Well, well, well. Looks like the Republicans don’t want to gain any ground in Colorado in 2022.
Seems they are voting to give those far-right nutjobs the advantage in the primaries and want to hobble the entire party with this:
The text of the resolution is:
Whereas over the last 6 election cycles the people of Colorado, on both sides of the aisle, continue to mistrust the accuracy of election results and whereas elections exist to give these same people a republican government they choose through democratic means that can be held accountable at the ballot box, and whereas illegally cast votes directly cancel out legally cast votes, Be It Resolved that the Colorado Republican Party supports each eligible voter actively registering to vote, ending automatic voter registration, and insists on the cleaning of county voter rolls so that only qualified voters receive ballots who then are required to show state issued ID when voting in person. The Colorado Republican Party also supports locally controlled elections following the rule of law with verifiable counts and processes; rejects Secretary of State administrative rules used inconsistently in opposition to state law and changed in the midst of an election; opposes the use of private funds to assist in the administration of elections; calls for the development of a plan to hold elections during emergencies; and requests forensic audits of election machines and the maintaining of backup images of each hard drive in the voting system on an external hard drive, kept safe for the statutory 25 months or until the completion of all audits
While it may mean we are stuck with the national embarrassment known as BoBo, it does not look good for the party overall:
“All it’s going to do is give Democratic campaigns and candidates something to create headaches for Republican candidates come this fall,” said David Flaherty.
Flaherty runs Magellan Strategies, a conservative-leaning polling firm based in Louisville.
His polling shows a split in the Republican Party.
“About half of them would prefer to have a candidate or support a candidate who believes the election fraud does exist in Colorado,” said Flaherty “The other half, it is not much of a concern among primary voters.”
Getting through the June 28 primary may require a different tap dance on this issue than the general election in November.
He goes on to say in the video above that it will work against them in the general election.
I suspect this vote will not end well for this “not a RHINO”:
“I don’t support that,” said Matt Crane, Executive Director of the Colorado County Clerks Association.
Crane, the former Republican Arapahoe County Clerk took issue with the last section calling for forensic audits of election machines. Saying that independent audit of the Arizona 2020 election is not something to be modeled after.
“Anybody who says that was a good exercise for an election audit is either lying or they’ve been lied to by somebody else because what happened there, actually, hurt election integrity,” said Crane.
He will be one of the delegates voting at the state assembly on Saturday. He said voting no on that election integrity resolution does not make him a RINO – Republican In Name Only.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit to try and block unaffiliated voters from voting in the Republican primary has gone down in flames. It was an attempt to keep out voters who might choose more moderate candidates. (Bold text mine)
A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a request for a preliminary injunction seeking to block unaffiliated voters from participating in the June 28 state primary.
Judge John Kane on Friday evening granted the state’s motion to dismiss the injunction request and dismissed the five claims filed by five Republicans, who are members of the state party’s central committee.
In his decision, Kane agreed that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the lawsuit on all but a portion of the fifth claim. The judge also dismissed that portion of the claim under a different court rule, determining that the plaintiffs failed to state a claim for which relief could be granted.
“Plaintiffs have not shown that they are entitled to the disfavored injunctive relief they seek,” Kane wrote in his 32-page decision.
Under the issue of standing, Kane wrote that plaintiffs must prove they suffered an injury that affects them in a personal and individualized way and there is a likelihood that the injury could be redressed by a favorable decision by the court on the merits of the case.
Kane pointed out that the Colorado Republican Party did not bring the lawsuit, nor did it authorize the plaintiffs to act as its representative. He noted that a resolution from 2021, which was adopted by the central committee, was insufficient to prove the plaintiffs were authorized by the party to initiate the lawsuit, which he called “troubling.” Kane also pointed out the party didn’t even file a friend of the court brief or affidavit in support of the lawsuit.
That the Colorado Republican Party was not a plaintiff in the lawsuit was a major point brought up by the state’s motions, as well as during oral arguments in the lawsuit, which was filed against Secretary of State Jena Griswold on Feb. 24.
