The Implosion of the Colorado Republican Party

By Nate Marshall

Executive Director and Editor

The tumultuous election of 2010 in Colorado led to a brewing political force.  Tea party members, conservatives who have been disenfranchised by the state’s GOP leadership and the political friends of Colorado’s stalwart conservative former congressman Tom Tancredo.

The state GOP leadership under Dick Wadhams and John Andrews has been a disaster for not only Republicans but all Coloradoans.  The party all but guaranteed to pick up the Governor’s office and a US senate seat utterly threw it away by deciding that only Scott McInnis deserved to be the Governor and when he was forced to step aside after being caught accepting payment for a project he fabricated and plagiarized were offered many opportunities to address vacancy by filling it with such accomplished conservatives as Tancredo,  Josh Penry or even football icon John Elway- yet backed a candidate in Dan Maes who was committing campaign violations wholesale.

Tom informed the leadership that he would run if they didn’t remove maes from the ballot, because Maes was an ineffective candidate who was caught fabricating much of his past and successes.  When given no sign that the party would do the right thing Tom elected to join the American Constitution Party and in doing so angered the establishment but inspired over 600,000 people in the state of Colorado to back Tom.

So now the quandary or even quagmire that the Colorado Republican Party finds itself in. The party leaders have continued to attack Tom and his backers through viscous personal attacks and backroom deals made with democrats and their newly elected Governor John Hickenlooper.  It is clear as day that GOP leaders Wadhams, Andrews and Owens have turned on their lapdogs Ron Michel and Joe Harrington to harass and intimidate Tom and his followers which cannot be allowed to stand.

The Colorado GOP,  is on life support and we have an opportunity to save restore it and work to defeat Ed Perlmutter in 2012 and then Mark Udall for the US senate seat and Hickenlooper for the Governor’s seat in 2014. The opportunity is to oust the leadership and elect new blood into the state GOP and county GOP offices. It is not acceptable for the County Chairmen and the State Chairman and their attack machine to target one of their more successful leaders and his backers.

All voters in Colorado need to rise up against the GOP leadership in Colorado, condemn it and replace it with sensible, 21^st century savvy leaders who understand and can effectively fight the democrats and left with better understanding of technology, issues and new methods of getting out the vote- which is what wins elections!

We as conservatives need to reach out to voters of all beliefs and principles and educate them as to why they should vote for us in 2012. We need to communicate that our goal of less government, less spending, control of taxes, a belief in national security which includes protecting our borders does not mean we will cut their job, we will not harass illegals and that we will help them raise themselves up to become successful Americans!

We need to reach out to the young and to the elderly, as much as the average American! By educating and discussing we can recruit them into the party as new blood, exciteable impressionable energy that can restore not only the Colorado GO but all conservatives to even greater heights.

I believe that the current crop of state GOP leaders are unable to comprehend this or understand how to reach out and build a grassroots caucus of the party!

I believe that under Tom Tancredo’s leadership the conservatives in Colorado can and will lead our national party’s return to the White House and all levels of government in 2012 and 2014!