Last week, Campfire published my op-ed which addressed concerns with the caucus system here in Colorado. I was pleasantly surprised by the positive response from across the state along with many political leaders who agreed with my thesis: we have systemic problems with our ballot access system in Colorado.
In the week since my Op Ed was published, the Colorado Democrats have financially invested well into seven figures of statewide advertising… in the Republican Primary. Yes, the Democrats have invested heavily in ensuring specific candidates win our primary election. While many were shocked by this, it was predictable as this has been in the play book for Democrats since 2010.
Notably, the Democrats are overtly supporting the three winners of the Colorado Republican Convention in their massive ad blitz. In my previous editorial, I called out the problems these candidates posed in the rhetoric they used at the Republican Convention, specifically in terms of their ability to win a general election. The Colorado Democrats have seen the same thing now and intend to exploit it for their own gain. To be clear, the Democrats are not supporting the Convention winners because they believe they can work together with them to make Colorado or America a better place. The Democrats are funding these candidates in the Republican primary because they know if Republicans nominate these candidates, the Colorado Democrats will duck the 2022 Republican wave just like they did in 2010 and 2016.
During my campaign for Senate, we created “Serious Question Friday” on our twitter account. These were questions designed to provoke in-depth thought and discussion on current events or issues. Rather than just regurgitating Republican talking points in an echo chamber, we wanted to foster the kind of thoughtful and intellectual discussion that befits the Party of Lincoln. They were seemingly simple questions but had complicated answers when you really tried to think about them critically.
So in the spirit of “Serious Question Friday,” I’d like to pose a question for discussion. The Republican caucus/assembly/convention process costs around $3-5M when taking all costs into account. The outcome of this system tends to generate the exact optimal outcome that Colorado Democrats want in the Colorado Republican Primary. So serious question: Would it make more sense for the Colorado Republican Party to contract with the Colorado Democrats to pick our Assembly candidates rather than run our own process? If we simply allowed the Colorado Democrats to pick our Convention candidates, we would save millions of dollars to use in the general election. We could even include in a contract that the Colorado Democrats have to fund millions of dollars of advertising for the candidates they pick for us.
If you have a hard time coming to terms with this proposal, welcome to the club. What I just described is almost exactly what happened this year in Colorado. The Colorado caucus system, while claiming to be “the voice of the grassroots” is really just the voice of establishment… the Democratic establishment that is. If you don’t believe me, just look at how much money Democrats are putting into supporting the supposed Republican “grassroots” candidates.
We have a systemic problem in the Colorado Republican Party, and it’s time we expose it and fix the problem.