The plaintiffs – represented by John Eastman, the author of numerous memos and emails tied to Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election while he was a visiting scholar conservative thought at the University of Colorado in Boulder; and, radio host and attorney Randy Corporon – alleged Proposition 108 would infringe on their First Amendment freedom of speech and association rights, as well as the right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment.
Kane wrote that a member of a political party “suffers no constitutional injury when denied the preferred method for selecting his party’s nomination of a candidate for office,” in turning down the First Amendment claims.
“One member may wish to participate in a caucus that elects delegates to a convention but only so long as those delegates are required to vote according to the plurality vote at the caucus. Another may desire a closed primary in which party members are required to declare their party affiliation at least two months in advance of the election. Still, another may want to allow members of a particular minority party to vote in a major party’s primary election. Given the large size of the CRP, there is no method that would appease each individual member,” he wrote, referring to the Colorado Republican Party.
“Like Don Quixote, plaintiffs are self-appointed heroes, defending the rights of their party by going to battle against the allegedly insurmountable obstacle of a three-fourths majority that compels a form of diluted political speech. They have overstepped their bounds. By selecting its preferred candidate for the general election — the standard bearer — it is the party that is speaking as a single entity and not the cacophonous declarations of each of its registered members, simultaneously expressing their individual preferences,” he added.
The state, represented in Tuesday and Wednesday’s hearing by Solicitor General Grant Sullivan, argued that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue and that they were challenging a law that has been in effect for more than five years.
During oral arguments on Tuesday, the plaintiffs’ attorneys tried to get Kane to approve the addition of the state party as plaintiffs, a request that Kane rejected because it was made verbally. As of Friday, the state party had not filed a motion seeking to be added to the lawsuit.
Attorneys on behalf of the plaintiffs noted that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case out of California in 2000 against “blanket” primaries, in which any voter could vote for any candidate, regardless of political party. That ruling claimed a blanket primary violated the First Amendment’s freedom of association clause. The ability of a political party to choose its nominee is the most critical thing a party does, the attorneys said.
Sullivan, who argued behalf of the state, countered that “when you don’t hear from the party itself on how its rights are being impacted, the record is inadequate” for the court to do its job and issue an injunction.
No one has a constitutional right to insist on a closed primary that is taxpayer-funded, Sullivan added.
If the party doesn’t like that, Colorado allows for an opt-out that would permit only party members to participate, he said, noting that primary would not require taxpayer money. Such a move requires a vote of 75% of the state central committee, but the latter rejected the opt-out provision, he said.
The plaintiffs included Rep. Ron Hanks of Cañon City, who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate; Laurel Imer of Jefferson County, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the 7th Congressional District; former state Rep. Joann Windholz, who chairs the Adams County Republican Party; Dave Peters, who chairs the La Plata County Republican Party and the Congressional District 3 Republican Party; and, Casper Stockham, a candidate for CD 7 in 2020.
Voters approved Proposition 108 in 2016 in a 53%-46% vote. The measure faced little opposition, with only $71,000 spent against it.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs pointed out that, as of Feb. 1, 2022, there are 954,102 registered active Republican voters, 1,070,804 registered active Democrat voters, and 1,637,864 active unaffiliated voters in Colorado. They argued that this leads to the “real possibility that unaffiliated voters voting in the Republican or Democrat primary elections would hand the nomination to someone who did not receive a majority or even plurality of votes from Republican or Democrat Party members, thereby placing the party’s imprimatur on a candidate without majority or even plurality support from the party’s members.”
Griswold, in her response, said plaintiffs failed to explain why they waited until Feb. 24, 2022 to challenge a six-year-old law, which gave her office “mere days notice” to mount a defense.
“Poor planning on (plaintiffs’) part does not translate into a crisis for everyone else,” the response said.
There is no room for complacency in 2022, but I will enjoy the “Republicans in disarray” for the moment. Now if only it would sink Boebert…
This is an open thread
Just When You Need One, An Angel Appears
debbie
There’s got to be a good comeback to “Truth Matters” that CO Dems can all use.
