re Democrats and, frankly, I would rather vote fora Democrat that voted with me 55 percent of the time than aRepublican that voted with me 5 percent of the time, any day ofthe week. Messaging is critical but a message needs to betailored to a community as well.

Baca: My vision of the party chair is one who organizes andlistens to those at the local level, grassroots level, and brings thatmessage and that voice on up the line to the candidates. It’s nota matter of dictating, it’s a matter of informing. And so if ourlegislators or congressional delegation, governor etc. — if thereare some issues, they need to be informed. They need to beinformed as to what those issues are for their own benefit as theymove forward. And I think it’s the state chair that can help makethat happen.

CS: This week Governor Hickenlooper’s taking a lot of firefrom Democrats for some of the specific cuts, for the generaltone of his budget. What would you inform him about? You’retalking to Democrats every day — what would you let himknow if you were party chair?

Baca: If I were party chair, I would hope that I would havealready gotten around to the grassroots, the 64 counties. And Isuspect there’s probably a lot more sympathy for doing some-thing about taxation than we hear about. And I know thegovernor took taxation off the table. I don’t know at this point ifthere’s sufficient enough interest in that, but that would be myjob — to find out whether or not there was. I haven’t done thatwork yet so I don’t know, but there are obviously — I think itcan’t be Denver-centric because a lot of times all the governorhears is what’s in Denver. And so you’ve got to get out and bringin the voices — let him hear the voices that are out there in thehinterlands, so to speak, in the grassroots, in the 64 counties.See how folks are feeling. I don’t know at this stage because Ihaven’t done that research yet and I haven’t done the traveling.Where are Democrats coming down? Is there that much resist-ance to the big programs? How do they feel about…? I thinkthere probably is a lot of resistance to cuts in education, etc., butwe need to either poll or — and he probably has, I suspect hewould have, but I don’t know that.

Bowen: I think John Hickenlooper’s a really politically astuteguy. I don’t know if his intention is really to cut this much moneyfrom K-12 education. You know, our citizens — not just Democ-rats — but our citizens really value education. If you ask peoplewhat are the most important things to them, that’s at the top ofthe list almost always. And so, if we’re going to cut that muchfrom education I wonder, are the people going to realize, “Wow,we really are in serious trouble.” I think people will vote for taxa-tion when they know that that money is going to benefit them ina certain way, or it’s going to help a certain program. And we seepeople pass sales tax increments in a lot of cities

For example in Fort Collins, the people have just voted in a2010 election — it was pretty much a conservative leading elec-tion — people in the City of Fort Collins voted to increase citysales tax in order to preserve critical services — police, fire, thatsort of thing. I think this is part of the process. I don’t know ifwe’re going to have these huge, huge cuts to K-12 education,but I do think by making this proposal I think that there’s going tobe an increased awareness of the trouble we’re in on the budget,and also it really overlaps quite a bit with the ongoing fiscalcrisis, the TABOR-created fiscal crisis that we’ve struggled todeal with for what, 19 years now?

CS: — and the loss of the (federal) stimulus funds this yearmakes it even more dire —

Bowen: Right, yeah, the stimulus, that was a temporary fix.Baca: Maybe what we need to do is to get the support out in

the local communities to repeal TABOR.

CS: Will that be a role for the Democrat Party?Baca: If in fact we found that to be what our folks believed.

Again, I think we have to go out and do our work and talk to thepeople at the grassroots level and see where they stand.

Bowen: Senate President Shaffer is proposing some changesto the way that we amend the Constitution via initiative, and Ithink that’ll help deal with it.

CS: Is that the first step to actually tackling that?Bowen: Yeah.

CS: Rick, what would you tell Gov. Hickenloooper after thisweek?

Palacio: I think there needs to be an honest conversation aboutour budget. We don’t have the revenue streams to support all ofthe expenses that we have — partly because of TABOR, partlybecause of the economic situation that we find ourselves in. Butthere needs to be an honest conversation. And I don’t think anyDemocrat believes that cuts to K-12 education is the way to fixthat fiscal crisis. So we need to figure out what is. And, to Polly’spoint about TABOR, or whether it’s the role of the state party topush a repeal of TABOR — I think it’s the role of the state partyto enable our Democratic lawmakers and their Democratic candi-dates to get out their message and to help them deliver whateverthat message is. I don’t think that we as a party should be drivingour own policy agendas. I think that we should leave the policy— we know what we stand for as Democrats, we know what ourvalues are — we should leave the policy to our lawmakers andour candidates and help them to drive and create a messagefrom that.

CS: If you are elected state chair, is there anything you canthink of at this point that you might do differently than PatWaak has done for the last three terms?

Palacio: I think Pat’s done a phenomenal job. I think that sheand the team that we have had in place for the last five yearshave been excellent at what they do. I’ve talked about it in myThree M messaging — I think that one of the things that I wouldlike to do more of, frankly, is fundraising, fundraising and building

other non-financial pieces of infrastructure that are supportedand created by the state party, like campaign and candidatetraining.

I’ve talked a lot about the Wellstone Program that probably allof us have participated in over the years. We need to create aninfrastructure such as that so that when we are out recruitingcandidates in Durango or in Grand Junction, it’s not just, “Great,you’re vetted now go out and try to get elected.” (Instead,) wehave something in place to teach candidates and their campaignvolunteers how to raise money, how to put a press plan together,how to put a field program together, how to do field organizing.So I think that’s an improvement that can be made at the stateparty level.

CS: Polly?Baca: I would focus, again, more on the — I have a 64 county

strategy. I want to get out to 64 counties and really be there atleast twice a year and really encourage our state officers to dothe same. We need to engage the Democrats at the local leveland encourage them and let them know that they have influence.You know, a lot of times people at the local level don’t feel thatthey have a voice, don’t feel that they have any impact. I want tomake sure that they do have a voice, and that they do have aninfluence on their party, that they are important. And I would workat making sure that that happened.

CS: Do you feel that that’s been lacking under Pat Waak?Baca: Let me just say that we can build on what Pat has done,

and we can build beyond where she’s been. And I think that’swhat you have to do; you have to take a look at what hashappened in the past and you build on it. And fundraising is crit-ical and I want to do fundraising not only from the big donors,that I have personal relationships with, but also at the grassrootslevel we can be doing more fundraising.

Bowen: Pat and the team have done a tremendous job and Ireally see myself as an evolutionary candidate, not a revolu-tionary candidate. But there are some evolutions, though, that weneed to do. First of all, the team is going to be much different. Alot of the staff at the (state party) is gone. And the other issue is alot of the people who are going to be officers are going to bedifferent. The only existing officer running for re-election isCarolyn Boller, as secretary. So I think we’ve got a managerialchallenge — we’ve got to hit the ground running pretty muchright off the bat.

I’ve heard from people who have been candidates especiallyin districts that aren’t favorable to Dems, and those folks I thinkdon’t feel like they’ve had support. And, you know, you’ve got touse your funding in areas where it’s going to make a difference —and that’s why there’s organizations like House Majority Projectand the Democratic Senate Finance Committee. But I do thinkthat some of those candidates that aren’t targeted by thoseorganizations could use some additional support. For example,when I was chair in Larimer we sent candidates to Wellstone, andthat was a priority we paid for, that they went to Wellstone. Andof course we did trainings for activists, we engaged the students,we sent them to student conferences in D.C., that sort of thing.So all these I think are evolutionary changes from what Pat andthe current team has done.

CS: We’ve heard some concerns about Organizing for Americacoming in next year with a very clear objective and maybebigfooting the local Democrats —they’re not concernedwhether there’s a county commissioner elected in somesmall county in Colorado, they want the vote turned out forBarack Obama. What are your thoughts on that and how doyou plan to deal with any potential conflicts with OFA?

Bowen: I think we have to wrap our arms around OFA. We’re allultimately on the same team so we’ve really got to embracethem. It brings a certain amount of volunteer activity and thosevolunteers will cross over, right? I was a county commissionercandidate in 2010 in Larimer — and OFA focused on the federalraces, that’s fine — but because those people were active theyknew about my race, they helped with my candidacy and there’snothing like good, open communication to make that happen. IfOFA is operating in one way and the CDP is operating in anotherplace and the county parties are all out here, we’ve got to reallyall be communicating as a team.

Palacio: I think that because we don’t have a statewide candi-date on the ballot this year, this cycle, we have an incredibleopportunity as a state party to focus down-ballot. We have thepresident at the top of the ticket and then we have our stateSenate and our state rep, so there’s a significant gap there thatwe haven’t seen in a while — obviously our congressional candi-dates — but we don’t have a U.S. Senate seat, we don’t havesecretary of state or (state) treasurer, etc. We have an opportunityto focus on those down-ballot races, we have an opportunity torebuild a bench that we had in ’02, ’04 cycle that allowed us tohave the majority in the state House and the state Senate for thefirst time — both at the same time — in 44 years because wefocused on those down-ballot candidates. And not having astatewide candidate on the ballot allows us to do that. Andhaving the presidential re-election at the same time allows us todo that.

The Obama campaign is going to roll in like a freight train.They’re going to do their thing. I agree with Adam that we needto have an open line of communication, we need to encouragethe Obama campaign to utilize our local activists to the best oftheir ability. To make sure that if they’re paying people to go outcanvassing, going out and knocking on doors, that they’re notshipping people in. The people that they ship in, their heart is inthe right place, but if you’re shipped in from Vermont and you’redropped off in La Junta, and they ask you to go and cut turf andcreate neighborhoods to knock on doors in La Junta, you’re notgoing to be very good at it regardless of how good your intentionis.

So we need to encourage the Obama campaign to utilize ourcounty chairs where they’re able. If they’re going to pay people,they should start with our local activists to pay or to recruit. Ifthey’ve exhausted all of those possibilities then move outwards.But I think that there’s a dual role — it’s communication with theObama campaign, and then it’s the state party focusing on thedown-ballot races, rebuilding our bench, and allowing thosecandidates to ride the coattails of Obama.

Baca: Colorado is critical for the re-election of the president.It’s one of three states he has to win. And so, of course, hiscampaign has already started, and we will see OFA in heresooner than later. I actually want to go back to D.C. as soon aspossible and sit down with (DNC Chairman Tim) Kaine and theleadership of OFA and talk about how we actually implementtheir strategies. It is important, and I think both the twogentlemen expressed concerns that I have and thoughts that I



think are important.In particular, I think there was a lot of feeling

at the local level that people who have alwaysworked at the grass roots level were notutilized, especially in paid positions. I wouldwant to encourage OFA that if they were toutilize — if they had funding — their best betwould be to utilize some of the local talent thatwe have as their campaign folks. I’d (also) liketo share some activity that I saw in this pastelection that, quite frankly, was a waste ofmoney and that we’ve got to be much moreefficient with our money, regardless of who isputting the money in. Whether it is at the OFAlevel of whether it’s — well, we won’t have itthis time, but senatorial campaigns, etc. —we’ve got to make sure that every dollar isspent in the most effective and efficient waypossible. That can’t happen unless there isgood communication between all the partiesinvolved. And I want to make sure that we sharethe knowledge and the experience and the skillsthat we have here in Colorado with the nationalentities that have an interest in making sureColorado stays Democratic.

CS: Polly, do you think they’ll be open to that?Baca: Oh yeah, sure. I know I can get to them.

I have no doubt that I can sit down. They knowwho I am, and I can sit down and talk to them.

CS: Could you each talk briefly about why youthink you have the edge over the other twocandidates? In other words why shouldpeople vote for you after hearing everybodyspeak?

Palacio: I think that there are really a couple ofreasons here. One of them is experience and Iknow that my colleagues here that are on theballot with me have a significant amount ofexperience. I think that my recent experienceworking in Washington actually brings a lot tothe table. I think that there are some that mightfeel as though it’s not a net positive for me andthat maybe it’s a net positive for them, becauseI’ve been in D.C. However, there’s a war goingon right now in the Republican Party againstDemocrat values, both here at the state leveland the national level, that I have been in thetrenches. I have recent connections on a

national level, I have recent connections at astate level. And it’s the strategy and that experi-ence, I think, is really a net positive for me.

I’m also fairly young — I’m 36. Colorado hasa very young electorate. We have a very youngelectorate and we have a growing Latino popu-lation. I think that both of those things are favor-able from my standpoint with me as chair. Ihave the ability to talk to people that are in bothof those camps, they qualify. The checkmark ischecked for both of those that perhaps mycolleagues don’t have that same ability. So, it’sa combination of experience and where we areas a state, I think, that is really of benefit to mycandidacy.

Baca: I believe that I have the experience, theknowledge, the passion and the grit to be thebest chair of the Colorado Democratic Partyand what the party needs right now. My experi-ence is long term, I’ve been involved in everylevel of the party. I don’t think there’s an aspectof the party that I have not been personallyinvolved in, whether it’s party office or whetherit’s elective office. I have won campaigns, I haveworked at all different levels. I’ve worked forthree presidents, most recently PresidentClinton as a Special Assistant for ConsumerAffairs.

But I also have — since I left office, since Ileft elective office, I’ve been involved in leader-ship development and my passion has been toshare the experience that I’ve had. And so I’vementored and I’ve actually developed leader-ship programs. When I was with the HispanicInstitute I ran a multicultural leadershipprogram, out of which came several legislators.And then more recently I was involved in acandidate development and training programwith the Colorado Latino Reform that produced,again, legislators. You know, we had threepeople from that leadership developmentprogram get elected to office and we also hadseveral campaign managers that came out ofthat. And I was one of two people that put thattogether.

I’ve also mentored — I’ve been involved withmentoring young people, including people thathave been involved in the various movements,no matter who they might be. Which is why Ihave so much support from the young. I’ve gotboth the current president of the Young Democ-rats and the former president of the YoungDemocrats supporting me. And I doubt thatthere are very many young people that I — Ihave even been asked by some legislators tohelp them in terms of the knowledge that I bringto the party.

But in addition to that I’ve also maintained

the networks that I have at the local, state andnational levels with individual big donors. I’mthe Treasurer of Jared Polis’ Victory Fund, youknow, I’m close to Rutt Bridges, he and I aregood friends — I haven’t seen him in a while,we have to have lunch soon. And Al Yates, whoI brought into the state; I was on the recruitmentteam that brought Al to Colorado State Univer-sity. We had to twist his arm, but we got himhere. And I know Tim Gill — and so those werethe big four in 2004.

But in addition to that I also have very goodfriends who have given the big bucks to theparty. But I don’t think it’s just about money.And, by the way, Rick works for (House MinorityWhip) Steny Hoyer. Steny and I were YoungDemocrats together. Nancy Pelosi was on theDNC when I was Vice Chair of the Party andTim Kaine and I, he knows who I am. I can’t saywe’re friends but he’s certainly… And this pastelection, prior to the election I was on, and I stillam on, all the White House calls. I’m on a callwith the White House every two weeks, and Ialways get invited to the White House holidayparties. That was one of the places I wasencouraged to run when I was back at theholiday party on December the 16th. One of thegentlemen in the political office had heard Imight run and he sought me out and he encour-aged me to do so. And after he did, then I paidmore attention to those here at the local levelwho were encouraging me to do so because Ican raise the money. And that money is needed.But I’ve done it in the past, I’ve raised money inthe past so I’m not afraid of doing it.

I also want to take advantage of the newsocial media. I’m on Facebook, I’ve been onFacebook quite a while now and I tweet.(Laughs) And so you have to use the new mediato — because this next election is going to bean opportunity for new social media to be usedto a far greater degree than it has in the past,so I understand that. One of the things I bring tothe party is an understanding of all the differentthings that happen both through — well, it’sthrough personal experience, you know, that Ihave that to offer. And it’s true that at times I’vetaken a year or so off to re-energize (laughs),but I’ve been pretty involved and have kept myrelationships current for decades. And so I thinkI have a lot to offer.

Most important, I think, is the passion that Ibring. I just feel passionate about the impor-tance of electing Democrats and I get — Imean, every time I see the Republicanmessaging that has misinterpreted who we are,it gets me angry and it gets my juices going andI want to be in the fight together. I want to beout there doing what we need to do to win. AndI bring public relations skills, had my own publicrelations firm for a while, was a public informa-tion officer at the White House. I’m a writer, putout a newspaper, you know, and I know how todevelop messages. I’ve done that for candi-dates and I’ve done it for myself in terms of

developing the kind of messages that win elec-tions.

Bowen: These two are really fine folks and Ireally appreciated being able to engage in thisprocess with them. I think they both really bringsomething that’s valuable to the party, and Ihope that if I’m elected chair that we cancontinue comparing notes and getting ideas. Ithink the difference is, and I think what you’relooking for here is a contrast on why I’d be thebest person: I’ve got concrete, recent experi-ence managing and leading and growing organi-zations, whether I was a national sales manager,in the non-profit world, I’m the only person tohave run a political party. And I think that thereare a lot of great ideas that are out there, andthat’s all the more evident to me after havingreally extensively traveled the state. There are alot of really terrific ideas that are out there. Andwe’ve got to engage folks, we’ve really got toget the best ideas that are out there, and ittakes some management skill to pull all thattogether and to make some critical decisionsand, with a team, decide how we’re going to goforward.

If you look at Howard Dean in 2004 when hewas running for president, he really didn’t knowanything about information technology or usingthe Internet as a fundraising tool or as acommunication tool, but he had the right team.He was open to the ideas of — he had JoeTrippi managing his campaign, and they broughtin tools that he as a candidate didn’t reallyknow existed before. But he put those to workbecause he had the right management skills,basically — he knew when to recognize a valu-able idea and how to get that into top gear andget some traction. So I think that’s how I differfrom these folks and I really, really hope that wework together afterwards, because it’s going totake all of us to win these 2012 elections. But Ithink above all, to be the chair of the Demo-cratic Party in this state is going to take somereal management skill and a proven track recordleading organizations, and that’s what I’ve got.

Baca: And I think we’re all committed toworking together regardless of the outcome ofthis race.

CS: Well, it seems that you’re all highly intelli-gent and have a lot of respect for each other,and I wouldn’t anticipate this is going to bean ugly, nasty race.

Baca: No.

CS: Would you agree?Palacio: I agree with that. Bowen: Absolutely.Baca: I’ve learned to generally like and

respect my two colleagues here, and they arecolleagues. I consider them colleagues, notopponents (laughs).

— [email protected]— [email protected]

PAGE 14 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ FEB. 25, 2011“Finality is not the language of politics.” — Benjamin Disraeli


COLORADOSTATESMAN.COM

Name Only” — at the freewheelingforum at O’Meara Ford, sponsored by the grassroots conserva-tive R Block Party group. (A secondforum sponsored by the group was setfor Thursday night in Littleton, afterThe Colorado Statesman’s deadline.)

Republicans elect state party leadersat a central committee meeting onMarch 26 at Douglas County HighSchool in Castle Rock. Two-term GOPChairman Dick Wadhams unexpectedlydropped his bid for a third term earlierthis month. Call and Gholston enteredthe race within days of Wadhams’ with-drawal.

Another announced candidate, stateSen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch,was unable to attend the forum at thelast minute due to illness, but his pres-ence was palpable if only because Calland Gholston spent much of theevening speaking out against positionsHarvey has taken.

Portraying himself as a rock-ribbedconservative and something of anoutsider, Harvey is going up against twocandidates with strong ties to currentGOP leadership — in addition toserving a term just ended as DenverCounty GOP chairman, Call has beenlegal counsel to the state party for fiveyears, and Gholston was elected twoyears ago to a term as state party vicechairman. Both Call and Gholstonsounded in agreement about broad-ening the appeal of the party for moremoderate and independent-mindedvoters, in implicit contrast to Harvey’spromise to make the party morewelcoming to Tea Party and moreconservative activists.

Call and Gholston also stressed theirexperience with the ins-and-outs of thestate party and the complex set of lawsgoverning the operation. They both saidthey believe it’s the duty of a partychairman to support Republican nomi-nees — again offering an apparentcontrast to Harvey, who was one of theearliest backers of third-party guberna-torial candidate Tom Tancredo overGOP nominee Dan Maes in last year’selection.

The fourth state party chairmanhopeful, one-time Michigan congres-sional candidate Barton Baron — whois running on a slate with a vicechairman and a secretary candidate —told organizers he was skipping theforum.

“They said that they wanted to taketheir campaign directly to the people,and I said, well, that’s fine,” dead-panned R Block Party organizer andforum moderator Lori Horn, elicitingguffaws and snickers from the crowd.“What do they think we are?” morethan one Republican in the audienceasked.

“The job of the state chairman, firstand foremost, is to build the coalitionsthat are necessary to win elections,”Call said in his opening remarks. Hesaid this can be daunting becauseRepublicans “are a bunch of inde-pendent-minded conservatives and indi-vidualists,” and recalled his days organ-izing Republicans at the CU-Bouldercampus — an uphill task, Call acknowl-edged — to make the point that he isn’tput off by long odds.

“Your next state chairman needs tohave that fight in him and the willing-ness to be able to take that fight to thestreets and every single voter,” Callsaid.

