September 11, 2014 08:42 AM UTC

Throwback Thursday: Jon Caldara and the Flood

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• by: Colorado Pols

One year ago today, the state of Colorado was besieged by massive flooding that impacted the Front Range after several weather fronts converged and trapped moisture over the area. Mountain towns were cut off from civilization as roads and bridges failed, forcing an historic helicopter airlift to evacuate stranded residents. After inundating most of the Front Range, floodwaters made their way out across the Eastern Plains, doing tremendous further damage to low-lying areas, infrastructure, and oil and gas drilling sites in Weld County.

As the drama of the 2013 Colorado floods played out, Boulder resident and Independence Institute head Jon Caldara had his own problems. Caldara had made headlines just before the floods when he registered as a Colorado Springs resident in order to vote in the SD-11 recall election. Caldara did this to make a supposed point about the new same-day voter registration law, part of election modernization legislation passed by the Democratic-led General Assembly that year. Far from demonstrating ease of voter fraud, however, Caldara had come up with an elaborate ruse to "prove" Colorado Springs residency, including a lease of a room in ex-GOP Rep. Mark Barker's house. It was clear from the start that Caldara did not and never intended to live in Colorado Springs, but his elaborate preparations for the stunt–which would make it prohibitively difficult to replicate–helped Caldara escape prosecution.

Without a doubt the 2013 floods were a tragedy, and even today political battles that invoke them are controversial. With that said, every time we hear an accusation that the floods are being "politicized," which we've heard a lot recently as the related issues of the flood and subsequent shutdown of the federal government have come up in the U.S. Senate race, our first thought is of Jon Caldara. And this is why:

Via his friend Wayne Laugesen of the Colorado Springs Gazette, Caldara invoked the floods as the "reason" why he was not moving to Colorado Springs to live in Mark Barker's guest bedroom. It was obvious a year ago this weekend, when we originally posted this item, that Caldara had never intended to live in Colorado Springs. But at the time of last year's floods, the investigation of Caldara for vote fraud was well underway. Although Caldara makes no pretenses now that he's not under investigation, at the time, this might well have fit into a legal strategy should he have needed to maintain his original pretense in court.

Really, folks, if you're in this guy's fan club, don't ever complain about "politicizing the floods" again.