Joe Falco
For a moment, I thought the “purple state” being mentioned was going to be Georgia which, despite sending two Democrats to the Senate and electoral votes to Biden, is not in my mind a purple state yet. Maybe purple-tinged along the edges.
Aziz, light!
Voter suppression never sleeps.
Geminid
Political news from another purple state: Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet “Doctor” Oz was just endorsed by some asshole from Florida. Among other outlets, Politico just put up a story about this.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Which one? There are so many to choose from!
James E Powell
I’m one of those who believes that if Boebert is replaced, it will be by a Republican who is less outrageous in public behavior, but exactly the same in voting. If that is so, are we better off with Boebert as the true face of the Republican party? See also, Taylor Green.
I really do not know and I’m only musing.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: The one whose name I don’t want to type so soon after dinner.
Benw
“You slam a bunch of particles together.”
Good interview with Emily Conover, who was a grad student in the group when I was a post-doc at U of Chicago, where she does a great job explaining the *extremely wild* new W boson mass measurement: https://slate.com/technology/2022/04/w-boson-explained-particle-physics-standard-model.html
Way to go, Em!
Martin
Oh, this isn’t disarray. They know what they’re doing. There’s not a lot of uncertainty regarding how CO voters are going to go, but ‘outrage’ about what’s happening to Colorado Republicans is perceived as a good way to mobilize the base in, say, Texas, a place where Dems face some pickup chances, or Georgia.
That said, gotta give Eastman credit for continuing to stick his dick in this fan considering the attention he’s already receiving from the feds.
Someone needs to explain to me how the worst attorneys always come out of California. We’re trying so hard to not be a shitty state, but the attorneys (esp. Chapman and Claremont) just aren’t getting the message.
MisterForkbeard
@Martin: Our shitty lawyers LEAVE and become national embarrassments because they’re less welcome here.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Martin
@MisterForkbeard: Could be. I can’t describe the cheers that went up when Peter Navarro left for DC. Then we realized that the whole country would be subjected to him. I mean, if he winds up in prison, it’ll all have been worth it.
Roger Moore
I’m annoyed they continue to mention the “Democrat Party” in their filing. It must just be a reflex by now.
James E Powell
@Joe Falco:
It’s rash to talk like this, but if Abrams is elected governor of Georgia, I might move there.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
OT – So I arrived in Paris for my 60th trip around the sun celebration about 19 hours ago. Of course, my body clock is messed up a bit, so now I’m awake.
Couple of thoughts:
1. Everybody here seems even prettier and younger than they were the last time I was here 12 years ago. I’ve seen more size 0 to size 4 adult women in a partial day here than I have seen at home in the past decade – and that includes all ethnicities.
2. This city is more diverse than the last time I was here.
3. Public smoking had been on the wane the last time I was here. It has come roaring back – sitting at a sidewalk cafe while brooding over a smoke and a cup of coffee is back in a major way.
Kay
Another Scott
When I see stories like this, I think back to that “legitimate rape” guy. Our candidates have to be sensible in how they respond, but they cannot be afraid to call out nonsense and dangerous statements from the GQP.
Something on the lighter side…
Fabulous.
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
TaMara
@Another Scott: Some folks have waaaaay too much time on their hands.
And that cat is going to kill him in his sleep one night.
TaMara
@Kay: Thank goodness.
I hope there is a lawsuit in her future where she sues the fuck out of them for violating her rights.
Geminid
Republican radicals have a different problem in Virginia. Like South Carolina, Virginia has no party registration so all primaries are open. The state allows some latitude to parties that can choose their nominees through a caucus/convention process. Lately the tea party cranks and bible thumpers have been getting their favorite nominees this way. More normal people who might vote in a primary are less likely to make a caucus even if they hear about it. That’ how my VA-5th Republican Congressman, nebbishy Denver Riggleman, was knocked out by the Liberty University candidate in 2020.