Gholston sounded the alarm onanother battle that might be uphill —

the 2012 election, when Colorado willbe a crucial swing state whose nineelectoral votes could determine whowins the presidency.

“What we’re up against this time isnothing other than the best campaignerI’ve ever seen,” Gholston said, termingPresident Barack Obama “a fabulouscampaigner” intent on raising andspending more money than any candi-date in history.

“In addition to raising the moneyand building the infrastructure andtaking our principles, our party and ourbanner to people and places that havenever, ever wanted to be Republicanbefore,” Gholston said, “this state partychairman is going to have to fight backagainst — tooth and nail — the greatestcampaigner ever, President Obama.”

He said it’s up to Colorado Republi-cans to defeat Obama. “We must delivernine electoral votes to the Republicannominee, whoever that may be, in 2012.

We all know that Colorado is the key tothe western region. We’re fighting notjust for our state, our districts, and ourneighborhood. But right here is thebattleground for our nation — whetherwe go on as a republic or whether weturn into something else.”

Both candidates appealed directly tothe grassroots activists who haveexpressed frustration with a top-downapproach by the state party.

“I believe the state party is simplythere to be a resource for activists likeus,” Gholston said.

Call got more specific, saying a diffi-culty with the state party has been that“it’s concentrated in the hands of thefew.” He touted his proposed changes tothe party’s bylaws to hand decisionsthat have been made by the chairmanover to county leaders and the stateexecutive committee, including appoint-ments and the budget.

“The machinery, the operations of

the party, has gotten itself away fromthe folks doing the hard work,” Callsaid, adding that his proposals willmove “delegations of authority back outto where it really matters.”

The crowd perked up when Hornposed a more provocative question,asking the two candidates to define aRINO.

“I’m from Denver,” said Call,drawing cheers and laughter from thecrowd. “Every time we find any Repub-lican, we just give ’em a hug.”

Then he turned more serious andmade a pitch for Republicans toembrace more voters.

“That’s the problem, in my opinion,”he said. “We have to recognize we sharethese core conservative values, but Ibelieve that our party, because we holdup the value and worth of every indi-vidual, we need to make sure that inour party, in our tent, we’ve got roomfor some disagreement. And that’s OK.”He added, “What unites us is a wholelot more than what divides us. We winby building the coalition, and not bykicking out people we disagree with 20percent of the time.”

“I hate that word, RINO, because Ilove Republicans,” Call concluded.

Gholston also drew laughter byrejecting the phrase.

“What is a RINO?” he asked. “I’lltell you, I have difficulty with this one,because, if you hadn’t noticed, I’mblack.” After the laughter died down, hecontinued: “The point is, I had toalmost fist-fight for the right to becalled and recognized as a Republican,”he said, and then added, “For therecord, many of you know me, I’m apretty nutty conservative, but I don’tthink the whole world has to be.”

He said he did have a “litmus test”for real Republicans. “How many peoplelove liberty, how many people believe inthe Constitution, how many people arewilling to fight for it?” After everyone inthe room had a hand in the air, heconcluded: “Congratulations, you’re aRepublican — that’s my litmus test,those are the only Republicans I want.”

Horn’s next question was equallyprovocative.

“You have a bad candidate. Ithappens, right?” she said. “Here’s myquestion — now what?”

Gholston, who won an endorsementfrom Maes this week, sounded firm.

“Was the candidate duly elected bythe Republican Party? If the answer isyes, you support the candidate,” he saidto scattered applause. “It is difficult,but duty is duty,” he said, adding, “Itwas my duty to support our nomineefor governor, and I did.”

Wadhams raised some Republicanhackles last summer when he distancedhimself from Maes, the political novicewho upset former U.S. Rep. ScottMcInnis in the gubernatorial primary,and wound up cross-wise with othersafter he publicly clashed with Tancredoover his candidacy on the AmericanConstitution Party ticket.

Call prefaced his answer by notingRepublicans “have done a lousy job atcandidate recruitment and develop-ment” and said he was committed tofielding better candidates by expandingthe pool.

But he was as firm as Gholstonabout whether the party should supporta nominee: “You owe a duty of loyaltyto that candidate. Sometimes aschairman or party officers, you have tomake tough decisions in terms of howwe allocate resources, but we shouldnever withhold moral support, we

PAGE 18 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ FEB. 25, 2011“In politics as on a sickbed men toss from side to side in hope of lying more comfortably.” — Goethe

...Call, Gholston pitch their candidacies for GOP state chairContinued from Page 1

Above, Ryan Call, right, and Leondray Gholstondiscuss their candidacies for state RepublicanParty chairman at a forum sponsored by R BlockParty. One other candidate for the position, stateSen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, wasn’t ableto attend due to illness. Candidate Barton Barondecided against attending.

Left, Jefferson County GOP Chairman Don Ytterberg addresses the crowd. Ytterberg isrunning for state party vice chairman.

Below, Suzie Ramirez, right, rests for a momenton the shoulder of her husband, state Rep. RobertRamirez, R-Westminster, at the forum. FormerAdams County Republican Party ChairwomanMary Dambman, front, watches the discussion. At the end of an already long day, Ramirez said the couple would be headed to watch their 13-year-old daughter in a kickboxing competition once the forum ended.



PAGE 19 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ FEB. 25, 2011“Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few.” — Jonathan Swift

should never work to actively under-mine the Republican Party’s nominee.”

In closing, Gholston painted a direpicture of the possible outcomes of thenext election.

“Now we’re at a crucial juncture inthis party,” he said. “We really do havea choice, not only in this party but inAmerica. Where are we going to go?What are we going to become? Do westay a constitutional, federal republic,or do we become something else? Do wekeep elected officials or do we have defacto dictators? The Republican Partyhas to stand up for these things.”

One of the two announced candi-dates for vice chairman, JeffersonCounty GOP chairman Don Ytterberg,also addressed the crowd. (The othercandidate, John Wagner, who managedthe U.S. Senate campaign of CleveTidwell last year, is part of the ticketwith Baron and skipped the forum.)

Ytterberg told the crowd he wasoffering his services to “see if I canoffset some of the workload that’s puton the chair” and promised to work as achief operating officer for the party. Hesaid one of the problems he wants tocorrect is one he discovered running thecounty party during the last electioncycle.

“Republicans don’t share informa-tion well enough between countyparties, campaigns and the statewide

Victory operation,” he said. “It seems tome that if we’re on the same team, wejust oughta be able to work togetherwithout siloed operations.”

Before the party officer candidatesspoke, conservative activist LesleyHollywood, director of the NorthernColorado Tea Party, made an appeal forRepublicans to show up at a rally at thestate Capitol the next day to supportGov. Scott Walker in his showdown

against unions in Wisconsin. After theforum, she shared her impressions withThe Statesman.

“I’m personally glad to see DickWadhams step down,” she said.“Whether or not Dick Wadhams is toblame for things he’s been blamed foror he’s not to blame for those things, Idon’t think he’s the right person for thejob. With the grassroots as energeticand as powerful as they are here in

Colorado on theconservativeside, it’s impor-tant that wehave someone inthat state chairseat who canbridge the gapwith the grass-roots, and thatdefinitely wasn’tDick Wadhams.”

While she saidshe had somereservationsabout both Calland Gholston,she said she was“really excited”about the twocandidates whohad just spoken.“Both of themhave some reallyexcellent attrib-

utes, they both offer different things tothe party, so that’s going to make itdifficult.”

Her reservations are stronger aboutthe other prominent candidate, shesaid.

“As far as Sen. Harvey, I’m a littlemore reserved about him personally. Ihaven’t really seen him interjecthimself into the grassroots the waythese two have.” But she added that herprimary concern was more one of tone.

“He’s known at the Capitol and he’sknown in his position as state senatoras being a political hit-man — he has noproblem talking about that,” Hollywoodsaid. “I’m not really sure a political hit-man is the right person for the job asstate party chair when it’s really thelocal groups that should be dictatingwhat should be happening in their ownlocal communities.”

The Tea Party and similar conserva-tive groups are here to stay and they’reserious about influencing the directionof the Republican Party in Colorado,she concluded.

“People on the outside, like theseguys in here,” she said, gesturing to thestate party candidates and a handful ofelected officials, “have started to seethat if they don’t embrace us, they’regoing to be gone, they’re going to beirrelevant.”


...Tea Party’s Hollywood disparages Wadhams and HarveyContinued from Page 18


Colorado Democrats can expect a state party chairdetermined to tell the Democratic NationalCommittee a thing or two, the three candidates vyingfor the top spot said at a forum Feb. 20 in GreenwoodVillage. Polly Baca, Adam Bowen and Rick Palacioagreed that local Democrats need to stand up to thenational party when Washington bigwigs try to tellthe grassroots how things ought to happen.

The candidates — who spoke before a crowd ofabout 50 Democrats at a C.B. & Potts restaurantalong with candidates for other statewide partyoffices — also said they stood in solidarity withDemocrats in Wisconsin protesting attempts by thatstate’s governor to dismantle public employee unions.They also agreed state Democrats need to do more toinvolve various interest groups recognized by theparty and must energize young voters who might bedisillusioned that hope and change don’t materializeovernight. In fact, the candidates agreed on just abouteverything except which one has the right back-ground to lead the party through the crucial 2012election year.

The Democrats’ state central committee elects anew batch of party leaders on March 5 at theColorado Convention Center in Denver. With onepossible exception, the officers elected next monthwill be entirely made up of fresh faces, as only incum-bent party secretary Carolyn Boller is seekinganother term. Chairwoman Pat Waak announced latelast year that she wouldn’t seek a fourth two-yearterm, paving the way for a vigorous contest betweenBaca, Bowen and Palacio.

While the conversation at the forum was lively, thecandidates drew sharper distinctions between Democ-rats and Republicans than they did among them-selves.

“The relationship with our (Democratic NationalCommittee) members is a bit backwards,” saidPalacio. “The relationship we should have is onewhere our DNC members take our concerns, from all64 counties up the ladder, back to the DNC. What hashappened over the last few years is we have had atop-down approach to it.”

Noting that she worked early in her career as aspecial assistant to the DNC, in addition to serving onthe committee for more than a decade, Baca soundeda similar note.One thing she learned is that “the folks up thererespect you if you stand up to them, and I have stoodup to the national committee and the chair.”

Referring to a heated dispute with national Democ-rats during last year’s U.S. Senate primary, Baca said,“I was concerned about them coming into Colorado in

our primary, so I wrote a letter respectfully askingthem not to interfere in our primary.”

“The chair’s job is to advocate for Democrats inColorado at the national level,” Bowen said, addingthat the state party should refuse to compromise itspriorities in exchange for more money from thenational group. “The chair is there to advocate for allthe Dems in the state, and make sure the nationalparty understands what’s going on here on theground.”

Baca is a former state senator and served 16 yearson the DNC, including eight years as a national vicechair. Bowen was chair of the Larimer County Demo-cratic Party for two terms and made an unsuccessfulbid for county commissioner in last fall’s election.Palacio ran for county office five years ago — comingup two votes short in a primary race for PuebloCounty clerk and recorder — and has worked as alegislative aide at the state and national level, mostrecently for House Whip Steny Hoyer.

The forum — only the second one featuring allthree state party chair candidates — was sponsoredby a number of the Democratic-sponsored interestgroups, including the Progressive Democrats, theLabor Initiative, the African American Initiative andthe Colorado Young Democrats.

Candidates for other state offices also passed themicrophone to answer questions from the sponsoringorganizations and the audience. Those in attendancewere Alan Lee, a candidate for 1st vice chair; VivianStovall and Dick Barkey, running for 2nd vice chair;secretary candidates Boller and Christine Alonzo; andtreasurer wannabes Diane Cristner and JustinHerrera. Beverly Ryken is also bidding for 1st vicechair and Sherry Jackson is another candidate fortreasurer. (Unlike their GOP counterparts, Democ-rats have a gender-equity rule for the top two offices,so if a woman is elected chair, the 1st vice chair mustbe a man, and visa versa, so Lee and Ryken arerunning for the same office but won’t be runningagainst each other.)

The three chair candidates agreed with Stovall,who heads the African American Initiative, when sheasked whether the state party should be doing moreto support her group and others like it.

“We used to get a lot of resources and assistancefrom the DNC and the state party, but every year it’sgoing down, and lately we have had no resources,”Stovall said. “We’re not at the table as we feel weshould be along with all the newer initiatives.”

Baca pointed out that when she was a DNC vicechair, it was her staff that brought the Hispanic andAfrican American caucuses onto the nationalcommittee. “It’s critical to have voices from all thedifferent parts of our party at the table,” she said,“because it’s when you bring all the diversity of the

party to the table that you find real wisdom.”“A team is stronger when everybody is really

engaged,” Bowen said, adding that he thought it wasimportant to “reach out to people that are under-represented in the party.”

Calling “initiatives are a key way to grow theparty,” he stated, “We’ve got to look at every slice ofthe electorate and maximize their participation in theprocess.”

Palacio termed the relationship between the partyand its interest groups a “two-way street,” and saidhe would make sure the responsibility went bothways.

“First is ensuring the party provides initiativeswith the resources that they need in order to go outand spread the gospel, if you will, of the DemocraticParty,” he said. “The feedback, on the other side, isthat you are representatives of your own initiatives,that is your role — you then should absolutely have aplace at the table, and bring the concerns from yourcommunity. You are the face, you are the voice ofthose initiatives.”

Asked how they would involve young voters, allthree candidates agreed it was a critical task.

“We’ve got to deputize a lot of people, and thatincludes young people,” Bowen said. But it won’t beeasy.

“Our message is already tuned to younger people,”he said. “Our failure of national messaging in 2010 —frankly, we were just weak — we had a superiorproduct to sell and we just didn’t sell it, so youngpeople who were raised on hope and change and werereally fired up, they saw the complexity of the process— for health care reform — a lot of them just gotdiscouraged, they thought, heck, this is just an awfullot of work.” He added that the party has to getacross the message to young voters that “this processtakes time, it’s going to be a multi-cycle process to getthings done.”

Palacio — just a year older than the retirement ageof 35 for Young Democrats — proposed mounting a“young Dem road show” to Colorado’s dozens ofcolleges and universities.

“We have a lot of young people out there whowould like to be involved but don’t know how to beinvolved,” he said.

Baca said she has spent her entire political career“committed to mentoring and providing leadershipdevelopment for young people,” and made a case thatthose activities might bridge the gap between enthu-siasm and actual results.

“It’s a matter not only of asking young people tobe involved but showing them how to be involved,”she said.


Candidates for Democratic state chair voice solidarity with protesters in Wisconsin

State Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, poses with former AdamsCounty Republican Party Chairwoman Mary Dambman after a forum forstate party officers held Feb. 21 in Northglenn.


Pueblo Commish Jeff Chostnereyeing CD 3 in 2012 — Page 36

Columnist Josh Penry debutswith union bashing! — Page 9

Sen. Suzanne Williams reflectson political career — Page 17

A tribute to Democratic StateChair Pat Waak — Pages 19-23

Mel Hilgenberg testifies at firstredistricting hearing — Page 25

FOUNDED IN 1898 ★ VOL. 112, NO. 9 ★ DENVER, CO ★ MARCH 4, 2011 © $2.00


If you ask Denver mayoralcandidate Jeff Peckman how tofix what ails the city, he’ll tellyou: All you need is love. Theother candidates at a downtownforum on Wednesday afternoon —while not expressly rejecting love

— had some different ideas.“One of these people is going

to be the next mayor,” said polit-ical analyst Floyd Ciruli, whogrilled a dozen candidates with afocus on economic developmentat the two-hour forum sponsoredby the Denver Petroleum Club ina ballroom at the Denver

Steadman and Ferrandino: Bring back tax amnesty


Democratic legislators this weekunveiled separate tax proposalsintended to find a way out of the $375million budget cut Gov. John Hicken-looper proposes for K-12 education.

The lead-off proposal this week wasfrom Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, whosaid he will back a citizen’s statutoryinitiative to raise $1.63 billion for K-12and higher education over the nextthree years. Heath’s proposal wouldraise the state individual and corporateincome tax to 5 percent from itscurrent level of 4.63 percent, and raisethe state sales and use tax rate to 3percent from its current 2.9 percent.

If approved by voters, the initiativecould put as much as $285 million intothe 2011-12 budget.

Heath said his proposal was inresponse to several reports in recentweeks that detail just how bad thestate’s fiscal situation is. “It’s verydiscouraging,” he said.

Heath was referring to a reportreleased Feb. 25 by the University ofDenver’s Center for Colorado’sEconomic Future, which said the statecould not grow out of its currentbudget problems. The second report,from the Buechner Institute at theUniversity of Colorado Denver, pointedout that Colorado is a relativelywealthy state with low taxes. However,the February report said, Colorado isamong the lowest-spending states in


Two Colorado lawmakers Wednesdaysaid bringing back a 2003 tax amnestyidea, while not original, is creative andcould bring in $15 million for K-12 educa-tion.

Senate Bill 11-184 was introducedearlier in the day, sponsored by JointBudget Committee members Sen. PatSteadman, D-Denver, and Rep. MarkFerrandino, D-Denver.

The proposal under SB 184 would

create a 60-day tax amnesty program,beginning August 1 and ending September30. Anyone who owed delinquent taxesthrough Dec. 31, 2010 could pay whatthey owe and any penalties would bewaived. Any interest on those taxes wouldhave to be paid, but the interest would bereduced by half.

Taxpayers also could set up installmentagreements to pay off the taxes. Accordingto Steadman, a conservative estimateprovided by the Legislative Council saidthe bill could generate $15 million.

Initiativeproposestax hikes

U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, center, tells Lakewood resident Peter Louabout the FasTracks line to DIA during a Government in the Groceryevent on Feb. 26 at a Lakewood Safeway. Perlmutter staffers Bill Holen,left, and Jerry Pifer take notes. It was the first event of its kind sinceU.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was injured and six were killed during ashooting at a similar event in Tucson in January. Story, Page 4.


Congressman inthe produce aisle

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, right, catches up with old friendsDenver Auditor Dennis Gallagher and Dutchess Scheitler at theHouse District 4 Democrats’ spaghetti dinner on Feb. 26 atDenver’s North High School. Story, Page 38.


Denver Dems savor Italian flavor

Denver CountyRepublican Partychairman DannyStroud, left, talkswith Ruth Pias afterthey heard GOPstate party chaircandidates at aforum Feb. 24 inLittleton.

Story, Page 7.

GOP Chair forumshowcasesdifferent views

Candidates for Denvermayor get down to business

PHOTO BYERNEST

LUNING/THECOLORADOSTATESMAN

Continued on Page 18Continued on Page 16

Continued on Page 2

STORY, PHOTOS BY ERNEST LUNINGTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

The four candidates for ColoradoRepublican Party chairman agreed thatif a GOP candidate needs a lecture, itought to be done out of public view —but that’s about the only topic thatfound all of them taking the same posi-tion at a forum on Feb. 24 at the BemisPublic Library in Littleton. Whether itwas the prospect of turning municipalelections partisan, if there’s such athing as a RINO (“Republican in NameOnly”), or even whether the chairmanposition should be paid, at least one ofthe four staked out a contrary position,sometimes sharply at odds with hisfellow candidates.

The forum, attended by more than100 Republicans, was organized by theconservative group R Block Party, andfeatured chairman candidates MattArnold, head of the Clear the Benchcampaign aimed at Supreme Courtjustices in the last election; Ryan Call,the state party’s legal counsel for fiveyears and until recently chairman ofthe Denver County Republicans; stateSen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch,who claims the endorsement of amajority of Republican legislators and anumber of last year’s statewide candi-dates; and current state Vice ChairmanLeondray Gholston, who works as adefense contractor in Aurora andlaments that he isn’t represented by asingle Republican, from state legislatoron up. A fifth candidate, recentMichigan transplant Barton Baron, whois running on a ticket with a vicechairman and secretary candidate,skipped the forum.

State Republicans will pick new lead-ership on March 26 at the biennialstate central committee meeting atDouglas County High School in CastleRock. GOP Chairman Dick Wadhamsannounced last month he was droppinghis bid for a third term. In his letter tostate Republicans, Wadhams said hewas “tired of those who are obsessedwith seeing conspiracies around everycorner and who have terribly misguidednotions of what the role of the stateparty is,” and warned against thenotion that simply “uniting conserva-tives” is the path to victory in Colorado.

An audience member at the Littletonforum stated bluntly, “I didn’t likeDick,” and went on to suggest thatsome of the candidates have beenaccused of “being his voice.” He thenasked, “How are you different than Mr.Wadhams?”

Gholston, who has made a point ofsaying he isn’t distancing himself fromthe Wadhams regime, nonetheless saidhe comes at the party from a differentperspective. “I have more of a grass-roots background,” he said. “I thinkDick takes a top-down approach, I’m abottom-up kind of guy.”

