(Remember, you’re not the only audience – Promoted by Colorado Pols)
Political observers were left scratching their heads last week over why Walker Stapleton, who’s Colorado’s Republican candidate for governor, would appear at a fundraising event with former Congressman Tom Tancredo, whose views on undocumented immigrants (kick them out), Mecca (bomb it), abortion (ban it) and much more don’t align with the swing voter sensibility that most rational candidates aim to mimic in a general election like the one coming up in November.
One explanation: Stapleton has no prayer of winning the general election if his GOP base voters, including the ones who love Tancredo, aren’t enthusiastic about Stapleton. And Tanc is an enthusiasm magnet for the GOP base.
This could explain not only why Stapleton wrapped Tancredo in a tighter embrace last week but also why Stapleton told a radio host again a couple weeks ago that he’d like to campaign with Trump here in Colorado. He said the same thing in June.
If Stapleton’s intent was to fire up his base, it appears to have worked, according to the right-wing focus group of Chuck Bonniwell and Julie Hayden, radio hosts on KNUS 710AM’s afternoon show. They approved!
“I give Walker Stapleton a ton of credit,” said Hayden, a former Denver TV reporter. “He did not back down one iota. You know, Tom introduced him, gave a great speech…. Congratulations to you, Walker Stapleton!”
Hayden’s advice: Let Tancredo “go out to every event. They need a cheerleader type to rev people up.”
Boniwell, who’s been described as the id of Colorado’s Republican Party, was impressed by the Tancredo-Stapleton event, but he predicted that Stapleton will lose in November.
“It’s over, you know, basically,” said Bonniwell, who’s also the owner of the Glendale/Cherry Creek Chronicle.
Here’s their conversation:
HAYDEN: …We wanted to talk about a Walker Stapleton [fundraiser with Tancredo] we were at that was very good. So like, you know, we’ll see. The common wisdom is, “Okay, things are going to start gearing up!”. And we’ve heard from people connected with–.
BONNIWELL: The common wisdom is that the election is over. That’s the common wisdom.
HAYDEN: No! That may be–.
BONNIWELL: It is! It is common wisdom.
HAYDEN: Well, anyway, but Molly, I agree with you. Walker Stapleton needs to get much more aggressive….
CALLER MOLLY: Julie, just one more thing: I think I’ve said this before, but you know there are many governors and judges that are acting outside of the Constitution. They need to be indicted.
BONNIWELL: All right!
CALLER MOLLY: You can’t violate the United States Constitution that says it’s illegal — a felony — to assist an illegal.
BONNIWELL: If you’re a Democrat you can.
HAYDEN: Nope, I agree with you. I agree with you. I don’t know — I don’t know –. I wish they would do it, too.
CALLER MOLLY: We’re letting them get away with murder!
BONNIWELL: All right! Molly, you get ’em! Good job! Thanks for the call, Molly.
HAYDEN: … I was wondering what would happen at this event because Tom Tancredo and Greg Lopez — another Republican candidate for governor before the primary — were both going to introduce Walker Stapleton. And I give Walker Stapleton a ton of credit. He did not back down one iota. You know, Tom introduced him, gave a great speech. There was a reporter, I think from the Colorado Independent, who was kind of standing just off the propert — in the bushes, listening.
BONNIWELL: Being a jerk.
HAYDEN: Well, you know, [unintelligible].
BONNIWELL: No, he was a jerk. He was a jerk…
BONNIWELL: No, I thought Walker did a good job.
HAYDEN: He did a very good job. I mean, number one, like I said, he didn’t back off one inch from Tom Tancredo and his stance on sanctuary cities. So, once again, shame on you Channel 4. And congratulations to you, Walker Stapleton! There were a ton of people there, too. We ran into Tim Neville. Casper Stockham was there. A ton of people were there, really from all over the place — quite a few from Denver.
BONNIWELL: They had a lot of ‘real’ conservatives. There wasn’t just the usual, you know, real estate developers.
HAYDEN: Right. Right. No, and Walker Stapleton gave a good presentation, I thought.
BONNIWELL: You know, I thought he did a good job, too. I thought Tom and Greg Lopez did a great job, themselves. It was fun. We had a good time.
HAYDEN: We had a good time. So invite us to all the events, because Chuck and I are happy to–. There was great food.
BONNIWELL: There was great food.