The 5th district stretches from the North Carolina border to Northern Virginia. The “drive in” convention was held in the parking lot of a suburban Lynchburg church.
Virginia Democrats pretty much choose all their candidates in primaries run by the state.
Captain C
@Geminid: That doesn’t necessarily narrow it down much.
Peale
@TaMara: I’m concerned about her personal safety before trial.
WaterGirl
I love that you call her BoBo!
Sure Lurkalot
Well, isn’t it interesting that it was a Republic(an) SOS that was in office when Colorado turned to all mail voting. As recently as 2020, he opined as to the integrity of the system in Colorado.
Probably has changed his tune but facts are facts. The fact is it for the most part increases turnout and that just can’t stand
Peale
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: If you have a chance. Vote tomorrow. Yeah, its probably illegal, but you can then cross “jumped bail,” and “had an international arrest warrant issued for me” off your bucket list.
Geminid
@Captain C: You will just have to look up “Dr. Oz news.” I will say no more about this mysterious Florida asshole’s identity.
Peale
I just wanted note that in my neck of the woods, gasoline prices are now down below $4.00 at most stations and have fallen 40 cents in the past week. So…take that as you will. I know voters won’t be happy until prices are down to a nickel and we bring back cars with leaded gasoline…but progress.
M31
@Peale: lol soon the Trumper assholes (but I repeat myself) will be peeling off the blame Biden gas pump stickers themselves
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Peale:
I did jaywalk right in front of a glaring French cop while arrogantly holding up a “halt” hand (I didn’t see him lurking behind the van that wasn’t having any of my shit). Wife was amused at the proposal of watching me being publicly beaten with a baton by an aggravated cop incident to my arrest and concomitant international headlines of “Le Scandal Americain”.
I did see a Macron rally in the Tuileries yesterday.
Steeplejack
@Joe Falco:
Magenta? “A light purplish red.”
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
You just know the Florida asshole did it just because he’s seen Oz on TV.
sdhays
@Geminid: As if that was really in doubt. Of course the TV guy would get his endorsement. TV rules Tramp’s world.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Did you need to show any proof of vaccination to get in? or only to get out/back here)?
Cameron
In the confusion and fog of my aging brain, I keep thinking of the Colorado congresswoman as “Lorena Bobbitt.” Which might actually be an improvement.
RaflW
@James E Powell: Redistricting leaves Boebert’s CO-3 at R+9. She’s unlikely to go anywhere unless she commits a provable felony or gets bored with the office. In the next redistricting in 10 years? Who knows.
Rather than purple, I think Colorado is heading towards deep indigo. I think the redistricting kinda sucks, but not too badly. Per Colorado Public Radio “Politically, the map creates four Democratic seats, three Republican ones and a swing district — the new eighth — that leans slightly to the left.” A 5-3 delegation would be ok, but a 4-4 result come November, when you have to go back to 2004 for Republicans to have won CO’s electors? Bah!
Geminid
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Also, Oz’s main competitor, McCormick, was on record saying some uncomplimentary things about Trump in 2016. Reports are that Trump holds a grudge over this.
McCormick has trump flunkies Hope Hicks and Stephen Miller on his campaign staff.
Major Major Major Major
Oh boy. Lol. My once and future home.
Baud
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Happy birthday!
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I showed that via VeriFLY and the EU entry form (it required the booster be over 14 days old). I’d gotten a QR code from CVS (they love their QR codes in the EU)
I don’t know how much of it was automated on the customs end or how much the French government trusts the airlines to have done their work for them, but the border guy never asked for my CDC card.
Ken
Huh. I never expected I would be able to use the phrase “a viper in one’s bosom”. Also, although I’m far from an expert on political campaigns, I suggest McCormick conduct frequent audits.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Geminid:
The man is grudgier than a teenaged girl who let her boyfriend do butt stuff, but then caught him getting a text from her main frenemy right after.