“I’m Ted Harvey,” Harvey said tocheers and laughter. After a beat, hecontinued: “If you recall, I’m the onethat ran against Dick. There’s not oneother person up here who took the lead-ership to run for this seat when weknew there was a problem that had tobe changed.”

Call allowed that he’s worked closelywith Wadhams over the last four yearsbut pointed out he has worked equallywith county parties and candidates, andadded that he’s been “fighting conser-vative battles” since his school days atthe University of Colorado Boulder,where he headed the College Republi-cans. “I will do things very, very differ-ently than our current chairman,” Callsaid.

“I’m much better looking,” beganArnold, with one of many quips hesprinkled throughout the discussion.But then he turned serious. Contrary toHarvey’s assertion, Arnold said, he’dbeen exploring a candidacy since before

Wadhams withdrew, and the timing ofhis announcement was “dictated bystategery” (repeated use of theSaturday Night Live-inspired mala-propism was another of Arnold’s trade-marks). Then he turned more seriousstill: “Unlike Dick Wadhams, I will notactively sabotage the fundraising effortsof any candidate or cause that is outthere promoting Republican princi-ples.”

Asked by forum moderator LoriHorn to “define a RINO,” three of thecandidates said they plan to retire theterm if they win the party election, butthe fourth made a case for it.

“I really do hate this term,” Ghol-ston said. “I fight for the right to becalled Republican — I’m the only one inmy whole family … I’m not wiling totake that right away from anybody.”

“We have to unite around the princi-ples that make our party great, wecannot be pointing fingers at eachother,” Harvey said. “Right now ourparty is divided worse than I’ve everseen it, ever, in the 20-some-odd yearsI’ve been involved in politics.” Headded that Republicans ought to beunited trying to beat Democrats andnot waste energy squabbling with eachother.

Noting that his years as a DenverRepublican have taught him that notall Republicans are going to agree abouteverything, Call asked the audience totoss out the purity tests. “We cannotafford to be pointing fingers at eachother and drawing lines,” he said. “Ifyou want to identify yourself as aRepublican, you’re going to find awelcoming place in the party. It’s criti-cally important that we tone down thatdivisive rhetoric.”

Arnold begged to differ.“There are RINOs,” he said, riffing

off a comment made by Gholston.“They’re not just endangered species.”He said the party ought to be concerned

about “putting someone in office whowill advance our principles” and notwork to elect just anyone “with an Rbehind their names.” As an example, hesaid, the Coca Cola Company spendsplenty on quality control “to ensurethat when you buy a coke and pop opena can that what you’re getting is Coke.Our brand is important.”

Arnold painted perhaps the mostvivid portrait of the problems he seeswith the Republican Party underWadhams later in the discussion.Calling last year’s mixed results at theballot box “a horrible opportunity lost,”he evoked his earlier comments aboutthe Coca Cola Company maintainingquality control over the brand.

“We must be able to reestablish thetrust that the Republican brand actu-ally stands for something,” he said.“And when you pop open that Coke,you’re going to get a Coke, not a rathead. We’ve had too many rats’ headsin our Coke bottles.”

Earlier, several of the candidatescalled for Republicans to stop attackingeach other over perennially divisiveissues, including Referendum C and theabortion debate.

“The stakes are just too high in thisupcoming election for us to remaindivided,” Call said. “The job of theparty chairman is to create an open anda welcoming party. We need to stand forliberty, for limited government, but wehave to recognize within our partythere is room for honest disagreementon legislative policy.”

Looking exasperated, Call continued:“Within our party, you are still a goodRepublican if you believe the right tochoose is a decision to be made betweena woman, her doctor, her conscienceand her God. It’s OK if you believe thatsometimes, as a Republican, you canvote to keep extra revenue for yourschool district.” The party chair shouldfocus on what unites Republicans, Call

said, not on what divides them.Gholston took up the same theme,

calling himself a “nutty, right-wingconservative” but stressing that hedoesn’t believe everyone in the worldneeds to share his views. “News flash!”he said. “We can’t do anything aboutabortion, we can’t do anything about itanyway. The council of nine has alreadyruled. So it does us no good to gobutting our heads up and beating eachother up year after year after year. I’veestablished I’m a right-winger, but I’mso sick of that nonsense, I’m so sick ofit.”

Republicans have been purifyingthemselves out of office, Gholstonsuggested. “The simple fact is, withoutmajorities, we can’t even begin toaddress all the other issues that aregoing on right now.”

Branding himself a “Constitutionalconservative,” Arnold said that fealty tothe U.S. Constitution was his onlylitmus test. “There’s no compromise inthat,” he said and then warned againstgetting distracted by wedge issuesDemocrats could exploit to turn Repub-lican against Republican.

“There are areas where we’re goingto have some disagreement — we’re notcookie-cutters, we’re not Democrats,we’re not Communists, we don’t have aPolitburo deciding our policy.”

Harvey acknowledged that not everyGOP candidate in the state can be asstrictly conservative as Douglas CountyRepublicans.

“As state chair, my goal is to makesure everybody is on the same page,going the same direction, to electRepublicans. Whether they are pro-choice Republicans in a moderatedistrict or hard-core Republicans,” hesaid, party leadership needs to talk“about what we are for, not what weare against.”


GOP Chair candidates differ on particularsPAGE 7 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MARCH 4, 2011

“The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.” — P. J. O’Rourke

Denver Republican Barb Fallon, whose son Mike ran for Congress lastyear against U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, left, catches up with Judy Krall, aGOP district captain, after the R Block Party forum.

Elbert County Republican Chairman Scott Wills, left, watches the GOPstate chair candidate forum with state Rep. Kathleen Conti, R-Littleton.

…Such as what to dowith a ‘RINO’

Current state GOP Vice Chair LeondrayGholston, standing, makes a point at a

forum for party chair candidates Feb. 24in Littleton. Other candidates who

attended are, from left, state Sen. SteveHarvey, Ryan Call and Matt Arnold.

Moderator Lori Horn of forum organizersR Block Party looks on.


House Republicans on Fridayintroduced a bill on judicialinstructions for congressionalredistricting that is causing astir at the Capitol and raisingconcerns that it could impact thework of the bipartisan committeeon redistricting.

House Bill 11-1276 is spon-sored by Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio, and Sen. Ellen Roberts,R-Durango. It would overturn alaw that went through theGeneral Assembly in the finalweeks of the 2010 session.

The bill is co-sponsored bynine other House Republicans,none of whom are on the JointSelect Committee on Redis-tricting.


Amy Oliver of Mothers AgainstDebt at Capitol rally — Page 22

GOP Chair Wadhams dressesdown Harvey, Arnold — Page 3

Rep. Amy Stephens on howshe rules the House — Page 3

Sen. Steadman’s civil unions bill clears committee — Page 9

Ag Commissioner Salazar setsstage for Ag Day — Page 21


Josephine Henze, one of 35 girls participating in the “Girls with Goals Day”at the state Capitol on March 4, grimaces during a mock session of acommittee hearing. She represented Bear Creek Elementary School inSen. Rollie Heath’s district. One girl from each state senate district partici-pated in the memorable day at the Capitol to experience politics, Coloradostyle, during Women’s History Month. Colorado leads the nation in thepercentage of women in the legislature at 41 percent. See pages 34-36.

PHOTO BY JOHN SCHOENWALTER/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Young girlslearn lessonsat Capitol


Last December, the leadership of the Houseand Senate pledged bipartisan cooperation forthe 2011 session. With the session now halfwayover, it’s clear that some legislators arelearning to work across the aisle, but not all.

Four of the seven bills signed by GovernorJohn Hickenlooper last week had primarysponsors from both parties. That’s also truefor nearly two dozen non-supplemental billsheaded to his desk as of March 9.

This week, leaders of the House and Senatefrom both parties gave their assessment onhow they think the session’s gone so far. Mostcomplained about the other side of the aisle,although Speaker of the House FrankMcNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, lauded the

McNulty laudsbipartisanship...but other legislativeleaders differ at midpoint

Continued on Page 6

A red tide engulfed the state Capitol on Monday, Feb. 28 when Boulder Republican Women hosted a Day atthe Legislature. Republican women’s clubs from throughout the state celebrated taking control of the stateHouse of Representatives. The event-packed day also featured a luncheon honoring GOP state legislators.Joel Champion, chairman of the Boulder County Republicans, stands at the left in the first row in this groupshot. Next to him is Francie Sinton, president of Boulder Republican Women. Third from right is RepublicanNational Committeewoman Lilly Nuñez, and event organizer and former president of Colorado Federation ofRepublican Women, Marty Neilson, is pictured second from right. PHOTO BY JOHN SCHOENWALTER/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Redistrictingbill causes commotionat Capitol


REPUBLICAN WOMENPAINT THE CAPITOL RED


Colorado Democrats elected sixth-genera-tion Pueblo native Rick Palacio as statechairman at the biennial reorganizationmeeting March 5 at the Colorado Conven-tion Center in Denver. Palacio won on thefirst ballot, carrying 57 percent of the votein a three-way race against a former statesenator and past chairman of a crucialswing county.

Dems pick Palaciofor state chairman


Hickenlooper aideAlan Salazar, here inhis first-floor Capitoloffice, was honoredas Democrat of theYear by the ColoradoDemocratic Party lastweekend. He’s been akey aide to nearlyevery top statewideDemocrat over thepast three decades.See Page 18.

PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNINGTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

Alan Salazar namedDemocrat of the Year

PAGE 16 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MARCH 11, 2011“Recognition is the greatest motivator.” — Gerard C. Eakedale

Sen. Mark Udall holds an award for outgoing2nd Vice Chair Margaret Atencio, who servedin the party post since 2005.


Jacqueline Shumway leaves no doubt whereshe stands at the state Democratic Partyreorganizational meeting on March 5 at theColorado Convention Center in Denver.

Right, U.S. Sen. Mark Udall and outgoing state chair Pat Waak pose with a plaque

Udall presented honoring Waak’s six yearsheading the Colorado Democrats.


Gov. John Hickenlooper addresses membersof the Democratic state central committee.


Former state Sen. Polly Baca accepts the nomination for state chair as outgoing state chair Pat Waak, right, looks on at the Democrats’ reorganizational meeting on March 5 in Denver. PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

CU Regents Michael Carrigan, Joseph Neguse and Monisha Merchant visit with State Board of Education member JaneGoff at the biennial reorganizational meeting of Colorado Democrats on March 5 at the Colorado Convention Center.


Above, state Sen. GailSchwartz, D-SnowmassVillage, left, and MaryLou Salazar, whoseconded the nominationof Rick Palacio, right, forstate chairman, celebratethe results of the vote.

Right, former speaker ofthe State House Terrance

Carroll and CU Regent Joe Neguse are

supporters of Rick Palacio.

PHOTOS BY JODY HOPE STROGOFFTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

PAGE 17 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MARCH 11, 2011“When I want your opinion I’ll give it to you.” — Laurence J. Peter

“Our success does not hinge on oneperson, one man, one woman,” saidPalacio over a full minute of cheeringafter outgoing three-term chairwomanPat Waak handed him the gavel. “Oursuccess hinges on the hard work ofevery single person in this room.” Heset his sights high: “I look forward totaking back our state House. I lookforward to some fair redistricting,making sure our lines are drawn in away that they are competitive — notjust in (Congressional Districts) 3 and4, but in 6 as well. And, to the best ofour abilities, electing Democrats in all64 counties in the state of Colorado.”

At 36, Palacio is the youngestColoradan to head the Dems inmemory. He's also the first openly gaystate party chair.

The longtime legislative aide —including a stint working for the Demo-cratic majority in the state House, jobswith former U.S. Rep. John Salazar,and a job he held until this week asdeputy director of member services forU.S. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer,D-Md. — won the position after a briskcampaign that got under way afterWaak’s announcement at the end of theyear that she wouldn’t seek anunprecedented fourth term. The othercandidates were former DemocraticNational Committee Vice ChairwomanPolly Baca and former Larimer CountyDemocratic Chairman Adam Bowen.

About 450 members of the statecentral committee — made up of partyofficials, county officers, elected offi-cials and bonus delegates awardedwhere Democrats polled well last fall —met in a crowded corner of the conven-tion center, a situation that didn’t gounnoticed by U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter,D-Golden, when he addressed thecrowd.

Perlmutter said the meeting’s organ-izers must have followed PresidentKennedy’s dictum: “The first rule ofpolitics is you pick a room slightlysmaller than the crowd you expect.” Hefollowed that with a rallying cry to theraucous group, already stoked fromremarks by U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, Gov.John Hickenlooper and MassachusettsGov. Deval Patrick, in town to speak atthat night’s state Jefferson-JacksonDay Dinner fundraiser. “If anyone tellsyou elections don’t have consequences— this might not sound very civil,”Perlmutter said, “but just punch themin the mouth.”

Democrats also elected BeverlyBenavidez-Ryken as first vice-chair,Vivian Stovall as second vice-chair,Carolyn Boller to another term assecretary and Sherry Jackson as treas-urer.

In front of a sea of yellow Palacio T-shirts and waves of hand-made signsfor the other candidates, the threechair hopefuls made strong cases to runthe party for the next two years, whenColorado’s role as a crucial swing statein the upcoming presidential election —the only statewide race on the ballot in2012 — is likely to dominate.

Former Denver Mayor WellingtonWebb was among those who nominatedBaca. “She believes in fighting for thoseprinciples that make us Democrats —knowledge with character, businesswith morality, science with humanity,and fighting against politics withoutprinciple,” he said. “She will bringenthusiasm and great ideas. Shebelieves in youthful enthusiasm andshe also doesn’t believe at a certainpoint of maturity that you need to bepushed aside.”

A vigorous and feisty Baca took thestage and first recounted her family’slong history in Colorado, including aforbearer’s role as namesake of BacaCounty.

“We are going to soar this nextyear,” she said, “but you cannot soarunless you have roots.” She observedthat her great uncle was among thefirst Hispanic men elected to Colorado’s

state Senate in 1878 and then pointedout that, exactly 100 years later, shewas elected to the same chamber as itsfirst Hispanic woman.

“I am running for state chairbecause I believe now, more than ever,this party needs somebody who knowshow to lead, knows how to fight andknows how to win elections,” she said.Invoking the political battles overpublic employee unions in Wisconsin,Baca sounded a rallying cry: “Attackson workers are attacks on all workingfamilies, the middle class and Democ-rats, and we must stand up to thoseright-wing nuts,” she said to thun-derous cheers.

“I have the utmost respect for mytwo opponents — they are both risingstars — and I look forward to workingwith and voting for each of them in afuture election,” she closed with asmile.

Boulder District Attorney StanGarnett spoke next. He began byrecounting his history with the partyand thanking Democrats for theirsupport during his campaign forattorney general last year. During thatrun, Garnett said, he visited votersacross the state and was impressed bytheir energy.

“I’m nominating Rick Palacio forparty chair because he raised that samepassion and commitment and excite-ment about being a Colorado DemocratI have and that I’ve seen in all of you,”Garnett said. (Garnett’s campaignmanager, his son Alec, also ranPalacio’s chair campaign.)

A familiar face took the stage next tosecond Palacio’s nomination.

“Good morning, Colorado Democ-rats, I’m Terrance Carroll, I used to besomebody.” said the Denver Democratand former House speaker, who wenton to urge support for his “dear, dearfriend Rick Palacio.”

Palacio, who took some hits in hiscampaign because he works in Wash-ington, D.C., began by talking about hisColorado roots.

Noting that his great grandfatherwas a coal miner who “risked his life sothat miners could have a union,” andthat both his grandfathers spent theirlives in the mines near Trinidad,Palacio borrowed some of the energyexcited by the union protests inWisconsin. “They taught me that ifworking people don’t stand up for oneanother, no one else will,” he said.

Then, turning his fire on Republi-cans, he asked the crowd to considerwhat “limited government” reallymeans:

“Republicans want to cut Head Startand limit our children’s future. Theywant to cut funding for science andresearch, and limit our country’sgrowth. They want to cut funding forthe EPA and limit the clean air webreath. They want to limit a woman’sright to her own body. And the Repub-lican Party of 2011 wants to tell mewho I can and cannot love.”

But it was a personal passage nearthe end of Palacio’s speech thatbrought the crowd to a hush and,according to at least a few Democrats,moved undecided votes in his direction.

“Ninety seven years ago in Ludlow,Colorado,” Palacio said, “more than athousand miners with their familieslaid down their tools and stood up forthe rights that we should take forgranted: mines that didn’t collapse, theright to work for a livable wage, andthe right to bargain for their fair share.

“My grandmother was there atLudlow — she was just 6 years old. Sheand her mother hid in a hand-dugcellar, and what she told me sheremembered was her mom’s handpressed over her mouth, and hermother’s words, ‘If they hear you,

they’ll kill us.’ I’m here because mygrandmother lived, but 19 others died.Every time the working men andwomen were shot down because theyclosed ranks, the survivors stood up andcomforted each other with the famouswords, ‘Don’t mourn, organize.’”

Senate President Brandon Shaffer,D-Longmont, appeared next to intro-duce Bowen.

“I’m nominating Adam because hehas the energy and passion to fight forour shared, Democratic values, and hehas the solid experience and trackrecord of proven leadership,” Shaffersaid.

Bowen, who runs a solar energycompany and ran for Larimer Countycommissioner last year, touted hismanagement skills and the zeal hebrings to politics as a relatively recentconvert, having been drawn to partypolitics in the middle of last decade.

“Under my leadership, the (ColoradoDemocratic Party) will be a modern,highly organized” — and suddenly thelights in the hall went dark for about10 seconds, as Bowen quipped, “At leastno one turned off the microphone!”When the lights came back on, hepicked up his speech where he’d leftoff: “ — a highly organized, profession-ally run political party. Workingtogether, we need to continue buildinginfrastructure that continues to electDemocrats.”

The subsequent balloting went toPalacio, who received 245 votes toBaca’s 141 and Bowen’s 41.

Following Palacio’s win, Benavidez-Ryken was elected by acclamation.(Another candidate for first vice-chair,Alan Lee, was unable to run due toDemocratic rules that require genderbalance between the two top positions.

Stovall won the second vice-chairrace with 213 votes over Dick Barkey’s135. Boller easily fended off a challengefrom Christine Alonzo, 271-82. Jackson,a former executive director of the stateparty, took 220 votes to win the trea-surer’s office, beating challengersJustin Herrera’s 86 votes and DianeKirchner’s 43 votes.

Following a trip to Washington toprepare for a move back to Denver andwrap up his job with the HouseMinority, Palacio said he’s anxious tostart traveling to Democratic eventsacross the state. He told The ColoradoStatesman his first trip will likely be tothe Eagle County Crawfish Boil earlynext month. But he has plenty ofsuggestions and ideas he said he plansto consider following the two monthshe roamed the state during the chaircampaign. “It’s my strong desire totake all those opinions into account aswe make decisions in the near future,”he said. “I’m committed to listening toeveryone who has an opinion.”

His first order of business once hereturns to Colorado will be makingsome necessary committee appoint-ments and filling some holes at thestate party office following the depar-ture of several long-time aides. “We’llbe developing a strategic plan forfundraising so we’re aggressive withour fundraising campaign,” he said.

Palacio also said he could set anothercentral committee meeting as early asnext month to consider a set of ruleschanges proposed by the True BlueColorado group of progressive Democ-rats. The proposals weren’t voted on atthe March 5 meeting because centralcommittee members dispersed afterofficer elections, leaving the bodywithout a quorum.

“I’d like to get those taken care of,”he said, “I want to put them onto theschedule as soon as we can.” He added:“I feel badly we had to table theseproposals. There are a lot of people whospent a lot of time putting themtogether, so I want to be sure they havean opportunity to be heard sooner thanlater.”


...Dems select Pueblo native Palacio to head state partyContinued from Page 1

Newly elected Democratic Party state chair Rick Palacio, left, gives a thumbs-up to the statecentral committee as outgoing chair Pat Waak prepares to hand him the gavel at the ColoradoConvention Center on March 5 in Denver. PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

At 36, Palacio is the youngest Coloradan to head the Colorado Dems in memory. He is also thefirst openly gay state party chair. PHOTO BY JODY HOPE STROGOFF/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

BY JODY HOPE STROGOFFTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

If the current campaign for GOPstate chairman is any indication, thebattle facing Colorado Republicans toresurrect their wounded party maytake longer than anyone thinks. Therace to succeed Chairman DickWadhams, who decided not to run for athird term just last month, has turnedinto an ugly mess, and the ultimatevictor — to be decided March 26 at theRepublican state central committeemeeting — will have his hands fulltrying to unite a party split along notonly ideological lines, but with majorcrevices at its very foundation.

The latest salvos fired by some ofthe candidates in this shortened — yetfrenetic — campaign season have beenexplosive. Others fail to pass themuster. We’ll touch on a couple of themost recent charges here — the bulk ofour coverage will come in a couple ofweeks in a special focus issue for theRepublican state central committeemeeting.

