Hey, ClubTwitty here.
“They” took me out of the sock drawer to bring you today’s SNOWFLAKE UPDATE courtesy of that fossil-fueled extractive-industry booster group Club 20 not feeling the love from Jared Polis (who, you will be reminded of approximately 500 times between now and November, is from the reviled-Boulder-that-we-are-not).
This afternoon Club 20 has learned that Gubernatorial Candidate Jared Polis has declined to participate in the Club 20 Candidate Debates, a longstanding and well-respected tradition allowing the people of Western Colorado to hear from candidates.
Oh the heartbreak! Quick STOP the PRESSES!
.@PolisForCO has opted not to attend the @club20westslope debate in Sept, sending @LtGovofCO instead. That’s a “slap in the face” to #WesternColorado, says ED Christian Reece, adding that no invited guv candidate has not attended in recent memory. #copolitics
— Charles Ashby (@OldNewsman) July 31, 2018
How dare Jared Polis decline this kind offer to come and demonstrate to the Club 20 regulars why they know they are already voting against him.
…Club 20 hopes that Candidate Polis will reconsider his position on this debate…
Oh Jared, won’t you repent? Please come and beguile us with promises of pipelines and strip mines!? Play to the crowd? Poo-poo climate change, talk about the great promise of “oil shale: the fuel of the future”? Maybe scare us with stories of wolves (literally!) at the door? Don’t forget to decry wilderness, scare-monger about roadless protections, and disparage God’s various critters–iconic western birds for instance–that hamper the magic of get-rich schemes and boomtime dreams?
Club 20 strives to reflect the diversity of views and perspectives found in western Colorado: coal, oil AND gas, for instance. Club 20 cares about brown cows and white cows, and black and white sheep too. When it comes to taking care of the hard-working West Slope citizen, Club 20 makes sure that even the most powerful corporations get a seat at the table!
“It is a shame that Candidate Polis is unwilling to participate in a non-partisan forum where our voices can be heard,” said Christian Reece, Executive Director of Club 20. “No gubernatorial candidate has skipped this debate in recent memory and it is a slap in the face to all of Western Colorado” she continued.
So, yeah sure. “All of Western Colorado,” most of whom are not not represented well at all by Club 20, are just feeling beat down since Jared won’t bother going to a debate that we won’t be watching either.
But even if its not quite a “slap in the face” perhaps it can at least a be “kick in the pants” for the lackluster “please clap” brigade, a prompt to help prop up a flagging campaign?
…Gubernatorial Candidate Walker Stapleton committed to participate in the Club 20 Candidate Debates last week.
We’re pretty confident that Walker will hit all the crowd-pleasing favorites. Talk all the talk that goes over big with the dinosaurs, Birchers, and industry-funded that will be convening at Two Rivers. Stapleton’s @Twitter tools over at the #COpolitics feed wasted no time in pushing out Club 20’s pitiful-we press release. Of course the appearance of, doesn’t mean the presence of, coordination. Because as everyone *knows* Club 20 is “nonpartisan.”
(Oh, and in other news, the Stapleton and Polis campaigns agreed to a whole bunch of debates all across Colorado, including on the Western Slope).
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With so few days left on the Congressional session, I wonder if Polis could resign, have Hickenlooper appoint the Democratic nominee, and then be able to attend more debates.
He could even issue a challenge for Walker Stapleton to resign to devote himself to campaigning rather than continuing to be on the state payroll.
Governors can fill Senate vacancies, but not House vacancies. If Jared resigns the seat would stay vacant until after the election.
My intuitive sense from talking recently to several active Club 20 members is that they probably believe Polis will win in November, and they want to be sure Polis is tuned in to rural and Western Slope issues. Yes, really.
In Club 20 speak does that mean rural and Western Slope issues can be mutually exclusive? I'm not a west-sloper, but I would bet a lot on the fact he'll be a great friend to rural Colorado in terms of eco-devo opportunities; on par with Romer and the days of 'Dome on the Range' (for those of you old enough to remember that program).
I believe the message West Slopers take from Polis's refusal to show up for the Club 20 debates is one of disrespect. I'm not saying they should conclude that, but I believe many do. Rural and Western Slope voters are used to not being well-represented (cf. Baumgardner, Tipton). They'd like to believe they'll be listened to by a Governor Polis.
We were a tad ticked off when Jared didn't make it to our NE CO action stop last June 3- the two female candidates did. He cited Congressional duties.
However, he did make up for it by coming to a forum in Fort Morgan the next week, and talking in depth with a round table of community folks, which won me (and others) over.
If he's smart, he'll do something similar for the Club 20 crowd.
I checked past club 20 diaries, and found that Club 20 has historically been a hostile venue for Democrats;
The hosts lighted and miked it badly on the Dem side of the stage in 2014 (tater live blogged it) making Udall , Joe Neguse and other candidates invisible and inaudible.
They heckled and imitated a Trump crowd, exulting in the opportunity to give some "Libz" a bad time. So yeah our guys have to be able to take it – but Polis is at his best in small-room discussions where he can show his grasp of issues – he doesn't really work a crowd like Cary Kennedy – that I've seen, anyway.
So why not take a pass on the red-meat crowd and come back later for some serious meetin and greetin Q&A.
I don't think Club 20 has the mythical status many give it for the average Western Slope voter. As politics have diversified in western Colorado, and they have, Club 20 has not kept up with the change but has calcified into a voice for a certain set of interests that is less and less reflective of the Western Slope in 2018.
Polis will debate at Colorado Mesa University, in Grand Jct, at a truly neutral venue. That is on the Western Slope, as are numerous towns and cities he has already visited. This is a little manufactured dust-up whipped up to give Walker a bump.