Mike in Pasadena
Today Cole wrote: “The same has been happening in the Middle East for decades, often at our hands with excuses and justifications as bad- there’s not much difference between “They hate us for our freedoms and Iraq has WMD” and “We’re denazifying Ukraine,” to be honest, but there is a distinction in the intentional murder of civilians and intended genocidal behavior.”
Careful, Cole. A few weeks ago when I compared Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to Bush-Cheney’s invasion of Iraq, the venom and fangs were bared of several assholes in the comments directed poison and not a few “fuck you’s” my way. Back at ya, assholes.
Starfish
@Major Major Major Major: Help us!
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Mike in Pasadena:
You still get a “fuck you” from me, if I missed out on the opportunity.
Baud
@Peale:
Republican states will probably raise the gas tax just to blame Biden.
RaflW
@RaflW: BTW (but not to distract from WaterGirl’s fundraising thread this evening) I do not have a sense of who to support for CO-08 right now. But there’s an ActBlue nominee fund. I’m gonna pop a few bucks in this evening since I gave to WG’s thermo yesterday. Join me?
Ohio Mom
@Major Major Major Major: Your once and *future* home? I thought you were happily settled in NYC.
Starfish
@Mike in Pasadena: Oh, Russia is horrible using depleted uranium on Ukraine like the US did in Fallujah.
mrmoshpotato
LOL dude in news clip!
The Rethuglican party hasn’t given a damn about truth or “doing the right (He means moral, right?) thing” for 40+ years!
The Kremlin’s orange fascist shitstain didn’t turn your party into a shitpile of bigots and imbeciles (h/t driftglass) with a snap of his short, orange, fascist fingers.
Mike in Pasadena
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Back at ya!
Kent
DeSantis?
Scott?
Rubio?
Gaetz?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Gin & Tonic
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: That’s oddly specific.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kent: I think it refers to the asshole from Florida who used to be the asshole from Queens and had a not-brief-enough layover in DC
here’s the endorsement of Oz
mrmoshpotato
@lowtechcyclist:
Yeah! Which Florida asshole endorsed Dr. Fraud?
kindness
Colorado being purplish and all, these antics by Republicans has to bring pause to those independents and middle folk who could be Republican voters. With that in mind, Go Republicans! Keep making asses of yourselves. They’re whipping up the base, which will vote for them no matter what, and frightening other normal folk.
Gin & Tonic
@Kent: O/T, but in a thread that was long dead by the time I got to it, you asked about borscht (which I prefer to call borshch.) Borshch is more of an idea, a concept, than a recipe – there’s clear, vegan borshch for Christmas Eve, there’s meaty, dense borshch for cold winter nights. there’s lighter, veg-forward borshch served cold in summer, lots of varieties. It’s hard to go wrong, but you have to determine your style. But if you want a starting point, kind of an uber-borshch is the one served at the iconic Veselka restaurant in the East Village of NYC. Recipe here. Note that preparation takes some time, and, in sort of keeping with the topic of this thread, will leave you with purple hands.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Gin & Tonic:
He’s an odd man who is so broken that he defies conventional description. I’ve never heard a grown adult whine as much as he does, and he doesn’t have friends as much as he has transactional acquaintances, each using the other (that fucker Tom Barrack comes to mind – remember how he earnestly described the bloated shitstain as being more saintly than Raymond Shaw? Later admitted he didn’t really know Trump at all).
Anyway, he gets his way by whining.
Kent
When my MAGA relatives do that I tease them mercilessly about their obvious poor education and lack of proper grammar.
waspuppet
They were asserting a constitutional right to the election result they wanted. Just like Texas’s lawsuit after the 2020 election.
Kent
@Gin & Tonic: I actually made this borscht recipe tonight in the instant pot and am eating it now. Came out beautifully in the pressure cooker. I just eyeballed the quantities and topped it off with some sauerkraut and sour cream.
https://ifoodreal.com/instant-pot-borscht/
Major Major Major Major
@Ohio Mom: getting a little expensive!