The five candidates for chairman —state Sen. Ted Harvey, party legalcounsel Ryan Call, party vice chairLeondray Gholston, activist MattArnold and newcomer to Colorado, BartBaron — gathered for a forum at thethe Arapahoe County Republican Men’sClub meeting last Wednesday morning.It was a fitting venue considering thatmembers of this sometimes raucousgroup have been well trained in the artof political combat. You do not enterthis early hour battleground withoutproper armor. Members typically arenot shy and usually require that one’sarsenal contain bullet-proof statementsof fact.

This was the first meeting of all fivecandidates together and after openingrounds where each offered up theirparticular attributes, the question andanswer segment provided the mostfodder in which to differentiate thedueling fivesome.

On this morning, however, a few ofthe statements made by the candidatesfor state chair were unsubstantiated;others left more questions than theyanswered. And as longtime Republicanactivist Lynne Cottrell and a few otherswondered outloud, with all the talkabout the importance of vetting candi-dates, how come the process didn’twork so well at this particular func-tion? Why were some of the candidatesallowed to get away with not fullyanswering questions? And, why weren’tmore piercing questions asked of all thecandidates?

“All the state party candidates agreethat they can’t vet candidates, that it is

up to us to do it, but how in the heckcan we do it when we can’t ask pointedquestions!” Cottrell mused.

“These forums just lend themselvesto all responding in platitudes,” sheadded. “There are some serious ques-tions that should be asked publicly to‘vet’ them but then (they) won’t let usdo it.”

Cottrell’s comments are grist for themill for another time. For this weekwe’ll let the protagonists speak in theirown words.

The first exchange comes fromChairman Wadhams in the form of aletter he sent to members of the statecentral committee on March 10.

Setting the Record StraightI have remained neutral in the race for

state chairman but recent false and irre-sponsible statements by two of thecandidates raise serious questions abouttheir capacity to serve. These statementscannot go without a response.

As most of you know, I inherited a$600,000 debt when I was first electedchairman in 2007. It took us nearly twoyears but we paid off that debt shortlybefore the 2008 election.

Ted Harvey asserted this week that Iwas not responsible for getting rid of that$600,000 debt because it was paid off asa result of $3.7 million sent to theColorado Republican Party from theRepublican National Committee over thepast four years.

Harvey is either telling an outright lieor he is demonstrating how profoundlyignorant he is about how state andnational parties work.

One of the most important functionsof the RNC is to help fund the “Victory”voter identification and turnout programin every state. Indeed, because Coloradohas been a targeted, competitive statethe past two election cycles and theRNC had tremendous confidence in theprofessionalism of the Colorado Repub-lican Party — including 2008 VictoryDirector James Garcia and 2010 VictoryDirector Chuck Poplstein — we received$2.5 million in 2008 and $1.2 million in2010.

Every dime of those RNC transfers in2008 and 2010 was budgeted and fullycommitted for Victory specific offices,staff, equipment and mailings before thatmoney ever arrived in Colorado. RNCtransfers do not fund day to day opera-tions of Colorado Republican headquar-ters nor are they used to defray previousdebt.

In 2010, the RNC transfer helped fund17 full-time staff members who worked in14 Victory field offices across the statethat operated seven days a week fromJuly through Election Day and it helpedfund more than 2.6 million pieces of mailand door hangers supporting Republican

candidates.The success of the 2010 Victory oper-

ation is in the numbers. RegisteredRepublicans outnumbered registeredDemocrats by only 8,000 on Election Day2010 but 106,000 more Republicansvoted than Democrats in the generalelection. We essentially gave ourstatewide candidates a 106,000 Repub-lican voter head start before they madetheir case to the critical unaffiliatedvoters who determine elections.

Victory contributed greatly to thestatewide election of Attorney GeneralJohn Suthers, Secretary of State ScottGessler, State Treasurer Walker Stapletonand CU Regent at-large Steve Bosleyalong with newly elected CongressmanCory Gardner and Congressman ScottTipton and our new majority in theColorado House of Representatives.

Harvey also asserted his ignorancewhen he said none of this RNC financialsupport went directly to state legislativecandidates. RNC transfers are federaldollars and legally cannot be used todirectly fund state candidates. But moreimportant, Victory Legislative DirectorBen Engen’s responsibility was to workdirectly with Republican legislative candi-dates across the state to get out theRepublican vote in their respectivedistricts. Victory funded Republican“slate” door hangers which featured thenames and photos of state legislativecandidates in addition to congressionaland statewide candidates.

Beyond the Victory program, weconducted intensive campaign schoolsfor legislative candidates and their staffand volunteers with some of the mostrespected experts in the nation in organi-zation, fundraising, research, communi-cations, and campaign finance lawcompliance.

Perhaps Harvey is trying to divertattention from the debt he still owes fromhis failed 2008 campaign for Congress inthe Sixth District when he finished adistant third with only 15 percent of thevote in the Republican primary.

This isn’t the first time Harvey hasmade irresponsible statements.Respected Denver Post columnistVincent Carroll recently took Harvey totask for his comments on “authenticconservative leadership” which I haveattached to this memo.

Finally, candidate Matt Arnold hasmade the absurd allegation that I “sabo-taged” the ability of Republican causesand candidates to raise money. Arnoldled the failed “clear the bench” campaignlast year and was unsuccessful in raisingmoney so, of course, it must be the faultof the state Republican chairman that hewas not credible enough to be worthy ofcontributions from donors. The only“sabotage” that was inflicted on the“clear the bench” campaign was whenArnold declared himself its leader.

It has never been the responsibility ofthe Colorado Republican Party to raisemoney for other “causes” nor should itbe. As to his absurd allegation I “sabo-taged” the ability of some candidates toraise money, I assume he sees otherconspiracies swirling around him as well.

I congratulate Colorado RepublicanState Vice Chairman Leondray Gholstonand former Denver County RepublicanChairman Ryan Call for running respon-sible and substantive campaigns forstate chairman.

Sen. Harvey told The ColoradoStatesman on Friday that he “very wellunderstands how the process works”and that he will not look back at thepast and point fingers — rather, his“whole message is to be positive andunite the party and move forward andwin elections in the future.”

Matt Arnold answered Wadhams’allegations with his own letter onMarch 11, portions which are includedhere. (And Wadhams’ response toArnold follows.)

PAGE 2 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MARCH 11, 2011“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.” — Herman Melville



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Non-candidate Wadhams defends himselfin GOP state chair candidates free-for-all

Restoring Integrity to the office ofColorado Republican Party State Chair

The latest broadside by departingRepublican Party State Chair DickWadhams demonstrates clearly why theoffice — and by unfortunate extension,the entire Republican Party in Colorado

— no longer enjoys the confidence andtrust of far too many Colorado voters.

After dropping out of the race toremain in office in order to avoid alooming referendum on his (failed) leader-ship of Colorado Republicans, Wadhamsdemonstrates in yesterday’s open letterto Republican State Party Central

Committee members how his personalpettiness and blatant disregard for thetruth have undermined confidence in theintegrity and accountability of our partyleadership. In his letter, he makes somevery scathing remarks about two of thestate party chair candidates. Forsomeone who is supposed to representunity and integrity in the party, he has —once again — missed the mark entirely.

First, for a “failed campaign,” ClearThe Bench Colorado was able to postremarkable achievements; despitelacking deep financial resources (in whichWadhams played a role), CTBC accom-plished something never before achievedin Colorado, putting the issue of judicialretention on the political map (not just inColorado, but nationwide). Althoughfalling short of achieving a clean sweep,observers credit the campaign withencouraging the resignation of ChiefJustice Mary Mullarkey, one of the mostactively partisan (and actively hostile toRepublicans) presiding justices in statehistory. Additionally, shifting the votesome 15% to only 60:40% “retain”, thelowest in state history (typical retentionrates for the ‘Supremes’ are 75% yes,25% no) is itself a remarkable achieve-ment; other races achieving the samepercentage shifts would have been aGOP tsunami, sweeping almost everyDemocrat out of office.

More enduringly, CTBC shifted thevery terms of political discourse in thisstate. No longer will state legislators beable to violate the constitutional rights ofColorado citizens by declaring taxes as“fees” without being called to account.Statewide, candidates who highlightedthese issues were successful.

Bottom line, Clear the Bench Coloradowas, in fact, a successful campaign, if forno other reason than it brought a long-ignored but vital issue to the forefront ofthe political fight.

What Mr. Wadhams seems to have notunderstood about the quote from March4’s edition of The Colorado Statesman(“Unlike Dick Wadhams, I will not activelysabotage the fundraising efforts of anycandidate or cause that is out therepromoting Republican principles.” —

http://www.coloradostatesman.com/content/992629-gop-chair-candidates-differ-particulars) is that Mr. Arnold was refer-ring to a wide range of similar activities,not just himself or his campaign.

High dollar donors to the party haveshared with Clear the Bench Coloradothat not only did our sitting State PartyChairman tell them to ‘not waste theirtime or money’, he did the exact samething with many other Republican candi-dates for office this year — includingcandidates for statewide executiveoffices, Congressional seats, and statelegislative offices. It is not the job of thestate party chair to pick what HE believesto be winners or losers, but to facilitatesupport for ALL Republican (and allied)campaigns.

Although I believe that this year’scaucus and assembly processes wererun fairly — in large part due toenhanced scrutiny, expanded participa-tion and awareness — the same cannotbe said of past assemblies (which hasresulted in driving away potential Repub-lican voters, and further eroding trust inour party). Many voters and activistsremember how the 2008 State Assemblyunder Wadhams violated party rules tospurn Ron Paul voters (for the record, Idid not support Ron Paul for president,although I respect his contributions inCongress) and longer memories recallsimilar actions in the 2006 and 2004assemblies.

Wadhams has consistently abused thepower of the office for personal benefitand as a mechanism of retributionagainst his personal political enemies —of which he has made several. Wadhamsseems to default to making personalattacks as a standard mode of opera-tions — undermining our positivemessage in general elections, anddividing our party in primaries andbetween elections.

Wadhams’ response: “Matt Arnold isdelusional and a liar. He is the epitomyof the kind of conspiratorial nut that Ireferred to a few weeks ago.”


PAGE 8 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MARCH 11, 2011“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” — Albert Einstein

...CD 5 residents pose differing maps for redistrictingabout representing all the people in thedistrict,” he told the committee.Anderson said he also would look atregional economic development as acommunity of interest, which couldbring in parts of Douglas County to thenorth or Pueblo to the south.

Another vote for shedding TellerCounty came from Brian Binn of theColorado Springs Chamber ofCommerce. Teller, Lake and Fremontcounties, all in the 5th, align withtourism or the ski region and not withEl Paso County, where the economy isbased on military and manufacturing,he said. Binn also spoke up for keepingall five military installations within the5th District. “Having one congressionalrepresentative for the installations isvery valuable,” he said.

Having two congressional represen-tatives in the vicinity would be helpfulto small business, said MargueriteTerre, who works for a defensecontractor. “We have to go to northernColorado to find someone who’s moreinterested in small business,” she said.“It would be great if we had a secondcongressman a lot closer to home.”

Separate redistricting bill introduced at Legislature

Terre also asked the committeemembers about whether they wouldsupport House Bill 11-1276, which was

introduced last Friday, and deals withjudicial instructions for redistricting.Terre indicated she was concerned thatthe bill made county boundaries ahigher priority than communities ofinterest. The bill “seems to be in oppo-sition to what you’re trying to do,” shesaid.

None of the committee memberssaid how they would vote on it, andcommittee co-chair Rep. David Balmer,R-Centennial, sidestepped the questionby saying the bill would not affect thework of the committee. “We will not bedistracted by anything happening atthe Legislature,” he said. “Our job is todo such a good job that we don’t go tocourt,” he added. “We’re focused onwhat we’re doing here,” said Sen.Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora.

El Paso County Clerk and RecorderWayne Williams also supported keepingEl Paso County whole, and suggestedthe lines be drawn at Monument Hill.North of Monument is tied to theDenver market, he said; south is ElPaso County. And having the five mili-tary bases together in the districtmakes a strong argument for having acongressional representative on theArmed Forces committee. But Williamsalso advocated for keeping TellerCounty in the district, since it shares ajudicial district with El Paso County,and said that position is supported bythe county commissioners of both El

Paso and Teller counties.Pete LaBarre of Teller County said

he admired the efforts of the committeeto be bipartisan, but the “politicalprocess is not bipartisan. There’s beengerrymandering of districts sinceGeorge Washington,” he said. “We foolourselves if we believe this is a nonpar-tisan event…this is politics, that’s theway it was established.”

None of the members of the redis-tricting committee live in the 5thDistrict, which was noted by Williamsbut he didn’t complain about it. Twosenators have parts of it in their senatedistricts: Schwartz, whose SD 5 districtincludes Chaffee County; and Sen. MarkScheffel, R-Parker, whose SD 4 districtincludes Lake, Teller and northern ElPaso counties. Scheffel’s attention to hisconstituents in El Paso County wasnoted and praised by several whoattended Wednesday’s hearing. But healso took some good-natured ribbingfrom witnesses, who said they wantedEl Paso County to be whole within the5th District and not to include any ofDouglas County, where he lives. It ledScheffel to joke that he was developinga “complex” — aligning him withcommittee co-chair Sen. Rollie Heath,D-Boulder, who had been on thereceiving end of similar remarks in theLoveland hearing two weeks ago. Thosecomments came from people who saidthey didn’t want Longmont to be part

of the 2nd District because they didn’twant to be in the same district withBoulder, although those suggestionswere based more on ideology and ruralinterests than geography.

The redistricting road show has justabout a week to go: the committee nextheads to the 3rd Congressional Districtfor two of three scheduled meetings inthat district. Saturday, the committeewill be in Alamosa and Pueblo; theywill then go to Castle Rock on Monday,Boulder on Tuesday and to GrandJunction for their final public forum,on March 19.

The public comment period ends at 5p.m. on March 25. After that, thecommittee will work on the map andwriting a bill, to be submitted to theGeneral Assembly by April 14, withhopes that the map will be adopted bythe Legislature by the session’s end onMay 11. Committee members have toldThe Colorado Statesman that they arecommitted to creating a map that willget unanimous support from all 10members.

Balmer told The Statesman thatcommittee members would get thelaptops with the special software anddata necessary to draw the maps onMarch 10, but that they won’t startdrawing maps until after the publiccomment period is over.




...Wadhams says Arnold is one of the nuts he was talking about

excited about the opportunity to serveAurora.”

Stafford said she’s throwing her hat

in the ring because she wants to leave abetter Aurora to her grandchildren —numbering 19 following the birth oftwin grandsons in January.

“I want my grandkids also to havegreat opportunities as they grow, andwant to make sure as a grandparentI’m doing my part to help make surewe forge a foundation for our commu-nity and their kids,” she said.

She said top issues in her campaignwill include transportation challenges,securing adequate funding for librariesand recreation centers, and targetedredevelopment throughout Colorado’sthird-largest city as the sprawling one-time bedroom community begins toshow its age.

Terming Aurora’s ongoing budgetwoes “very challenging,” Stafford saidshe plans to bring a keen eye to thecity’s fiscal situation. “I’ll constantlylook at trying to deliver quality servicesand make sure public safety is a highpriority,” she said. “The city couldreassess areas where moneys are beingspent and try to continue to trim back,not do as many major cuts. We’ll makepublic safety and advancing our futureopportunities forward a priority.”

The self-described “library junkie”— she said her favorite place to hangout in Aurora is inside any one of itslibraries — said frustration over thecity’s recent shuttering of severallibraries is one of the issues thatspurred her to run for mayor. “It’spretty frustrating right now havinglibraries close,” she said. “I want tomake sure Aurora citizens who are notin the Arapahoe Library District alsohave an opportunity to access libraryservices as needed.”

Stafford’s entry into the race willmean Democrats have candidates upand down the ticket in the NovemberAurora election. While the election isnonpartisan — party affiliation isn’tlisted on the ballot, and candidates winslots via petition, not by party nomina-tion — some of Stafford’s backers saidthe candidacy of conservative Repub-lican and Tea Party favorite Jude Sand-vall could make it harder for Hogan tocount on a win in a city that tends toelect Republicans.

Hogan has been on and off theeastern suburb’s city council for morethan three decades, first serving in thelate 1970s and eventually racking up 24years on the body. He ran for Congressas a Democrat in 1982 and again in aspecial election in 1983 but laterchanged his affiliation to Republican.

Stafford served eight years in theGeneral Assembly representing asprawling district that stretches fromsouth-central Aurora onto the plains —covering rural Arapahoe and all ofElbert county — through 2008, whenshe was term-limited. She switchedparties in October 2007, angry over her

PAGE 2 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MARCH 25 , 2011“It’s so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don’t say it.” — Sam Levenson



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...Former Rep. Stafford to run for Aurora mayor

Former state Rep. Debbie Stafford accepts bids for a new book by presidential candidate TomTancredo at the Arapahoe County Republicans Lincoln Day Dinner in the spring of 2007.


Continued on Page 7


The five candidates for ColoradoRepublican Party chairman got into aspirited discussion about money — howto raise it for the state party, whetherold campaign debts should be an issueand whether the chairman’s job shouldbe a paid position — at the breakfastmeeting of the Arapahoe CountyRepublican Men’s Club on March 9 atGarcia’s Mexican Restaurant in theTech Center.

All the candidates agreed that theparty needs to be raising more moneyso it can spend more on supportingcandidates, but that’s where the accordended. Tap rich donors or mine thegrassroots? Hire a powerhousefundraiser or do most of the job aschairman? Raise seven figures a yearthrough the party’s website or adoptthe model used by — gasp! — publictelevision? The candidates proposeddifferent approaches.

Ted Harvey promised to hireMarilyn Musgrave’s former captain

Guy Short, who brought “modern tech-nology and modern resources” to bearraising upwards of $10 million for thecandidate. While he acknowledge Shortwouldn’t pull those kinds of funds forthe state party, Harvey declared thatmoving Colorado GOP fundraising intothe 21st Century was a key step. “Wecertainly will be able to raise moremoney that way than the state partyhas because they don’t do it, they’venever done it,” he said.

Leondray Gholston touted his 51-10plan aimed at reaping $51.10 annuallyfrom every registered Republican in thestate — which, he pointed out, wouldyield more than $50 million. Thefundraising tool is sitting mostlyunused on the state party’s website. Itpremiered in July 2010 when, Gholstonnoted, “we were just beginning to ripour own guts out,” so it didn’t getmuch traction then, but he promised toget it out there.

Bart Baron said the chairman needs,first, to “get that nut up front” bytapping big donors. He said he will beat a meeting with Republican contribu-

tors worth as much as $50 billionshortly after the chair election. He alsohas four Coloradans in line to be finan-cial chairs for the state party, each withextensive fundraising contacts. Third,he proposed the party “set somethingup like PBS where we get monthlycontributions through a credit card.”

Matt Arnold said the party needs astrategy, that over-reliance on smalldonors or big contributors won’t work.“We can’t rely on any single source tofund the party and the candidates,” hesaid. Most importantly, though, he said,“We have to have a product that peoplewant to buy. We have lost our brand asRepublicans — the reason people aren’tgiving to the state party is because theydon’t trust the state party.” The keysteps, he said, are to have a plan, builda fundraising infrastructure, and showdonors a return on their investment.

Ryan Call said all the quick solutionsproposed by some candidates won’t dothe job. “The reality is, there’s nomagic bullet to this,” he said. “As aparty, we’ve been waiting too long for

Candidates for GOP chair talk money

Continued on Page 7

Pete Coors and Phil Anschutz to walk through thedoor and write a check for $20 million, and it’s notgoing to happen.” Not only do campaign finance lawsprohibit that solution, but, Call said, “We’re not theparty of bailouts, we have to take personal responsi-bility.” He said his plan will cover all the bases, fromthe grassroots to regular sustained contributors andmajor donors. In addition, he said the state chairneeds to work with county chairs to approach majordonors throughout Colorado.

One of the Men’s Club members lobbed a questionat Harvey just as he was preparing to hit the road forthe day’s legislative business. The curious Republicanasked, since Harvey still has a “large, unretired debt”left over from his 2008 congressional primary —listed at $19,300 on his campaign committee’s year-end FEC report — “should we be worried aboutthat?”

Everybody has significant debt after running acampaign, Harvey said, listing primary opponent WilArmstrong and past Senate candidates Jane and GaleNorton as examples. “My debt that I have is to staff— to one campaign manager who is willing to waituntil I could fund that to pay it off,” Harvey said. “I

have been paying it off and will continue paying it off,it’s not a significant issue.”

Call took the opportunity to jab at Harvey, saying,“It’s not realistic to think we can outsource(fundraising) to some political operative,” adding that“the chairman needs to drive the bus on that.”

Asked whether the chairmanship should be a paidposition — as it has been under outgoing chairman

Dick Wadhams, but wasn’t prior to his two terms —the candidates split.

“Heck no,” said Baron, who noted that he’s“comfortably” retired and doesn’t need the money.

“You get what you pay for,” Arnold said. “It’s afull-time job, of course it should be a salaried job.” Hepromised to take “at least a one-third pay cut” fromwhat Wadhams has been making — estimated at$150,000 by most accounts.