HAYDEN: It was great food and drink there, too.
BONNIWELL: Yeah.
HAYDEN: But again, I think that, you know, for Walker Stapleton, I think a couple things are important. Number one, it’s important to keep getting the message out. And I liked that he had some other stuff to say besides just not how dangerous Jared Polis is, particularly with that group. Everybody there knows how dangerous Jared Polis is. And he actually got fairly specific about some of the things he wants to do, and I think that’s good. Here’s the only advice I would give his campaign — and maybe you just, you know, let Tom Tancredo and Greg Lopez go out to every event. They need a cheerleader type to rev people up. Because here’s the thing–.
BONNIWELL: Robert Blaha!
HAYDEN: Robert Blaha — well, somebody like that. All of the people there were Walker Stapleton supporters, right? So, you didn’t need to convince us to vote for Walker Stapleton. But what you did need to convince us to do — and continue to convince us to do — maybe they need Anil Mathai out there — to say, “You need to sign up! You need to make phone calls! You need to knock on doors!” You know? And, “How many people here are going to–?” I mean, we took a yard sign, and–.
BONNIWELL: Yeah, we took a yard sign. We’ll put it up, you know, to annoy our neighbors.
HAYDEN: Yeah! Well, no, we don’t know know where our neighbors stand.
BONNIWELL: Yeah, we do! The guy on the corner–.
HAYDEN: Well, the one across the corner is a Jared Polis supporter.
BONNIWELL: Well, they all are. But as a practical pattern — you know, I mean, really, Walker Stapleton has been looking forward to this [his] whole life. And it’s over, you know, basically. Because he’s not going to be able to –. Even if he brought a hard hitting campaign now, he can’t — you know, there’s no method to get out there. The Colorado [Springs] Gazette is kind of bland. And The Denver Post isn’t going to do it, so, you know–. But, I like him. I like him.
HAYDEN: Well, I’m not giving up! I think — I think, it’s just–. Okay, I’m just going to tell everybody, Chuck is in a bad place lately, because I –.
BONNIWELL: [laughs].
HAYDEN: So, take everything he says and throw out the bottm 50 percent of the negativity. And then you’ll have him back to where he normally is. All right, should we go to the phones, here?
BONNIWELL: You know, I wish him the best. He seems like a good guy. He seems like a good guy. It’s not his fault he’s related to [unintelligible].
HAYDEN: It’s not over. Don’t anyone listen to Chuck! No one.
Listen to Hayden and Boniwell here:
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What Caller Molly has to say is a LOT more interesting that what Happy Hayden and Blue Mood Bonniwell have to say.
Molly:
Some thoughts here:
1. There is nothing in the Constitution forbidding assistance to undocumented immigrants. The fact the Trumpsters believe it does explains a lot. They think this particular brain fart has the Constitution behind it.
We may not be able to shake that belief of theirs, but we can change how we respond to it.
2. Molly's sentiment sounds exactly like Hungary's "Stop Soros Law", which does make it illegal to help undocumented immigrants.
Does she have any inside information on that law that we don't? (As in, the kind Russian hackers dig up) Is the idea that the Constitution has its own Stop Soros Law a thing on Fox News? Or does Molly merely wish we had our own Stop Soros Law?
As time goes on Stapleton looks more and more like his great-grandfather. Perfectly willing to cozy up to racists if it gets him elected.
I'm disagreeing.
Dubya Stapleton looks less and less like his great-grandfather — the early Stapleton actually worked to get things done.
I had one comment on the Colorado Department of Treasury yesterday. Today, digging down on yet another page of the Colorado Treasury webpage, I see that Walker Stapleton is the board chair of the Public School Fund Investment Board. Once you get there, you can find
The last set of Minutes with a working link are from the April 16, 2018 meeting. Apparently, no posted minutes from sessions on May 21, July 11 or July 12. And after they get around to noticing that the August 20 meeting is no longer upcoming, perhaps they will have the Agenda link shifted to this page, too.
Following the links on this page is an adventure — Someone on the Polis campaign should take a look and see if THEY can figure out the map of this committee chaired by Walker Stapleton.
I scanned through the minutes and agendas.
Walker Stapleton hasn't attended a meeting (held monthly) since July 10, 2017.
Wayne Staplegun — chairman of the "I don't know, and I don't care" committee