Splitting Image
@Martin:
You answered this yourself in a comment downstairs. People come to California from all over the country to get out of whichever shithole red states they were born in. They go to school in LA and SF, mingle with people there, and tell stories about how stupid and bigoted people are back home.
Everybody they talk to will hear tales about faraway places filled with angry, stupid vermin who have lucrative farm subsidies, indexed pensions, grudges against the entire modern world, and nothing to spend their money on except bad country music and donations to televangelists.
If you have a top-tier legal education and morals to match, why wouldn’t you head out on the road to relieve these simple farmers of their onerous burden?
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott: Haha! Cats…
mrmoshpotato
@Kent:
And remind them that their Kremlin-humping, fascist, orange, manbaby god “love(s) the poorly educated!”
Kent
Texas AG Ken Paxton says “hold my beer
He is a Baylor grad of course.
Cameron
@Kent: ….and Rudi, dean of Four Seasons Landscaping School of Law…
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
:-(
(via CherylRofer)
Cheers,
Scott.
Ohio Mom
@Major Major Major Major: When I first moved to Ohio, I was struck by how relaxed people here were about money. Growing up in New York, my parents and the other adults I knew were obsessive about how much things cost. Constantly comparison shopping, looking for bargains, avoiding tolls, and so on, it was exhausting.
So I get it. You’re having a lovely sojourn, maybe made lovelier by knowing it’s won’t be permanent.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Lilac.
burnspbesq
@Martin:
Fuck him, Fuck Chapman for giving him a platform, and fuck the City of Orange for giving slices of prime downtown real estate to those assholes.
RaflW
@Ohio Mom: In the early 70s my dad was a senior exec for a company in Midtown. He often got off the Thruway (or was it the Bruckner?) and took the free bridge from the Bronx to Harlem, then onto the East River Drive.
Drove my mom wild. He was saving quarters while running a multimillion dollar operation. He kept a knife under the driver’s seat, but she just worried it would be used against him in a mugging (the term carjacking was a long way off back then).
NotMax
@RaflW
Old New Yorker cartoon. Caption paraphrased from memory.
Shown is an opulent office, a boss dwarfed by a throne-like chair and expansive desk who is brandishing a sheet of paper and chastising an employee.
Employee: “But sir, you head a billion dollar company!”
Boss: “Millions and billions I can’t make head or tail of. But this — fifty cents for a long distance call! That I understand!”
jnfr
It does seem that Republicans in Colorado have been in disarray, to put it kindly, for quite some time. Let’s keep holding them back! I prefer my state sane.
burnspbesq
@Baud:
I fully expect that next year, the Texas Legislature will institute a “highway user fee” for EVs, and that it will be substantially more than the gasoline tax. Because fuck you, yuppie scum, and whatchew gon’ do, Eeeee-Lon? Move y’all’s big-ass factory?
burnspbesq
@RaflW:
It was the Major Deegan.
lowtechcyclist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: OK, there’s the source of my confusion. I don’t think of TFG as a Floridian, even though he now spends all his time there. I was thinking along the lines of DeSantis, Rubio, Scott, etc.
cmorenc
@James E Powell:
Bobert’s congressional district (Co-3 – far western/southern Colorado) would otherwise tend to elect someone more quietly in the pocket of the oil, gas, and extraction industries, like Bobrert’s predecessor, Scott Tipon (who lost the primary to Bobert).
Miss Bianca
Yay, we get rid of Ron Hanks as my HD 60 representative! But boo, no Democrat stepped up for nomination. So we get stuck with whatever idiot the Republicans barf up to replace him.
: (
If I didn’t know it would cause such turmoil and upheaval in my life that I can’t afford right now, I keep thinking I should have tossed my hat in the ring.
MazeDancer
France Exit polls after 1st round of voting:
(IFOP)
Macron: 28.6%
Le Pen: 24.4%
Opinion way
Macron: 29.5%
Le Pen: 23.5%
Ipsos:
Macron: 28.1%
Le Pen: 23.3%