Call said he’s willing to consider serving as avolunteer if that’s what the party decides, but hepointed to his proposal that the decision should go tothe state executive committee rather than being madeunilaterally by the chairman.

“I believe this seat needs to be paid,” answeredHarvey, who has pledged to step down from hisSenate seat if he is elected. “I guarantee you, Mrs.Harvey wouldn’t let me do this for free.”

Gholston said he thinks the position should becompensated but added that his job as a defensecontractor offers him some flexibility, so he’d workthings out if the executive committee decided not tofund a salary.


treatment at the hands of fellow Republicans aftershe supported a bill that would have made it easierfor homeowners to sue builders for constructiondefects.

She said she also felt ostracized by her caucuswhen a lawyer who represented Republicans filed acampaign finance complaint against her over a thank-you ad she ran in a local newspaper. She said herattorney — provided by the state Republican Party —told her to expect trouble “if I poke my finger in theeye of our major donors.”

A domestic violence counselor, Stafford comparedherself to battered women who finally face facts andleave an abusive relationship, a description that drewscoffs and rebukes from minority Republicans.

“I made this decision to stop the battering and finda way for my voice to be heard in my district,”Stafford said shortly after joining the majorityDemocrats.

Vowing to “bring many of the relationships andpartnerships from the state level” to bear on questionsof transportation funding and other municipal ques-tions, Stafford brushed aside questions this week aboutlingering ill will from members of her former party.

“My relationship with most Republicans has kindof moved on with me,” she said. “We’ve come to thepoint where we can have friendly relationships. Ithink we’ve moved past that — at least I certainlyhave.” She said she’s perfectly comfortable workingwith people of all political stripes, adding that if anyRepublicans bear a grudge, “that’s with them.”

An ordained pastor, Stafford works as the faith-based coordinator at Aurora Mental Health andvolunteers her time as an auctioneer, tallying in theneighborhood of $1 million raised for charities withher gavel. She is the co-author of the counselingmanual “Shattered Dreams, a Biblical Outlook onDomestic Violence,” and has worked for nearly 20years as a counselor for domestic violence offenders.

Stafford vowed to run a clean race. “I have nointentions of having any negative campaigning,” shesaid. “I’m just there to talk about what I’m offering.People are tired of negative campaigning — that’s notmy goal.”

Hogan announced his candidacy on Jan. 26 flankedby former mayors Paul Tauer and Dennis Champine.Tauer served as mayor for a dozen years beforehanding the reins over to his son, outgoing Mayor EdTauer, who was first elected in 2003 and is term-

limited. Hogan counts as his supporters former Gov.Bill Owens, former state Rep. Doug Friednash andcurrent and former City Council members BobBroom, Bob FitzGerald, Bob LeGare, Renie Peterson,Brad Pierce, Steve Bobrick, Deb Wallace and DaveWilliams.

Stafford said she planned to unveil her initialendorsements at her announcement early next week.

Hogan raised $24,236 — including a transfer ofabout half that amount from his city councilcampaign coffers — for an exploratory committee toweigh a run for mayor last year, according to docu-ments filed with the Aurora city clerk’s office. He had$20,736 on hand at the end of the reporting period,having spent $3,500 for a trip to Washington, D.C. “tohelp lobby Congress on issues important to Aurora.”The next filing deadline for 2011 municipal electionsisn’t until August.

Aurora recently made its mayor a full-time posi-tion. It pays a salary of $54,999.

Aurora’s municipal election is Nov. 1. Candidatesqualify for the ballot by petition and have 20 days togather 100 valid signatures beginning on Aug. 3.


PAGE 7 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MARCH 25 , 2011“When ideas fail, words come in very handy.” — Goethe

Residents in CD 3 urge redistricting panelto make the Western Slope whole againBY ELLEN MILLERWESTERN SLOPE CORRESPONDENT

GRAND JUNCTION – Many of the37 witnesses who offered testimonySaturday to the final field hearing ofthe Legislature’s Joint SelectCommittee on Redistricting had lots ofsuggestions of which counties to add tothe 3rd Congressional District, but fewideas of which should be removed.

The 3rd District, which sprawls fromLas Animas County in southeasternColorado to Moffat County in thenorthwest, incorporates Pueblo, theSan Luis Valley and every WesternSlope county except Eagle, Grand andSummit.

To reach the 718,457 people requiredfor each of the state’s seven congres-sional districts, the 3rd need only gain12,271 in population. The 4th needs tolose 6,462 and the 5th needs to shed7,445. Those likely will be the easyones. The 2nd needs to lose 15,557people and the 6th must say goodbye toa whopping 79,025. Meanwhile, the 1stneeds to gain 56,333 and the 7th mustfind another 39,888.

Since 1981, when the bulk of theWestern Slope was again placed in onedistrict, the 3rd has been the mostcompetitive district in the state. Demo-cratic Rep. Ray Kogovsek of Pueblo wassucceeded in 1984 by Republican MikeStrang of Carbondale, who wasdefeated in 1986 by Democrat BenNighthorse Campbell of Ignacio.

Campbell was followed in 1992 byRepublican Scott McInnis of GlenwoodSprings, who was succeeded in 2004 byJohn Salazar of Manassas, who wasdefeated in 2010 by Republican ScottTipton of Cortez.

Republicans who testified Saturdayat the hearing in Mesa State College’sbrand-new College Center made it clearthey’d like the Western Slope to bemade whole again by adding Eagle,Grand and Summit counties. The popu-lations for those three counties total115,034, and they were moved from the3rd to the 2nd after the census 10 yearsago.

Led by McInnis, now of Grand Junc-tion, they said the 20 Western Slopecounties share water, ski resorts, publiclands and energy as “communities ofinterest.”

But McInnis was pressed by stateSen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, whonoted there were “lots of contenderswho want to be in the 3rd. Who do youtake out?”

McInnis suggested Otero and LasAnimas counties (total population34,338) should be placed in the 4th CDon the Eastern Plains, but he didn’toffer any other candidates for expulsionfrom the 3rd.

Delta County Republican ChairmanDon Suppes, however, said there was“no reason Pueblo should be in the3rd CD if you’re considering communi-ties of interest. They are an urban-type community with significant

voting differences.”Democrats, meanwhile, generally

favored keeping Eagle, Summit andGrand in the 2nd CD, and somesuggested adding the northwesterncounties of Jackson, Routt, Moffat andRio Blanco.

Eagle County Democratic chairmanMichael Tucker said his county hascommunities of interest in recreationand environmental issues, and doesn’twant to be split.

Anita Sherman of Glenwood Springsurged keeping Eagle, Summit andGrand in the 2nd, and said Routtshould be added, “because we have skiresorts and we’re actually small metroareas with the services we mustprovide. We are not farming andranching any more. And we have realestate more equivalent to Boulder thanto Pueblo or Grand Junction.”

But few Democrats, like theirRepublican counterparts, suggestedwhich counties should be moved out ofthe 3rd in order to bring in the north-western counties.

Roland Reynolds of Grand Junctionsaid Colorado has three regions, “theEastern Plains, the mountains, and thepeople who moved to the cities to getour water before the farmers do.”

Consequently, he said, Grand Junc-tion should be lined up with the moun-tains, people from the foothills ofJefferson and Pueblo counties shouldbe included, as should Jackson County.

Dave Merritt, a water engineer from

Glenwood Springs, was among severalspeakers to ask the committee to keepwatersheds in mind as they draw theirmaps.

“Water is not a partisan issue,” hesaid. “It is a vital community ofinterest.”

Dee Jacobson of Delta County, whowas a district aide to both Kogovsek andCampbell, said the 3rd District’s “diver-sity makes it difficult to represent, butit makes it resilient. One of the hardestparts is getting the congressman frompoint A to point B, and I don’t see thatchanging. With some places, you can’tget there from here.

“It’s not just I-70 (that’s a commu-nity of interest), it’s U.S. 50 thatconnects Grand Junction to Montrose,to Gunnison, to Salida and to Pueblo,so please look at that,” Jacobson urged.

After Rep. David Balmer, R-Centen-nial, the joint committee’s co-chair,pleaded for speakers to be specific andto not repeat previous testimony, DeltaCounty Democratic chairman RickStelter urged keeping the 3rd largely asit is, and he suggested including Chaffee(population 17,809), and either Lake(7,310) or Crowley (5,823) for the 3rdCD to gain the necessary population.

Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, whoco-chairs the joint committee withBalmer, said the group intends tosubmit its proposed map by April 14,with final passage by May 11.


...Stafford vows to bring her state experience to mayor’s raceContinued from Page 2

..Arapahoe GOP Men’s Club gets down to brass tacksContinued from Page 2

Ryan Call addresses the Foothills Republican Club at a GOP statechair candidates forum March 10 at Copperfields Event Center inWheat Ridge. The other candidates are, from left, Bart Baron,Leondray Gholston, Matt Arnold and state Sen. Ted Harvey.


‘Herminator’ fires up Denver Lincoln Day

BY JODY HOPE STROGOFF &ERNEST LUNINGTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

Seven years ago this month, two-termU.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell sentColorado’s political world spinning with anabrupt announcement he wouldn’t seekanother term. The decision by the broadlypopular Republican — who was first electedto the Senate as a Democrat in 1992 butswitched parties three years later — swiftlywrapped a lengthy public career. But it wasonly the latest chapter in a phenomenal rise

from a childhood spent mainly in orphan-ages, through a stint in the Air Force and atrip to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where hecompeted in judo. A successful jewelrymaker, Campbell has spent much of hisadult life ranching in southwest Colorado,where he and his wife, Linda, still reside.

During some of his years in Washington,he was the only Native American inCongress, and he was only the third NativeAmerican to ever serve in the U.S. Senate.He is a member of the Council of Chiefs ofthe Northern Cheyenne Indian Tribe.

Campbell was first elected to the stateLegislature as a Democrat in 1982 and waselected to the first of three terms inCongress from the 3rd District in 1986.When Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth unex-pectedly declined to seek another term in1992, Campbell won a Democratic primary


Wadhams & Ritter and otherfond memories — Pages 19-23

Sen. Nancy Spence knows whatit’s like to go it alone — Page 3

Israeli Ambassador, Sen. Kopptogether with Israel — Page 4

Former Rep. McInnis urges West Slope district — Page 7

Columnist Penry: Comeback for GOP under way — Page 9


Wadhamslooms largein GOP raceBY ERNEST LUNINGTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

Colorado Republicans pick a newstate chairman this weekend from afield of five starkly different candidatesbut the outgoing party boss looms largeover the election even after with-drawing from the race more than amonth ago.

In a flurry of charges and counter-charges posted to websites and deliv-ered in the mail, two-term ChairmanDick Wadhams has remained at thecenter of the selection process culmi-nating at the biennial reorganizationmeeting on March 26 at DouglasCounty High School in Castle Rock.

Republican state central committeemembers — including county officers,elected officials and a smaller-than-usual number of bonus delegatesawarded only to a handful of countiesthis year — will vote until one candi-date emerges with a clear majority. Thecandidates are Clear the Bench coordi-nator Matt Arnold, former Michigancongressional candidate Bart Baron,state GOP legal counsel and formerDenver County Chairman Ryan Call,current state party Vice ChairmanLeondray Gholston and state Sen. TedHarvey, R-Highlands Ranch.

Decrying the fractured state of theColorado GOP, Arnold said the partyneeds to get back to basics or risk

Potential presidential candidate Herman Cain fires up the crowd during his keynotespeech at the Denver County Republicans’ Lincoln Day Dinner on March 18 at theMuseum of Nature and Science. See Page 38 for more coverage.

Former FEMADirectorMichael

Brown andChristineBurtt are

overjoyed to run into

each other atthe Denver

Lincoln DayDinner.

‘Herminator’ fires up Denver Lincoln Day

Stafford readies bid for Aurora mayorBY ERNEST LUNINGTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

A Republican-turned-Democrat ispreparing to announce her candidacyagainst a Democrat-turned-Republican formayor of Aurora, The Colorado Statesmanhas learned.

Former state Rep. Debbie Stafford —who finished her legislative career as aDemocrat after being elected four timesas a Republican from House District 40 —is planning a run against former CityCouncilman and former state Rep. Steve

Hogan, one of two announced candidatesin the nonpartisan November election forthe open seat.

While she doesn’t plan an officialcampaign kick-off until early next week,Stafford said Tuesday afternoon she wasplanning to pull a candidacy packet at theAurora city clerk’s office later that day.

“I’m looking forward to having anopportunity to let the citizens of Auroraknow it would be a great honor to servethem,” Stafford said. “I’ve been involvedin this community for many years and I’m

Ben Nighthorse Campbell still dancing

Complaint aboutSenator Morse turned over toethics committee


A Senate ethics panel has been organizedto look into allegations lodged againstSenate Majority Leader John Morse, D-Colorado Springs.

The request for an ethics investigationwas filed with the Senate on March 10 bythe Colorado Government AccountabilityProject (CoGAP), a conservative non-profit

that investigates alleged Democratic wrong-doing. The founder of CoGAP, StephanieCegielski, is a former employee of the Secre-tary of State’s office who is tied to Repub-lican activists, conservative blogs, and thecurrent Secretary of State. To date, CoGAP,which claims it is non-partisan, has filedcomplaints only against Democrats ororganizations linked to Democrats.

The CoGAP complaint, which alleges

Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell at the Denver MarchPowwow March 19.PHOTO BYERNEST LUNING/THECOLORADO STATESMAN

Continued on Page 18Continued on Page 2



Five running for state chairman

losing a raft of newly energizedsupporters.

“There are a lot of very deep, under-lying divisions in the party — and it’stroubling — we’re kind of at a pointwhere we’re battling for the soul of theRepublican Party,” he said in an inter-view with The Colorado Statesman thisweek.

The fault lines run deep and theycriss-cross in unpredictable ways.There’s the establishment and thenewcomers, typified by the Tea Partyand other self-described “Liberty”groups; those wanting to aim the partytoward its most conservative membersand those seeking to swell the rankswith more moderates; social conserva-tives and fiscal conservatives; partymembers looking for a strong leaderand those more attuned to a bottom-upapproach; and cutting across all theusual lines, those who broke ranks andsupported third-party gubernatorialcandidate Tom Tancredo and those whostuck with Republican nominee DanMaes in last year’s election (both lost toDemocrat John Hickenlooper, thoughTancredo outpolled Maes by aboutthree-to-one).

Harvey makes a case that he’s best-suited to unifying the party.

“I’ve been in the Legislature for 10years — so by definition, I’m establish-ment. But I do have a very conservativevoting record. I also have the ability toreach out to those traditional Repub-lican activists I’ve been working withfor 10 years, and get everybody going inthe same direction,” said Harvey, whoadded that his goal — shared by all thecandidates — “is to unite the party andmake sure Barack Obama is a one-termpresident.”

Noting that he is “very humbled and

honored” by the support he’s gottenfrom central committee members, Callsaid he’s got the right stuff for the job.

“We’ve got some great candidatesrunning for this post,” he told TheStatesman. “I believe I bring a uniquebackground and skill set to the job, aswell as a focus on growing the party andbeing a unifying force.”

Baron, who notes that his turn-around expertise at the Harley-Davidson Company is featured in busi-ness school case studies, has said theparty needs an outsider to fix things.

“I’m in this race for one thing. I’mworried about my kids, my grandkids.And I look at the Colorado RepublicanParty, and we have to get our act inorder,” he said at a candidate forum inWheat Ridge earlier this month.

Saying he’ll bring his knowledge ofparty operations along with a verydifferent style to the post, Gholston, aself-described “nutty conservative,” haskept mostly above the fray involvingcurrent GOP leadership. “What I wantto do as state party chairman is simplythis: to serve you, to fight for our princi-ples,” he said at the forum. “We knowwhat we believe, we know what westand for.”

“I am grateful, and most ColoradoRepublicans are grateful, for the serviceDick has given to our party,” Call said,adding that no matter what happens,the Wadhams era will be over. “We havean opportunity to move forward.”

One of the targets of Wadhams’attacks, Arnold brushed off multiplevolleys while at the same time chargingthe chairman with interfering in acontest he abandoned.

“The Republican Party needs amakeover, we need a fresh set of peoplein there, we need a fresh set of leaders,and that’s why I’m stepping up,” he

said, adding that he’s “chosen not to getin an endless series with DickWadhams.”

Starting in early March, however, thetwo got into at least a limited series,trading detailed accusations over eachother’s fundraising prowess andintegrity. After refuting each other’scontentions point-by-point in multipleopen letters and Facebook postings,Wadhams sent a terse reply to TheStatesman early last week: “MattArnold is delusional and a liar. He is theepitome of the kind of conspiratorialnut that I referred to a few weeks ago.”(In a letter announcing his withdrawalfrom the race in early February,Wadhams said he has grown “tired ofthose who are obsessed with seeingconspiracies around every corner andwho have terribly misguided notions ofwhat the role of the state party is.”)

Arnold shot back in an interviewwith The Statesman this week: “This isessentially a primary, and for DickWadhams to engage in personal baselessattacks against candidates is, I think,pretty despicable.”

That’s a double-dig at the departingchairman, who stood accused by someRepublicans of pulling strings instatewide primaries last year, though hevehemently denied the charges and saidhis critics simply didn’t grasp how theparty works.

Himself the subject of Wadhams’wrath, Harvey declined to engage in theback-and-forth after Wadhamsdescribed him as “the little creep” in astory posted online at a liberal websiteearlier this week.

Wadhams was responding to a sheafof court records and other filings passedto reporters by a Republican operativeon Monday. The documents purportedto demonstrate Harvey’s troubles withfinances, but Harvey dismissed theattacks as baseless and said anyone whobought into the attacks didn’t under-stand how businesses operate.

“I don’t have any comment on that,”Harvey said a few days later, soundingannoyed.

Still, Harvey let his frustration withthe current chair bubble over at least alittle bit. “I don’t feel I’m so muchrunning against the good people thatare running,” he said. “I feel like I’mrunning against Dick Wadhams.”

Harvey declared his challenge toWadhams in late January beforeWadhams changed direction and with-drew from the race. The next day Callentered the race and later that weekGholston jumped in. Wadhams has saidhe thinks either of them would be finesuccessors.

Instead of engaging in personalattacks, Arnold suggested, the fivecandidates have comported themselveswell and are offering Republicans aclear choice between different visionsand different styles.

“Our performance and our treatmentof each other has been mutuallyrespectful, it’s been cordial,” he said.“We’ve certainly highlighted our differ-ences, but not in a way that’s seeking toelevate ourselves by tearing down theother guy.”

Call made a similar point about themany times the candidates haveappeared before Republican groupsacross the state over the last month.

“We’ve been really trying throughoutthe candidate forums we’ve had to keepthe debate among the candidates verycivil and focused on the future of theparty. I have a lot of great respect formy colleagues,” he said. “I’m not goingto speak ill of them. Dick’s certainlyentitled to his opinion, but this shouldbe a race about the qualifications, theapproach and leadership style of thecandidates running.”

At a forum sponsored by theFoothills Republican Club on March 10at the Copperfields Event Center inWheat Ridge, in addition to the stan-dard set of questions, the candidatesanswered one that left the crowd ofRepublicans roaring with laughter.

“Speaking of vetting candidates atthe local level,” asked moderator LangSias, who ran for Congress last yearfrom the 7th District, “is there anythingwe should know about you that wouldbe embarrassing to Colorado Republi-cans?” Quipping that he was glad to beon the moderator’s side of the debatefor this question, Sias added, “TheDemocrats are very good at seizing atanything they can about one of ourleaders. What would you expect theDemocrats to seize on about you?”

Acknowledging that he could prob-ably be tagged one of the “grumpy oldmen” from the “grumpy old party,”Baron said his multiple runs forCongress in Michigan had likely alreadybrought anything noteworthy to light.“If there’s anything out there, the presswould have found out about it. I’m notlily white,” he said with a grin, “but Ihonestly can’t think of anything.”

Without skipping a beat, Gholstondeadpanned a response that had theRepublicans in stitches: “I’ll have togive my very first partial answer of mylife. Ten years in the Navy,” he said,and then turned more serious after thelaughter died down. “Other than beingthe only Republican in the family, I wasa cryptologist, I’m a defense contractor,so every five years I have to answer forevery job I’ve had, every place I’ve livedgoing back to my 16th birthday, andthey still let me in the building.”

Arnold narrowed his eyes andresponded in a stage-whisper: “Don’ttell anyone, but they might find outthat I’m a professional killer,” he said.“I jump out of buildings, I blow thingsup and I kill bad guys.” Raising hisvoice, he continued to describe the top-secret clearance he obtains in the ArmyNational Guard. “If there was anythinglikely to come out, they would havefound it in the most recent clearanceinvestigation that just happened.” Headded that liberal groups “threw every-thing at me they could find” when hewas running the Clear the Benchcampaign aimed at state Supreme Courtjustices, and came up empty.

“I’m a good, clean-living Mormon kidfrom the West,” Call said. “The most Itypically do on the risky side is I drinkDiet Coke a lot, but in my own personalbackground, I don’t think so.” He notedthat a background check with the statebar association required him to reveal“every parking ticket” and a juvenilecurfew violation on the 16th Street Mall,and then kept spilling. In his 15 years asa conservative activist and organizer, hesaid, “occasionally I’ve made somelapses in judgment. When I waschairman of the College Republicans atDU Law (School), I hosted a conserva-tive coming-out day on the same day asgay pride week, and I offended people.”

Then Call, “in all seriousness,” saidthat about four years ago he “did makethe mistake of contributing to a Demo-crat candidate, and I’m very sorry forthat.” (When he worked at an election-law firm, he donated $400 to state Rep.Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, anoffense Democrats aren’t likely to seizeon.) “If there’s one blemish I regret, it’sprobably that,” he said.

Harvey, who has won four electionsand run in a few others, said the publicvetting in campaigns has been thor-ough. “I assure you if there’s anythingin my record that would embarrass theRepublican Party, it would have comeout by now.” When he ran in theprimary for the 6th CongressionalDistrict seat eventually won by MikeCoffman, he said, his opponents did lotsof digging. “I guarantee you, if I hadsomething in my background, they hadprobably the best campaign teams topull it out and bring it forward.”

Looking stumped to come up with ascandal in his background, Harvey casta glance at Gholston. “I never served inthe Navy,” he said straight-faced. “Inever served in the Navy — what morecan I say?”


PAGE 18 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MARCH 25 , 2011“A court is an assembly of noble and distinguished beggars.” — Talleyrand

...Five candidates seeking to replace Wadhams as GOP ChairmanContinued from Page 1


In the end, it wasn’t evenclose. A spirited and divisiverace to replace Dick Wadhamsas the next Colorado Repub-lican Party chairman endedafter just one ballot on March26 at Douglas County HighSchool in Castle Rock with aclear majority for Ryan Call,the state GOP legal counseland former Denver Countychairman.

Easily emerging from afield of five candidates, Callwon with more than twice thevotes of his closest competitor,state Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, who hadmounted a conservative chal-lenge to Wadhams before theoutgoing two-term chairmanwithdrew from the race earlylast month. Incumbent state

party vice chairman LeondrayGholston placed third, aheadof Clear the Bench Colorado

organizer Matt Arnold andformer Michigan congressionalcandidate Bart Baron.

Taking the stage momentsafter Wadhams declared himthe new chairman, Call quotedDwight Eisenhower andRonald Reagan, two poles ofthe modern Republican Party.Thanking his family andsupporters, Call cited afavorite, “dog-eared” quotefrom Ike he said he’s carriedwith him for years: “Humilitymust always be the portion ofany man who receives acclaimearned in the blood of hisfollowers and the sacrifices ofhis friends.”

Asking fellow Republicansto stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with him, he prom-ised that, working together,they could enact the valuesthey share. “Those conserva-tive values of limited govern-ment, personal responsibility,dedication to a free-enterprise


Outgoing GOP Chair Wadhamsblushes at tribute — Page 18

Rep. Waller’s confused, saysColorado Right to Life — Page 3

Al Kolwicz says County ClerksAssn. needs sunlight — Page 5

Interior Sec. Salazar and theGettysburg Battlefield — Page 8

FOUNDED IN 1898 ★ VOL. 112, NO. 13 ★ DENVER, CO ★ APRIL 1, 2011 © $2.00


The nation’s first Latina governortold Colorado Republicans to stick totheir guns but not to be too tied totraditional labels in the next election at

a fundraising dinner on March 25 inLone Tree.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinezsaid serious talk about issues, not theusual partisan rhetoric, is what Repub-licans need in her speech on the eve ofa GOP central committee meeting topick a successor to Dick Wadhams, whohas helmed the state party since 2007.

Romney wins straw poll,Bachmann places second

Celebrating César Chávez

State Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, dances with her father,Frank, at the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement’sannual César Chávez dinner-dance on March 26 in Denver. See Page 35. PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Call scores GOP chair on first ballot

Sen. Ted Harvey, right, congratulates Aaron Call, 9-year-old son of RyanCall, left, who was elected chairman of the Colorado GOP last Saturday.Harvey placed a distant second. PHOTO BY JODY HOPE STROGOFF/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

N.M. guv stresses the issues


Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, hasasked that an ethics complaint filed againsthim by the Colorado Government Accounta-bility Project (CoGAP) be dismissed ongrounds that it fails to “articulate a factualbasis, the particulars of a charge” and thealleged violations of law cited in thecomplaint. “It falls short of demonstrating

any cause whatsoever, much less probablecause that a violation of Senate rules hasoccurred,” Morse wrote in his March 28letter to the Senate Ethics Committee.

The committee is slated to meet Thursdaynoon to review Morse’s response, accordingto chair Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora.

The complaint, filed March 10 by CoGAPand its director, Stephanie Cegielski, alleged“misuse of taxpayer dollars and possible

Morse filesresponse,asks that

complaint bedismissed

Mayoral candidate Carol Boigon greets Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher prior totheir press conference outside the Maltese Cross Manor Retirement Home in WestDenver this week. Boigon is calling on candidates to reject pay raises recently passedby the Denver City Council. See Page 21. PHOTO BY JOHN SCHOENWALTER/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

N.M. Gov.Susana

Martinezaddresses

Republicanson March 25

in LoneTree.

Boigon rails against pay hikes





Morgan Smith recalls when theJBC was actually fun! — Page 7

system that rewards merit and hardwork, those principles that expandliberty and opportunity and a constitu-tional adherence to the rule of law —those are the things that make ourcountry, our local communities strong.”

Then he told the crowd at DouglasCounty High School to prepare to getbusy.

“I expect every single one of you toroll up your sleeves, open up yourcheckbooks and dust off those precinct-walking shoes because there’s a lot ofwork to be done, friends. But, together,I know we can do it,” Call said.

Chair candidates needed 138.46votes to claim a win, and candidatespredicted that would take at least afew ballots. “You can never tell whatwill happen in a five-man race,” Arnoldsaid the night before at a Republicanfundraising dinner. But when the voteswere counted, Call had 166.7 votes,outpacing Harvey’s 74.48 and Ghol-ston’s 23.16. Arnold garnered 10.5votes and Baron had just 2 votes.(Results came in fractions becausesome state central committee voteswere split among two or three countyofficers.)

After the results were announced,both Harvey and Arnold said they weresurprised at the tally because they’dbeen promised many more votes thanthey received.

“I’m a little disappointed, for theego,” Harvey said with a weary smile.“But the state party is going to be wellserved.” He said after having thechance to travel the state with Call,he’s convinced “he is truly a wonderfulhuman being and I’m looking forwardto working with him and uniting theparty and make sure we are successfulin 2012.”

As for whether Tea Party and otherconservative activists will feel at homein the Republican Party, Harvey saidthat will be the GOP’s challenge.

“That’ll be Ryan’s and my job tomake sure we keep them engaged andhelping our party in the future,”Harvey said. “I believe he can do it,but it’s going to take a lot of hard workto make it happen.”

Arnold congratulated Call on the winbut suggested he’s got his work cut outfor him when it comes to keeping TeaParty and similar activists on board.

“Ryan ran a great campaign,”Arnold said. “He ran hard, he lobbiedhard, he got out there and worked itvery well, so he did a good job. I thinkhe will take that same energy forwardand I hope we can get the RepublicanParty back on track and regain thetrust of the voters that we need to do.”

Electing to “stay the course” withCall, however, could raise questions forrecently energized grassroots conserva-tives, Arnold said.

“I think a lot of the Liberty groupsmight be taking a long, hard look atthe Republican Party — unfortunately,that’s just reality,” he said. “TheRepublican Party has opted for keepingthings on an even keel — it’s OK, Irespect that — but I do think we’re ata point where pretty radical transfor-mation was needed. I hope that underRyan’s leadership the Republican Partycan regain that trust that we havelost.”

Republicans elected former stateSenate candidate and Jefferson CountyRepublican chairman Don Ytterberg asvice chairman by acclamation aftercandidate John Wagner pulled hisname from contention.

Former state party vice chairwomanPerry Buck — wife of 2010 RepublicanSenate nominee and Weld CountyDistrict Attorney Ken Buck — easilywon the race for party secretary overJeremy Goodall, who was running on aticket with Baron and Wagner.

A phalanx of lawmakers and officials

PAGE 16 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ APRIL 1 , 2011“We already have a sabbatical system. It’s called opposition, and I’ve had enough of it.” — Nigel Lawson

...Harvey says the party’s in good hands with CallContinued from Page 1

Newly elected Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call, left, shakes hands with contender Leondray Gholston as Call’s son Aaron andsecond-place finisher state Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, look on at Douglas County High School. PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Outgoing GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams gets ready to pass the gavel tohis successor, Ryan Call, who beat out four others. (STROGOFF)

Ryan Call’s parents and children join him during his nomination whileMesa County Republican Chair Ruth Ehlers, right, looks on. (STROGOFF)

State GOP Chairman-elect Ryan Call talks with state Sen. Ted Harvey, who finishedsecond in the balloting, shortly after being declared the winner. (LUNING)

Aaron Call, 9, smiles at the announcement his father,Ryan Call, has won the election. (LUNING)

State Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, withstate GOP chair candidate Ryan Call. (LUNING)

Sarah Anderson of Matt Arnold’s campaignwith Sen. Ted Harvey. (STROGOFF)

Leondray Gholston, who placed third, looksup as he delivers a rousing speech. (STROGOFF)


PAGE 17 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ APRIL 1, 2011“The cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it.” — Walter Bagehot

stood around Harvey on stage for hisnomination — he counted a majority oflegislators in his camp, including HouseSpeaker Frank McNulty, R-HighlandsRanch, and Senate Minority LeaderMike Kopp, R-Littleton.

“Ted knows the fundamental natureof campaigns — he understands it takesfull coalitions to win in competitivedistricts,” said Kopp, who added thatHarvey’s “focused determination” waswhat the GOP needed to win in 2012.

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, seconded Harvey’snomination. Noting that he served withHarvey in the state Legislature,Lamborn said, “I know as chairman,Ted will fully commit himself tomaking the Republican PartyColorado’s majority party and BarackObama a one-term president.”

“It is my privilege to second thenomination of my friend — and my statesenator — Ted Harvey,” McNulty said.His fellow House member, state Rep.Chris Holbert, R-Parker, introducedhimself as the state representative“from Douglas County, where we haveno elected Democrats.” He called Harveyhis best friend and added, “If you wantyour county to look like Douglas County,you’ll join me in supporting our nextchairman, Ted Harvey.”

Attorney General John Suthers tookthe lead nominating Call, who wassurrounded by three generations offamily members and some of the mostpowerful Republicans in the state.Noting that he’s won statewide electiontwice, Suthers said he has “some sensewhat it takes to win statewide inColorado.” It isn’t enough to win thebase, Suthers said. “You must win over

a majority of unaffiliated voters.Without them, you cannot win. So ourparty must present a conservativeRepublican message in a way that winsconverts. We must do what it takes toexpand our party, not just to purify ourparty.” Call, Suthers said, understoodhow to win where Republicans don’thave large majorities.

State Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, drew laughter and gasps ofsurprise during his remarks secondingCall’s nomination.

“Being a conservative and being agood leader is not enough for somepeople. They want to measure princi-ples by how harshly you criticize thepeople that disagree with you,” he said.“There is a technical term for thatpolitical strategy — stupid.”

In nearly a dozen candidate forumsheld across the state over the last

month, Call repeated his intentions toopen the doors of the Republican Partyto moderates — including pro-choiceRepublicans and even those willing toraise local taxes — along with youngand Hispanic voters.

After his acceptance speech, Call toldThe Colorado Statesman he was “verysurprised” to have won so decisively ina single round. “What it underscores,”he said, “is the desire among ColoradoRepublicans to become united and faceour challenges together.”

Starting Monday, he said, he plannedto make appointments to the stateexecutive committee, sketch out afinance plan, and make key hiring deci-sions. “And then we’ll really begin thehard work of working to win electionsin 2012.”



...Call ‘very surprised’ to have won so decisively on the first ballot

Family and supporters of Evergreen’s Don Ytterberg, center, listen to a nominating speech forthe candidate for state Republican Party vice chairman. Ytterberg, elected to a second term asJefferson County GOP chairman in January, won the state office by acclamation. (LUNING)

State Sen. Ted Harvey’s wife, Janie, right, son Jack and daughter Brooke smile as the HighlandsRanch Republican’s name is placed into nomination for state party chair. Harvey’s son broke hisarm in a skateboarding accident. (LUNING)

Below, state GOP chairman candidateRyan Call, right, goes over a list with

Denver Republican Party officers BrettMoore, the county secretary, and Michelle

Lyng, 1st vice chairman. (LUNING)

Lauren Call,7, hugs herfather, Ryan,while hiswife, Brittany,holds their 7-month-olddaughter,Ellie, asAttorneyGeneral JohnSuthersplaces Call’sname intonomination.(LUNING)

U.S. Rep. CoryGardner, left,

catches upwith House

Speaker FrankMcNulty,

R-HighlandsRanch, andstate Rep.

Carole Murray,R-Castle Rock.

(LUNING)

Sen. Greg Brophy, left, passes his iPhone over Sen. Bill Cadman, middle, so that attorneyRichard Westfall, right, can catch a look. (STROGOFF)

House Majority Leader Amy Stephens, R-Monument, left, stops to chat with Julie Hermann,Nissa Szabo and Justin Miller at the state GOP meeting on March 26. (LUNING)

BY JODY HOPE STROGOFF & ERNEST LUNINGTHE COLORADO STATESMAN

When 36-year-old Rick Palacio waselected to head the Colorado Demo-cratic Party in March, he became theyoungest state chair in living memory.Three weeks later, he lost the title whenRepublicans elected 35-year-old RyanCall to chair the state GOP. As bothstate parties gear up for what is shapingup to be a monumental election year in2012 — by most accounts, swing stateColorado’s electoral votes could provekey to the presidential race — the newstate chairs visited The ColoradoStatesman for an in-depth interviewabout their jobs and their parties.

Both emerged from contested elec-tions for state party leadership thisspring, and both take the place ofveteran politicos who helmedColorado’s parties through a series ofgame-changing elections.

They have big shoes to fill. Palacio’spredecessor, Pat Waak, served threetwo-year terms, brought the DemocraticNational Convention to the state in2008, and helped Democrats solidifylegislative majorities, flip congressionalseats and steer electoral votes toBarack Obama, only to see many ofthose gains reversed in last year’s elec-tion. Call’s predecessor, Dick Wadhams,served a pair of two-year terms, cappinga history nearly unprecedented inColorado politics helming successfulsenatorial and gubernatorial campaigns.Both Waak and Wadhams announcednear the beginning of the year theyweren’t seeking another term.

Palacio hails from Pueblo, where hemade a bid for county clerk in 2006. Heworked for U.S. Rep. John Salazar and,most recently, for then-Majority LeaderSteny Hoyer, the Maryland Democratwho was second in command to HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi when she ranthings in the House of Representatives.

Call grew up in Denver, led campusRepublican organizations, was DenverCounty chairman, and served as legalcounsel to the state GOP for severalyears before running for the top job. Heis an attorney with the Denver firm HaleWestfall.

Palacio and Call joined Statesmaneditor and publisher Jody Hope Strogoff

and political reporter Ernest Luning foran hour-long interview at The Statesmanoffices on May 9. Their predecessors,Waak and Wadhams, regularly sat forInnerViews with The Statesman. Readthose, along with more than a dozenothers with prominent Colorado politicalfigures, archived online atwww.coloradostatesman.com/innerview.

Below is a transcript of the conversa-tion with Palacio and Call. It has beenedited for length and clarity.

Colorado Statesman (CS): Welcome to all ofyou, we’re very appreciative of youcoming by and look forward to intro-ducing you and having a conversa-tion.

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call:Well, you were commenting, Jody, thatthis is really the first time that (Rick) andI have had a chance to meet.

Colorado Democratic Party Chairman RickPalacio: It’s the very first time, yeah.

CS: Have you followed each other alittle bit in some of the pressaccounts? I’m sure you follow itsomewhat, that you know who won?

CALL: Sure.PALACIO: I have to tell you, I mean I

was rooting for the younger guy.

CALL: (Laughs).PALACIO: So yeah, I’ve seen you on

[9News reporter] Matt Flener’s show, onYour Show, read a few things. And in allseriousness, congratulations. I think thatit sends a great message from both ofour parties that they elected theyoungest of all of the candidates.

CALL: I would agree with that. I thinkthat both parties are really trying tofigure out how to reach out to thoseyounger generations and newconstituents. And we’re at an interestingpoint, I think, both in Colorado as wellas historically where the parties arerealigning a little bit and figuring outhow you position yourself in the nextdecade or generation is a challenge forboth of us. And I think it’s a neat testa-ment to our respective centralcommittee voters that they looked tosomeone, in both cases, a little bityounger, a little bit new way of seeingthings.

PALACIO: Yeah, yeah, agreed.

CS: Can you each tell us a little bitabout what you’ve been doing sincetaking office? [To Palacio] You’vebeen in a little bit longer —

PALACIO: Um-hmm.

Newly elected state party chairs Democrat Rick Palacio, left, and Republican Ryan Call arepictured in The Colorado Statesman offices on May 9 after sitting for an hourlong interview withthe newspaper. PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/THE COLORADO STATESMAN

PAGE 2 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MAY 13 , 2011“People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them.” — James Baldwin



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Rick Palacio Ryan Call

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CS: — two or three weeks more thanRyan. But I imagine the first fewweeks are sort of an indoctrinationprocess? Or, do you want to tell usabout it and then we can have Ryantell us about his first three weeks?

PALACIO: Sure. Yeah, I think that I waselected a few weeks, at least three orfour weeks before you were. It wasMarch 5th, so just a couple of days agoit was my two month anniversary. It feelslike it’s been a little bit longer than twomonths. Definitely the first month wasindoctrination. You know, just reallyrebuilding what was left behind. As youboth know, we didn’t really have muchof a staff that was left over, not for anyreason except that they all had plannedon going somewhere else for a year, atleast the last year our TechnologyDirector Mike Weissman, who’s beenwith the party for a very long time,decided he’s going to go to law school.So he left, Pat (Waak) left, our financeteam. Everyone sort of all made theexodus at the same time. So it’s reallybeen just two months of rebuilding that,sort of the staff.

Matt (Inzeo, the press secretary) isnew to the shop, Alec Garnett is execu-tive director. So just mostly staff set-upand getting to know the various legisla-tors that we have in our caucus in theSenate and the House and visiting withour U.S. House delegation and our U.S.senators. So it’s been a getting-to-know-you sort of two months.

CS: Do you know all the names of allthe legislators yet?

PALACIO: Yes, I think I do.

CS: OK. There are a bunch of newones, and we were just learning acouple of months ago ourselves.

PALACIO: Um-hmm. Well you know —and Ryan probably shares this experi-ence as far as our legislators go — ourlegislators are automatically members ofthe State Central Committee. So anyonewho’s good at counting their votes hasgot to know who’s there. So I think I hada conversation with most of them evenprior to my election, in the couple ofmonths leading up to it.

CS: You have had a State CentralCommittee meeting since you wereelected?

PALACIO: We did. That was the firstmeeting. Down in Pueblo we had anExecutive Committee meeting and aState Central Committee meeting, Iguess it was about a month ago. Verysuccessful, disposing of business thathadn’t been taken care of at the reor-ganization meeting where I was elected.

CS: Ryan, how’s it been — hitting theground running?

CALL: I think that’s the best way tocharacterize it, is hitting the groundrunning. I think I was fortunate in that,having worked so closely with not justDick but his predecessor and others, inthe capacity as counsel and during the’08 cycle I had left my law practice to goin and work for the party full time as in-house counsel and as the state party’spolitical director. So I had a much betterhands on view of the party operationalside. We were able to get in there andstart making some things happen, really,quite quickly. Probably like Rick, muchof my day is spent on the phone,fundraising phone calls and alsoreaching out to our county organiza-tional leadership. A lot of time on theroad too, attending Lincoln Day dinnersand reaching out to our local leadership.So that has been just a lot of fun andreally a great, rewarding experience.

Like Rick, I think I did have, obvi-ously, a lot of chance to interact withboth our leadership as well as electedofficials quite a bit during the course ofthe campaign (for state party chairman),

and I have interacted with a lot of thesefolks over the years just in my capacityboth as kind of leadership as well as thestate party. So those relationships wereones that I’ve had a chance to kind ofrenew and strengthen in a newapproach. And that’s been fun, to beable to be in a position where you canreally hopefully leverage what resourcesand efforts that the party can bring tobear to help them be successful in theirindividual initiatives. Whether that’sechoing the Speaker’s most recent sortof position on a piece of legislation or alegislative approach or whether that’sreaching out and helping facilitate acounty organization or chairman who’sbrand new in his post and trying tofigure out the ropes. That’s been veryrewarding for me.

CS: You’ve made some hires too?CALL: We have. I think, like Rick, we

had sort of a natural transition and attri-tion of a couple of our people. JamesGarcia, who had been serving as theexecutive director for the last couple ofyears, left to take a position with theRomney campaign, and that wasexpected. So that presented a nice tran-sition. A couple of other staff went on todo a few other things and it gave us anopportunity to really re-evaluate ouroperational side in terms of costs andthings. And we’ve been able to dramati-cally cut our overhead in an attempt topreserve capital for the upcomingcampaign. This week we’ve changedoffices in an attempt to — just down thehall, which is a much smaller space —to be able to preserve some moreresources for the upcoming campaign interms of rent. We made a hire of ChuckPoplstein who had been working the lastcycle as Victory director (running theGOP’s coordinated, statewidecampaign). It was a natural fit and reallya tremendous political talent to come onas executive director. And we’ll bemaking some additional hires in the nextlittle while for finance and informationtechnology, IT kind of roles.

CS: Both of you had contested elec-tions. Do you feel that there was anybitterness left over, having runagainst a couple of Democrats andRepublicans? Or do you think every-body’s kind of united? Have you hadthe need to reach out to some of thegroups that perhaps weren’tsupporting you at first? Rick?

PALACIO: You’re right, I did have acontested election, but I don’t believethere were any hard feelings out there.I’ve had an opportunity to speak tomost of those that were involved in,obviously, my own campaign, but in mytwo opponents’ campaigns as well. [Ed.note: Former state Sen. Polly Baca andpast Larimer County chair Adam Bowenalso ran for state Democratic chair.]We’ve enlisted them to help with variousprojects in the state party, variouscommittees. So I think that we have agreat relationship at this point, so I don’tsee any left over hard feelings.

CS: Ryan?CALL: Really, it’s been very smooth

and we’ve similarly been able to reachout, and, in particular Senator (Ted)Harvey (R-Highlands Ranch) has justbeen a real professional about it. [Ed.note: Call faced a more crowded field inhis run for state GOP chair. Also runningwere Harvey, then-state vice chairmanLeondray Gholston, Clear the Benchfounder Matt Arnold and past congres-sional candidate Bart Baron.] I think thatparticularly my election, it really wassomething of a referendum in terms ofthe direction that the Central Committeeand the party wanted to go. Andbecause of that it was fairly over-whelming, that there was a realconsensus to say, “OK, well we’ve sortof made a decision, this is the approach

that we want the state party to be goingin.” And it’s much more one that’sfocused on the operational side and notso much on the ideological side. Andbecause Republicans are united in thosegoals, it’s been pretty easy to buildsome common ground across the boardwith that. So it’s been positive, I haven’tseen any wrinkles, any problems.

CS: You guys feel free to talk to eachother too.

CALL: (Laughs).

CS: If something comes up and you’dlike to interject —

CALL: Sure.PALACIO: Actually, I do have a ques-

tion.CALL: Sure.PALACIO: The make-up of your Central

Committee — how many members areon the State Central Committee?

CALL: Just over 300. And ours, ofcourse, is a function of state law, justlike yours is. We don’t have as manybonus members (as the Democrats),things like that, as much. We’ve got thebonus member allocations to the countyorganizations as a function of the mostrecent gubernatorial ballot. And as aresult, we typically have more like 400 to450 Central Committee members, butthis last go around it was just over 300because of the impact of the governor’srace.

[Ed. note: The parties allocate“bonus” members to counties based onperformance in benchmark races in theprevious election. In the RepublicanParty’s case, since gubernatorialnominee Dan Maes got so few votes lastyear, there were an unusually lownumber of bonus delegates awarded tocounties. The state central committeesare also made up of county party offi-cers and certain elected officials.]

What that did is it sort of crystallizedthe voting membership in the CentralCommittee into the leadership, thecounty organizational leadership; thechairs, the vice chairs, as well as theelected officials. And candidly, I thinkthat helped us get more clarity in termsof the operational side. The vote countmay have been differently if we had amuch larger sort of representation of justregular activists that aren’t necessarilyresponsible in leadership, but have abetter and maybe more thorough under-standing of the actual operational sideof winning elections. So we certainlysaw an impact as a result of that, but atthe same time most of our people reallyare focused on the task at hand in termsof elections.

CS: What about the make-up of theDems?

PALACIO: We have quite a few bonusmembers. We’re similar in set-up thatwe have bonus members that are allo-cated for gubernatorial, presidentialelections, and so I think with alternatesand delegates we were near 600, some-where in there.

CALL: Sorry just to interrupt — for yourCentral Committee you have alternatesas well?

PALACIO: Um-hmm.CALL: Really? So you do a — it’s a

delegation, rather than a sort of just byvirtue of their office, they’re votingnumbers?

PALACIO: Right. Well, the CentralCommittee has, of course, all of theelected officials that are part of theCentral Committee and then there arealternates elected from each county orregion for the bonus members specifi-cally.

CALL: Interesting.PALACIO: So the bonus members have

alternates.CALL: OK. Republicans don’t have

alternates. If the bonus member doesn’tshow up, then that county loses thevote.

PALACIO: Yeah, there are always a lineof alternates. I think the doors open at7, tables for registration open at 7o’clock, and from what I understand inyears past, it turns into a bit of ashoving match in some counties foralternates to be seated.

CALL: Oh, in terms of who gets in thefirst spot?

PALACIO: Yeah.CALL: So they’re not ranked, or how’s

that — they’re supposed to be ranked?PALACIO: Yeah, I think that they’re

supposed to be ranked (chuckles) —some counties do it differently in theirown reorganization. So some counties,like my home county (Pueblo County),we elect all our alternates and rankthem. Some counties don’t rank themand just elect alternates, and then it’s asort of free for all who registers first on—

CS: First come, first serve?PALACIO: First come, first serve, right.

CS: At each meeting.PALACIO: Right. And then it’s funny, we

have an ability to, if you are a bonusmember and you’re not there in time,your seat is given up, you still have theability to show up late and reclaim —

CALL: Your seat?PALACIO: — your ballot, right.CALL: Ah. So whoever’s the alternate

—PALACIO: If you find the person.CALL: If you can find them (laughs).

CS: You have to find that particularperson.

PALACIO: If you can find… You have tofind the person that has been assignedyour ballot.

CS: So it’s a real free for all?CALL: Oh, man.PALACIO: So there’s a little bit of hiding

if you’re an alternate. So it’s fun.CALL: I remember going through the

trainings that we were doing in the lastcouple of years and I worked with some— I probably didn’t work with your pred-ecessor at the state party level butcertainly with representatives at thecounty level. And looking at the differ-ences between the way the parties runtheir caucuses and assemblies was alsointeresting and instructive.

PALACIO: Um-hmm. Yeah, yeah.

CS: Curious since you bring that up,the next year is going to have adifferent election calendar, partly tomake sure the military vote gets outthere in time, but that’s going to moveeverything up quite a bit except thecaucuses. What’s your take on that?How’s that going to work?

CALL: It actually moves up the caucusdate too, by three weeks.

CS: Three weeks — not as far as someof the rest, but yeah, everything’smore compacted.

CALL: And it puts us — I think if youlook at the last couple of cycles withColorado — Because so many otherstates were going that first week inMarch, Super Tuesday, the fact that wewere late later in that mix, I think, actu-ally sort of hurt Colorado’s voice in thepresidential nominating contest a bit.And so being able to move that up atleast to the first week in March, I think,is going to be a good thing forColorado, Republicans and Democrats.

PALACIO: I agree, yeah.

CS: But you’ve got a more condensedseason between caucuses, countyassemblies and state assemblies.

PALACIO: Right.

CS: And the state assembly’s in themiddle of the legislative session. It’sgoing to be different. Do you feel that



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PAGE 3 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MAY 13 , 2011“Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.” — Mao Zedong

it’s going to run OK?CALL: I think it’s going to impose a

significant amount of administrativechallenges on us. I think that bothparties are going to have to learn to usetechnology more efficiently to be able tocompile those results and get things puttogether. Candidly, I think the Repub-lican Party has a little bit of an easiertime at it because we don’t have to doall the funny proportional math that youguys do with respect to the allocation ofdelegates and alternates. Ours is justwhoever shows up and gets the votegets to be the delegate.

We don’t have that same sort ofproportional representation, but at thesame time, I think in the long run it’sprobably better for us, at least, to havea little bit of an accelerated primarycalendar and more time to make thecase to the general electorate, ratherthan the previous model which made itvery difficult to sort of retool after —especially after a divisive primary. Andwhile that may benefit one party oneparticular year, I think overall it probablybenefits both parties to be able topresent a good, clear differencebetween their candidate once they’vegot it figured out, to the general elec-torate.

PALACIO: Yeah, I agree. It’ll be moremoney is going to need to be spent inthe general election. So if you think that2010, you were saturated with campaignads and telephone calls in the general, Imean it’s just going to be —

CS: — start two months earlier?PALACIO: Start two months earlier,

right. But I think that generally it’s goingto be helpful for our party, the GOP aswell, in coming together around anominee.

CS: With it happening so early, though,and so close to the (legislative)session, do you think that’s going tohave an impact on drawing from thelegislature for candidates? Maybe notthis year so much but in future years,that legislators aren’t going to havevery long to campaign when they’renot in session, raise money, some ofthe restrictions on that. Do you thinkthat’ll change the make-up?

CALL: I don’t think so. I think you’ll seecandidates get started a little bit earlier,towards the end of the previous year interms of fundraising, but I don’t think it’llmake that big of a difference.

PALACIO: Yeah, I don’t see it makingthat much of a difference either.

CS: And of course going into 2012 wehave no U.S. Senate or governor,statewide races. We have, of course,the congressional and a presidential.

PALACIO: Regents.

CS: And the regents, absolutely. Andthe Legislature, control of the Legis-lature. But do you see the presiden-tial as the key race for Democratsand Republicans? Would you touchalso a little bit on the congressionalraces? Is the presidential (race) goingto be job one for both of you andthen whatever else you have timefor?

PALACIO: I wouldn’t say that whateverelse we have time for. We’re going tomake time. The presidential re-electionis certainly going to be the top priorityfor us, but that doesn’t mean that therest of the races fall much further downthe ladder. We have to re-elect PresidentObama, we need to regain the majorityin the State House that we lost this lastcycle, and, depending on redistrictingand the way that the maps look, youknow, hopefully regain our U.S. Houseseats that we lost as well. But I wouldn’tsay that one is going to overwhelm therest. Now, will the presidential re-elec-tion campaign roll through like a freight

train? Absolutely, no doubt about it. ButI think that there’s going to be plenty ofoxygen in the room for all of the races.

CS: How confident are you that Presi-dent Obama can again carryColorado? Because traditionally,other than 2008, it usually goes to aRepublican. What’s your assessmentof how the Democrats could possiblydo?

PALACIO: I have the highest degree ofconfidence that the president is going tocarry Colorado again. I do. Colorado is avery — it’s becoming a younger elec-torate. We saw a dynamic shift in 2008,a tremendous amount of energy behindPresident Obama. I think many of thethings that he campaigned upon wereactually passed and signed into law. Sohe has, I think, demonstrated that he isa great president and well deserving ofre-election in 2012.

CALL: And I guess that’s where I’llhave to respectfully disagree with mycolleague over here, because I believethat the president has overreached, andhis agenda has hurt Colorado familiesand businesses in ways that our elec-torate has felt up front. And I think thatColorado is, and really always has been,a more center-right type state and haskind of been bred into our culture anindependence from Washington that theoverreach that we’ve seen — withparticularly some of the legislation onhealth care and the regulatory environ-ment and environmental issues — thathave hurt Colorado businesses andfamilies and hurt jobs and the economy,will carry the day. And so I do believethat Colorado voters will see the direc-tion that this president has taken thecountry, and they’ll want to changedirection.

CS: Any indication whether Colorado isgoing to be a Romney state or is itway too early to — ?

CALL: It’s really early on our side to dothat. Obviously Romney had a greatdeal of support in Colorado, but wehave a terrific field. And one of our chal-lenges is, candidly, we’ve got a lot ofgood people to pick from.

CS: Did Newt Gingrich announced thismorning that he’s going to — ?

CALL: That he’s going to form anexploratory committee, yep. So you’vegot Newt Gingrich in the mix, you’ve gotterrific governors with some greathands-on executive experience, likeMitch Daniels and Tim Pawlenty in themix. Other great leaders in Congress likeMichele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich,obviously, with great, thorough under-standing of federal policy that couldbring a lot to the table. That’s our chal-lenge, as Republicans, is that we havesuch good candidates to pick from thatit’ll be hard to get a consensus candi-date fairly early. But I’m optimistic thatregardless of who the Republican Partynominates, they’ll be able to draw thatcontrasting message between ouroverall kind of philosophy of govern-ment versus what we’ve been seeingfrom President Obama and the Democ-rats in Congress.

But that’s part of what healthy elec-tions are all about, is drawing starkcontrasts between the two differentideas and approaches to fixingAmerica’s and Colorado’s challenges,and I think that that’s where Republi-cans will do well. Now I will say thatRepublicans are an independent-mindedbunch of folks, and so my challenge iskeeping everybody on the team workingtowards those common goals. And I’m

sure that my colleague probably feelsthe same way, recognizing that politicsand particularly party politics is a coali-tion sport. And keeping all the people onthe team working together towardsthose common objectives is a challengeI think we both have to deal with.

PALACIO: Yeah, and I obviously amgoing to disagree with you on almost allrespects, except for the stark contrastbetween our candidates, and that acontrast needs to be drawn. Certainly, Ithink the contrasts are drawing them-selves, you know, thinking about all ofthose that could be potentially or will berunning on the GOP ticket, there aresome interesting people that I thinkdon’t represent Coloradans, certainlydon’t represent Colorado families andsmall businesses. You know, the firstone that you mentioned is Mitt Romney.But yet the first mention of overreachyou gave was health care reform — MittRomney passed RomneyCare in Massa-chusetts, which is very similar to theAffordable Care Act [Obama’s signaturehealth care reform law] in the individualmandate and the way that the reform iscarried out.

So, as far as Romney goes, I thinkyou may have a much more difficult timegetting your Republicans to rally aroundMitt Romney, if he should be thenominee. I think, actually, Romney mighthave a difficult time even getting thenomination in Colorado. Michele Bach-mann, Sarah Palin, many of those onthe far right, I think, are just a little bittoo extreme for Coloradans. You’reabsolutely right about Coloradans. Yousaid the GOP is fairly independent,Republicans in Colorado are fairly inde-pendent. I would say that Coloradansgenerally are very independent folks andthat’s partially what makes Coloradosuch a battleground state, is our inde-pendence. It’s sometimes difficult to tellwhich way we’re going to swing and Ithink that the barometer right now isn’tnecessarily the best for any of theRepublican hopefuls that are out there,which even furthers my confidence inPresident Obama in 2012.

CS: We could keep disagreeing on thatall day.

CALL: Sure.

CS: Agree to disagree. Can we get aprediction from both of you? Otherthan presidential, what do you think isgoing to be the most hard foughtcontest next year? For control of theState House, State Senate or some ofthe congressional seats?

CALL: I think it’s some of the legislativeraces, candidly, because that is whatoften hits close to home in terms ofimpacting, directly, families and jobcreation and the kinds of things thatimpact Coloradans — is the direction it’shappening. And with Governor Hicken-looper in the governorship for the nextfew years, what’s going to drive thepolicy agenda in Colorado is going tocome from the legislature. So while thepresidential campaign will sort ofprovide overall energy and enthusiasm,much of our effort will also be directedtowards reclaiming the State Senate andexpanding majorities in the State Houseso that Colorado Republicans canadvance a pro- economic growth andjob creation agenda.

CS: OK, and what’s your take on — ?PALACIO: Yeah, I would say that the

hard-fought battle for us is going to bethe State Legislature, the State House inparticular. We’re in the minority by oneseat, I think many have mentionedbefore that we lost that one seat by amere 200 votes. So I think we’re allgoing to be working towards regainingthat strong majority in the State Houseand making sure that we retain themajority in the State Senate. And then

PAGE 4 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MAY 13 , 2011“History never looks like history when you are living through it.” — John W. Gardner



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Ryan Call discusses his candidacy for state Republican Party chairman at a forum sponsoredby R Block Party on Feb. 21 at O’Meara Ford in Northglenn. It was one of a series of forums theGOP chair candidates attended around the state. FILE PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/ THE COLORADO STATESMAN

certainly it’s going to be a battle for ourU.S. House seats. That’s where a lot ofmoney tends to be spent, it’s also wherea lot of our GOTV (get out the vote)efforts, really our up ballot, our top linecandidates like U.S. House. Youmentioned that we don’t have a top-linestatewide candidate, so I think thatgives us more of an opportunity to focuson regaining those two U.S. Houseseats and our State House.

CS: Speaking of candidates, one ofthe issues of your predecessorsseemed to be, especially on theRepublican side, the role of the state chairman in “vetting” candi-dates — or recruiting candidates.How do you two view your roles asstate chair in terms of candidaterecruitment? And we’d be curioustoo, what’s actually gone on withthat. Have people been approachingyou to run?

CALL: Yeah, a few people obviouslyhave. I think my role is a little bit more,rather than vetting or recruitment, it’smore development and support. My jobthat I see it, is to help facilitate folks toget access to the process, to have avery transparent but vigorous primarybattle to find out who needs to be ourstandard bearer in any number of races.But it certainly is not my job to put thethumb on the scale to influence theoutcome of that, rather to help provideadvice and guidance in a very even-handed way to anyone who would seekto represent our party in the generalelection. That’s a challenge, becausesome candidates bring a lot to the tableand other ones are new to the game. Myjob is to help facilitate with resourcesand help in guidance and training in aneven-handed way and make sure thatour process of caucuses and assem-blies in the primary election really doestest those candidates to see which oneis going to be the best to carry theparty’s banner.

CS: Do you find that there are somepeople who — because that was anissue in your race (for state partychair) — that some people think it’sstill the role of the state chair toperhaps vet them more or put thethumb on the scale?

CALL: Sure. You know, we look veryclosely and look to and work veryclosely with our local county leadershipin particular, as it comes with candidatedevelopment and recruitment. Becauseyou know, if you’re the chairman of theparty out in Jefferson County then youknow your people, you know thatdistrict. And so particularly with respectto recruitment of legislative races, we dolook to that a lot. I don’t think it’s the jobof the state party’s chairman to put histhumb on the scale in any way, but I dothink it is the job of the chairman to beactively working behind the scenes tohelp provide the kind of support andhelp to guide candidates so that theycan put their best foot forward as itrelates to a desire to carry the party’snomination. And that’s the challengewith any election.

It’s also a long game for us in termsof candidate development and recruit-ment, and so we will also in theupcoming elections not only focus onthe congressional seats and the presi-dential election and certain legislativeraces, but we intend on providing a lotof help and resources and support tothose folks that are running for localoffice — county commissioners or evenmunicipal offices — that may be up inthe course of the next few years,because we see that as a great farmteam for developing good, principledcandidates that have some experiencein government and can then do muchbetter in a higher office. It’s a long-termgame.

CS: Rick?PALACIO: You know, I think that the

role of the party certainly has a bit of avetting responsibility. Fortunately, forDemocrats across Colorado, we’venever really had much of a problemrecruiting candidates. We tend to haveDemocrats across the country and inColorado, and we’re a very diverse party— we have a lot of faces that comeforward every time that there is avacancy or potential vacancy thatopens. So, when we have a wide rangeof individuals, then I think we have tostep back and perhaps ask ourselvesand have conversations with our countychairs and our county party activists andlegislative leaders, who is the bestperson to put forward for whateveroffice it happens to be. So, you know,certainly I think that vetting is part of theresponsibility, but, as Ryan mentioned, Ithink that a greater responsibility for usis really just developing an infrastructureand providing some sort of a support forour candidates in our various counties.

CS: OK. Have you been approached byfolks looking to run for office already?Is it already underway? Is it too early?

PALACIO: No, I don’t think it’s ever tooearly in this business. I have people thatI’ve had conversations with that want torun in 2014.

CALL: Or 2016 (laughs).PALACIO: Or 2016 even, right. So no,

at least a couple of conversations perweek with various candidates or poten-tial candidates from around the state.

CS: OK, and as far as kind of workingon a farm team out there in some ofthe municipalities, counties, maybeeven school boards, are you having ahand in that? Is that something that’sin the state party’s purview?

PALACIO: Yeah, it’s definitely part of theresponsibility of the state party to builda strong farm team, much as ChairmanCall’s responsibility is to build a strongfarm team for the GOP. I think the differ-ence is what we’re farming here.

CS: How so?PALACIO: Well, I mean he’s obviously

farming for the future of the RepublicanParty and we’re obviously farming forthe future of the Democratic Party.Difference between winter wheat andcorn, perhaps, I don’t know. But it’s

certainly part of the responsibility.

CS: You both have been on the roadsomewhat. Can you talk about whereyou’ve traveled since taking office?

CALL: Well, I don’t know about Rick,but certainly both in the campaign, wecertainly spent a lot of time on the road— I think I probably put 5,000 miles onthe car. It was really a great experienceto travel the state and reconnect withour great grassroots leaders, electedofficials all over the place. I rememberthere were a few days where you wakeup in the morning and you drive toGrand Junction and then you go toDelta and then you go to Montrose andthen you come back home. So theytend to be sort of long days sometimes,but it certainly is a terrific state and wehave great grass roots leadership allover the place.

I have been doing a lot in terms ofgoing to Lincoln Day Dinners and springflings in Park County and SaguacheCounty and down meeting with localleaders in Pueblo or in Fort Collins andon the Western Slope, certainly, GrandJunction. So we get around. That’s a bigpart of, I think the job of the chairman, isto show the flag and to be able to reachout and make sure that we’re in closecontact with our local leadership andthat they know that we’re an activeresources to helping them be successfulin their initiatives in the counties.

PALACIO: Yeah, definitely rallying thetroops is a big part of what we have todo. We spoke several months ago, rightin the midst of our campaign [in aStatesman interview with the Demo-cratic state chair candidates] and I thinkI had traveled to a dozen communitiesat that point. Since my own election,travel hasn’t necessarily been heavy butit’s going to be a busy summer. VariousJFK or Jefferson Jackson dinners thatI’ve been to, Jane Jefferson, the Demo-cratic women’s group in Adams County,and just spent Saturday evening inOtero, the tri-county Otero event andCrowley Counties for their JFK Dinner,Fremont County. And over the nextseveral months I think we have 28different communities on the calendar inthe next two months.

CS: That’s a busy schedule. You’vealso been back to D.C. for some(Democratic National Committee)

business? Can you tell us anythingabout that?

PALACIO: Sure. I was in D.C.Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of lastweek. The DNC elected a new chair,Debbie Wasserman Schulz, a congress-woman from Florida. And then justmeeting with our delegation; bothmembers of the Senate and our threeHouse delegation members. And variouspeople (who) are providing support aswell. So just a quick three-day trip.

CS: Three-day whirlwind?PALACIO: Three-day whirlwind. I think

Wednesday was the DNC meeting —Thursday several DNC, other sort ofsupport meetings then the Cinco deMayo celebration at the White House,which was fun, exciting. And meetingwith both of our senators and ourcongressional delegation.

CS: OK. Have you been back to D.C.for any (Republican NationalCommittee) business?

CALL: Not yet.

CS: A lot of that happened before youcame aboard.

CALL: Yeah, the RNC meeting in termsof the election of new officers wasbefore that and we have a newchairman, obviously, with ReincePriebus, and he comes from a back-ground of having been a state partychairman and much more operational infocus. And I’ve had some great conver-sations with Reince. We actually had achance to meet on a number of occa-sions before the election because hehad been so actively involved in some ofthe legal team operations of the partypreviously. And so I had a chance tointeract with him in that capacity before,so I have a lot of respect for him. Andhis focus is on the operations side of theparty and less on some of the otherthings that the predecessor chairmandid.

CS: Rick, are you spending any timefundraising?

PALACIO: I spend a lot of timefundraising. I would imagine just like mycolleague, it’s at least a portion — two,three hours every day on the telephone.

CS: Is it hard?

PAGE 5 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MAY 13 , 2011“Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.” — African proverb



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Candidate Rick Palacio accepts the nomination for state party chair at the Democratic State Central Committee meeting on March 5 at theColorado Convention Center in Denver. The Pueblo native talked about his two grandfathers, who were both coal miners and union members.“They taught me that if working people don’t stand up for one another, no one else will,” he said. FILE PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/ THE COLORADO STATESMAN

PALACIO: It’s not hard but I don’t thinkthat anyone really likes to ask formoney. It’s certainly not hard, there are alot of people out there that in the pasthave given to the Colorado DemocraticParty or Democratic candidates, that aremore than willing to give again. I thinkeveryone knows what’s at stake for us in2012, so people have been verygenerous. So as far as level of difficultly,it’s not up there with mining coal ordigging ditches or anything like that, butit’s not my favorite thing to do.

CS: Ryan, you’ve got a new thing goingwith the Capitol Club [a monthlyRepublican lunchtime fundraiserfeaturing noted speakers in down-town Denver].

CALL: The Republican Party is tryingout a number of new initiatives. We’rebringing back things that we used to dothat we haven’t done for some time interms of some regular donor meetingsand clubs. We want to also provide agood forum to talk about issuesbecause that’s what the upcomingcampaign’s going to be about.

But like my colleague, I mean muchof my day is spent on the phone or inmeetings raising money for the partyand I think, like him, our people under-stand, and our supporters and donorsand contributors over the years under-stand, what is at stake in the upcomingelection, and they have also been verygenerous in their willingness to help usbe prepared for 2012.

CS: Although we’re two days beforethe last day of the legislative sessionhere — so this might be a little bitpremature — but other than thebudget and redistricting, two thingsthat the Legislature had to do thisyear, I’d be curious, what you thinkwas the most significant legislationthat was passed this session, andalso curious what you would haveliked to have seen happen that didn’t.

CALL: Good question.

CS: Rick, what do you think?PALACIO: As far as what I would have

liked to have seen that didn’t happen,from my own perspective I think it wouldhave been nice for the Legislature topass a civil unions bill. Unfortunately,the Republicans felt that it was notsomething for them, and they decidedto vote it down, so we didn’t have anopportunity to pass that. But I think twoof the significant pieces that did pass —and I would imagine that — I won’tspeak for you — but one of them is justa bipartisan budget that was passed. Anice healthy majority in both chambersin both parties passed a budget, whichis always good, so we didn’t necessarilycome down to the wire. And the otherpiece, I think, is health exchanges, a bigpart of what needs to be done by thestates so that we can make sure thatwe’re part of the Affordable Care Actand that all of Coloradans are providedhealth insurance, I think, was a majoraccomplishment as well.

CALL: I think that the budget is prob-ably the best example, I know, becauseoften budgets are a reflection of priori-ties and also, especially in Colorado,where we have to balance the budget,the fact that we have Republicans andDemocrats both coming together to say,“We have to make difficult decisions.”

I think that some of the bestadvancements really were the Republi-cans’ ability to find additional savings inthe budget and minimize the cuts toeducation. Education’s an importantpriority for the Republican Party — weunderstand that that’s an issue that,particularly Rep. (Tom) Massey (R-Poncha Springs), that his leadershipwas really able to help minimize some ofthe difficult cuts to education in a waythat helps minimize the impact on local

communities in particular — especiallyrural communities. The rural schooldistricts often struggle because ofcapital and other concerns, and so thebudget was adopted and some of thesubsequent amendments in the budget,I think, was a real win for not just theRepublicans but also for Colorado citi-zens.

CS: OK. And what would you haveliked to have seen the Legislature dothat they haven’t — barring that theymight do something in the next twodays?

CALL: Sure. And I know that we have acouple of bills that are still out there. Forexample, I know RepresentativeStephens has been pushing, and in theHouse it had overwhelming support to—

CS: The interstate compact?CALL: Some of the interstate compacts

issues, but also the Amazon tax andsome other things that would, I think,really help some of the industries inColorado. Republicans did lead ontrying to create an environment thatwould facilitate job creation and growth,and we were able to get some things

passed — not everything I think wewould have liked to have seen — butthey were able to get a number of thosethings through and that’s good forColorado.

CS: Can I ask a follow up? Rickbrought up that civil unions (legisla-tion) was voted down by the fewRepublicans on (the JudiciaryCommittee) in the House. And whenyou talked on the Your Show inter-view you said that you thought thatwas something that Republicanscould come together and reach somecompromises on, that you foreseethat something that may be a toned-down version or something like that— that civil unions will pass in yearsto come. What’s your take?

CALL: I do foresee that there will besomething on that. I mean it’s alwaysdifficult to sort of see into the future, butI do believe that there were someRepublicans, even currently, that mighthave supported the bill. But I think thatthe bill and the legislation, in its form asit was proposed, didn’t do enough toprotect certain aspects of traditionalmarriage and families. But I do believethat a form of that down the road will

gain some Republican support. What itlooks like and how it comes out, I don’tknow. I know that we’ve had Republi-cans in the past that have proposedcertain civil unions type legislation, we’llsee what happens in the upcominglegislative session and others. But Ibelieve it’s unfair to criticize, or to char-acterize, rather, Republicans as notwanting to protect and preserve civilliberties in that instance. But we alsoneed to balance that with the properrole of the state and protecting families.

PALACIO: Well, I’m curious to knowwhat it was — on Your Show you alsomentioned the legislation went too far.I’m curious to know what that meant,that the legislation went too far. I think,from my perspective, as well as manyDemocrats out there, as well as, I think,the majority of Coloradans, think thatcivil unions is just a matter of fairness.So I guess my question is twofold: whatit was that went too far, and what it wasthat the civil unions bill would have doneto endanger, if you will, traditionalmarriage?

CALL: I’m not going to talk specificallyabout the legislation, but I do know thatColorado voters have weighed in on thisissue. They were very overwhelming intheir support of traditional marriage interms of the constitutional amendmentnot many years ago — they did voteagainst Referendum I — and I think ifwe are going to be deferential to whatthe voters said on that, legislativemembers need to proceed carefullywhen you’re dealing with something thatthe voters have spoken on that. Now, ispublic sentiment changing on some ofthose things? Perhaps. But I also don’tthink that it’s necessarily fair to charac-terize the issue as a civil rights issue, itis the proper scope of government. Youknow, I’m looking forward to theupcoming legislative session, I think wemay have some opportunities to revisitthis issue and many others that weren’table to get accomplished in this partic-ular session, that will perhaps providesome contrast between the way thatRepublicans view the role of govern-ment and that of our Democraticcolleagues. But you know, as to thespecific aspects of the legislation, I’mnot …

CS: Ryan talked about some things theRepublicans did, saying we’re helpingto get government out of the way tocreate jobs. What did the Democratsdo to stimulate jobs in the state in the

PAGE 6 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MAY 13 , 2011“History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided.” — Konrad Adenauer



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Newly elected Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call addresses the GOP state central committee as other candidates state Sen. TedHarvey, R-Highlands Ranch, then-vice chairman Leondray Gholston and Clear the Bench founder Matt Arnold look on at Douglas County HighSchool in Castle Rock on March 26. FILE PHOTO BY ERNEST LUNING/ THE COLORADO STATESMAN

Newly elected Democratic Party state chair Rick Palacio, left, examines the agenda for the statecentral committee as outgoing chair Pat Waak hands over control of the meeting after declaringhim the winner in the chair election at the Colorado Convention Center on March 5 in Denver.

FILE PHOTO BY JODY HOPE STROGOFF/ THE COLORADO STATESMAN

legislative session?PALACIO: You know, I’m going to actu-

ally mention one thing that wasn’t somuch the State Legislature as it wasthat it was an accomplishment of Presi-dent Obama and congressional Democ-rats, and it is health care reform. And Ithink that if we want to talk about jobcreation, nothing is more stifling toentrepreneurship than the inability to goout and start your own businessbecause you’re afraid that your healthcare is going to disappear, or becauseyou’re afraid that your health insurance,like it has in the years past, is going toincrease 200, 300, 400 percent per year.So I think that that is one of the majoraccomplishments of Democrats — thepresident and the Democratic Congress— in helping to create an environment inwhich jobs can be created and moresmall businesses can be created aswell. So as for the Legislature (pause)Let’s see …

CS: Say it’s an open question?CALL: Because there are so many bills

and legislation, it is —

CS: Whether repealing the Amazon taxreally creates that many jobs, notsure?

CALL: I understand.

CS: But did either party do much that,really? Because that’s all peopletalked about at the beginning of thesession.

CALL: Yeah, because that’s on somepeople’s mind and I will comment aboutthat. And I welcome if Rick and theDemocratic Party want to make theupcoming election a referendum onwhether Obamacare is a good idea or abad idea. Because, while there arecertain aspects of reforming our healthinsurance industry, the Republicanshave put forth in the context of beingable to have portability and privateownership of plans, competition acrossstate boundaries, addressing tort reformand things that really have impacted thecost and growth of the cost relating tohealth care. Republicans have putforward some good proposals on that.What we have not proposed is that thefederal government should come in andmandate the kind of things that it has inthat kind of a federal legislation. So ifthat’s what the Democratic Party isgoing to be running on and standing for,I welcome that as a referendum on thedifference of approach that Republicansand Democrats see the role of govern-ment.

CS: Would you include the health careexchange as sponsored by SenatorBoyd and Representative Stephens as

part of that — that was originally aRepublican idea, it was a HeritageFoundation idea?

CALL: It was, and Republicans have —and again, I think there’s a differencebetween having the states be the labo-ratory of those kinds of things, becauseit’s more within their purview. It’s notwithin the federal government’s purviewto be dealing with those kinds of thingsin the same way that they have. And soI think that the states can become goodlaboratories of policy as we workthrough some of those things, andhealth care exchanges is one approachto be able to have the states control andhave more of a say in terms of the typeof access to care and pooling thatwould benefit the business community.That’s why you saw a lot of businesscommunity members come out (insupport of exchanges). Now you did seesome Republicans taking a differentapproach because they were concernedand I understand those concerns in avery sincere way, that the health careexchanges could be a route to imple-menting a federal plan. I think that thereare safeguards in place in terms of thelegislation. Was it everything Republi-cans wanted? Maybe not. But I do alsobelieve that principled Republicans havetaken different positions on that partic-ular piece of legislation, and part of thatprocess of testing it out in terms of thestates is part of the way legislation —

CS: You don’t foresee that being a riftover the next year?

CALL: I don’t think so.

CS: You hear a lot about primary chal-lenges —

CALL: I mean, you see that, but I thinkthat it’s probably unfair and inappro-priate to zero in on one particular pieceof legislation, particularly when princi-pled Republicans took positions on bothsides of that question. It was less aquestion about principle, in my opinion,as a question of tactics in terms of howbest to allow Colorado to have a say, interms of how we would run our ownhealth insurance industry here in thestate.

CS: Its own set-up?CALL: Exactly. But I am very sympa-

thetic and understand the position ofmany good Republicans who sawSenate Bill 200 as a route to imple-menting a federal law which we alloppose.

PALACIO: Well, I mean, and I’ll justfollow up quickly on that point. If it’s afederal law that the Republican Party allopposes, I think that then again, goingback to my earlier statement, MittRomney’s going to have a very difficulttime gaining the Republican nomination

in Colorado.CALL: And I guess I would disagree

with that because that’s an example of astate doing a state-based implement toaddress an issue in terms of caring fortheir citizens, not a top-down federalapproach in terms of imposing that onall 50 states and territories. So there’s ahuge, a world of difference betweenwhat was adopted in Massachusettsversus what was imposed by BarackObama and the federal government. Theother thing that’s important to keep inmind is that Romney, in that piece oflegislation in particular, was not thegovernor in terms of its implementation,and we’ve seen dramatic departure fromthe original principles put forth in thatparticular bill in Massachusetts by theDemocratic governor who took over.

CS: Deval Patrick? Quick question:What do you think of how Hicken-looper has done as governor? Ryan?

CALL: Hickenlooper is a very goodpolitician, but I wish he were a betterleader on some issues that he did seemnoticeably absent from this legislativesession. While Gov. (Bill) Owens andeven Gov. (Bill) Ritter seemed to be amuch more present force in terms ofdriving an agenda, Governor Hicken-looper seems to have taken a significantback seat to driving policy or theagenda in this particular session. Iwould have liked to have seen a littlemore leadership on that, particularly onissues like the budget and redistrictingand other things.

PALACIO: And I don’t see him as takinga back seat so much as I see him as amuch quieter personality than we’ve hadin the past, one that is not necessarilyout in public on all of the deal makingsand all of the negotiations that takeplace. I think that Gov. Hickenlooperdeserves a lot of the credit for thebudget that actually was passed, I thinkthat he deserves a lot of credit for thehealth exchange piece that was passed.Redistricting — by the time, I guess, yougo to print, the readers will know whathappened —

CALL: We’ll know whether it happenedor not.

[Ed. note: Republicans and Democ-rats were unable to come to agreementon congressional redistricting mapsbefore the Legislature adjournedWednesday night. Both parties havefiled lawsuits over the matter.]

PALACIO: — what happened or not.But I know that the governor has put alot of work into this session, I think thathe’s been incredibly busy. I think that hispriorities are much like the Democrats inthe Legislature and the Democrats inWashington, that this is about America’smiddle class and America’s small busi-nesses. And I think that he’s been a real

leader in both respects.

CS: Before we close, do you guys haveany questions you just want to ask ofeach other? Quick questions afterhaving the chance to meet, to talkhere.

CALL: Well, it’s great to meet you, Rick.PALACIO: It’s nice to meet you.CALL: I look forward to hopefully

seeing a lot of you over the next fewmonths, it’ll be a fun campaign. I hopethat we can both learn to respectfullydisagree on matters of policy and still befriends as it relates to understanding ofour shared commitment to try to makeColorado a good place to live for ourfamilies. I don’t know, what’s your back-ground? Are you married? What’s yourbackground in terms of — I’m justcurious.

PALACIO: No, I’m not married, I have apartner, and a dog that will be 14 yearsold next week. So if that counts as —that counts, I guess, as the closest thingto a child as I have. I grew up in Pueblo,which I’m sure that you’ve read. I have ahuge extended family, I have six niecesand six nephews, so extended familykeeps me just as busy as I think onecan be.

But likewise, I think that we both — Ihave confidence that we’ll both be ableto get along while we’re being respectfulin our disagreement about policy issues.I know that we’re both coming at thisfrom one of deep patriotism. We both,I’m sure, care a lot about our countryand our state in which we live and wewant our citizens of middle class as wellas all classes of citizens to have a fairand successful life. And you know, Ithink the difference here is just thepolicy and how we get there, so I wouldhope that as we move forward, thatwe’re able to have friendly, civil conver-sations. While we may disagree on theway to get to our destination, I knowthat we have the same destination,really, in mind.

CALL: That’s certainly my hope as well.We should probably at some point worktogether on some of our initiatives abouthelping educate Colorado voters aboutthe caucuses and the assemblyprocess, making sure that people knowhow to access that and have their voiceheard on that. I know that that wassomething that we’ve done with some ofyour predecessors and colleagues at thecounty level in particular, and makingsure that we do a good job of that inhelping people understand will besomething I look forward to workingwith you on.

PALACIO: Absolutely.

— [email protected]— [email protected]

PAGE 7 ★ THE COLORADO STATESMAN ★ MAY 13 , 2011“Nobody believes a rumor here in Washington until it’s officially denied.” — Edward Cheyfitz



This law has been on the Coloradostatutes for 150 years and will

likely remain in Colorado RevisedStatutes for a few more decades. Thesubject? Adultery.

With thedefeat inHouseHealthCommittee ofSenate Bill244 thepresent lawremains onthe books.

Yes, it isolder than the state, and came intobeing through the territorial legisla-ture in 1861. President James

Buchanan, by proclamation February28, 1861, made Colorado a territory.Abe Lincoln did not become presidentuntil March 1861.

The territory lost thousands ofresidents gained in 1860 andaccording to historians we dropped to25,331 inhabitants in 1861. In orderto make the ladies believe Coloradowas civilized and safe for marriedwomen there were many laws passedto fight immoral issues such as adul-tery, fornication, and sodomy. Allthree were crimes.

Dale Tooley was elected DenverDistrict Attorney in 1970 and one ofhis major advisors was retired ChiefJustice of the Colorado SupremeCourt Otto Moore. The two went to

work to modernize Colorado criminallaw through SB 262, a 102 pageoffering by Sen. John Bermingham(R) and Rep. Ralph Cole (R). Tooleyand Moore wrote many of the amend-ments to the law.

The crimes of fornication andsodomy were deleted. Adultery waschanged to the present statute:

“Any sexual intercourse by amarried person other than with thatperson’s spouse is adultery, which isprohibited.”

And as lawyers tried to explain:“Prohibition” means you should notdo it, but you are not going to bepunished if you do. If the statute hadstated, “is a misdemeanor” then CRS18-1.3-501 would have come into play

and set a jail time and fine forthe guilty party. Most legislators didnot understand the subtle result ofthe wording.

In 1973, as members of the HouseJudiciary listened to former JusticeMoore testify on a sexual criminalstatute, I made this egregious softballerror by the question “Justice Moorecan you tell our committee the differ-ence between adultery and fornica-tion?”

Justice Moore, after a short pausedeadpanned, “Well, I have tried bothand I was unable to tell any differ-ence.”

Jerry Kopel served 22 years inthe Colorado House.

KOPEL: STILL ON THE BOOKS

Adultery is nothing new in Colorado

JERRY KOPELLEGISLATIVE COLUMNIST

Documents

State Chair Race Coverage