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July 09, 2020 10:37 AM UTC

Dudley Brown's Downfall Sidesteps Bigger GOP Dilemma

  • 22 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Dudley Brown.

9NEWS’ Marshall Zelinger tallies the damage for the once-feared “no compromise” gun rights advocacy group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, infamous over the course of many years for its ruthless bullying of fellow Republicans and backing a slate of fringe primary candidates in safe Republican seats, in last week’s primary elections–and there’s little question the 2020 Republican primary was a wipeout unlike anything the organization has experienced before:

In last week’s primaries, RMGO went 1-5 in backing candidates in contested Republican primaries.

In Senate District 23, which includes eastern Fort Collins, and straddles Interstate 25 by Longmont and Loveland, RMGO-supported Republican candidate Rupert Parchment lost to Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer. She defeated Parchment 55%-45%, to be the Republican nominee on the November ballot…

Four House candidates in northern Colorado and Jefferson County, supported by RMGO, also lost. Candidates Pat Miller and Grady Nouis, as well as current state Senator Vicki Marble (who ran for a House seat) and former Rep. Justin Everett, were all defeated in Republican primaries.

As the Denver Post’s Saja Hindi reports, longtime RMGO executive director Dudley Brown, once one of the most imposing figures in far-right Colorado Republican politics, is stepping down in considerable disgrace after the organization’s chosen candidates in the 2020 GOP primary were routed:

The group has had significant influence on Colorado politics over the years, blocking some gun legislation and getting its favored candidates elected. But RMGO has suffered some recent blows, including the 2019 passage of Colorado’s red flag gun law and a June state Supreme Court ruling upholding a large-capacity gun magazine ban. Most recently, many of RMGO’s candidates did not win in contested GOP primaries for statehouse and county commissioner seats last week.

The organization has faced some criticism — even from within the GOP ranks — for its tactics. The family of House Minority Leader Patrick Neville has been closely aligned with the group, and recent RMGO losses could add steam to talk of removing him as caucus leader…

It’s too early to tell if this significant change of fortunes for an organization that has traditionally wielded tremendous influence within the Colorado Republican Party represents a long-term shift in direction of the party, or a momentary nadir for the party’s still very powerful hard-right faction. A major nexus of RMGO’s influence over the Colorado GOP lies in the Neville family political machine, and the support for House Minority Leader Patrick Neville in the House minority caucus that survived the disastrous 2018 election and innumerable embarrassments committed by Neville since then.

The Neville Clan needed RMGO’s candidates to not lose. Dudley Brown’s downfall is very likely Pat Neville’s too.

Without question, there is a significant wing of the Colorado Republican Party deeply unhappy with the dominance of RMGO and the Neville Clan in GOP primaries, understanding that their choice of candidates is ruining the party’s chances with general election voters:

“They’re single issue,” said Will Sander, Weld County GOP chairman. “I think it’s a combination of that and people just realizing that there’s a history of RMGO candidates being successful in the primary and then not winning in the general election, and I think Republicans are tired of that and they’re ready to take back the House and take back the Senate.”

Ridding the legislature of such profound embarrassments as Vicki Marble, who did damage to the Republican brand far outside their districts, is a goal that has been long held by more than a few Republicans dismayed by the party’s decline. But looking at the current leadership of the state party, from Rep. Ken Buck as chairman to RMGO ally in the failed recall attempt against Rep. Tom Sullivan vice-chair Kristi Burton Brown and down through the ranks, it’s clear that the problem runs much deeper than any one figure or group. The Colorado Republican Party’s lurch to the irrational right in recent years is consistent with the party’s evolution nationally. In Donald Trump’s Republican Party, the pressure to radicalize comes from above and below.

At some level, you can’t purge your nature. Dudley Brown is a symptom of a larger disease.

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22 thoughts on “Dudley Brown’s Downfall Sidesteps Bigger GOP Dilemma”

  1. Somewhere there’s a Grill that could use a heavily armed busboy, or two, . . . 

    . . . I mean, after Dudley and Patrick tone up some.
    (“Pose real pretty with your hands on your hips, boys, and let’s see what you’re packin’!”) . . .

    . . . Maybe Uber could use an experienced Pinzgauer driver?

    2. "let's see what you're packin'………..

      Old line from Mae West: "is that a pistol in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?"

  2. Once the generation that grew up with the male-fetish fantasies of "Rambo" and "Red Dawn" is done, so are guns. And no, they don't get to win this time, either.

    1. Meiner, I wish that were true. But there are, unfortunately, many younger people brought up on the ideology that the libz, the brownz, the Muslimz, the gayz, are coming to take their stuff, and they need gunz to protect themselves.

      Numerically, I don't think the millenial and younger generation: the Proud Boys, the Boogaloo Bois, the Pistol-Packin' Mamas like Boebert are as large a group within their generation as their parents and grandparents were of theirs.

      But that's just my hunch from observing these young people in rural towns I've taught in, and online. I haven't seen any data comparing extreme ideology between generations.

      And really, guns themselves aren't the problem. Guns are tools for hunting or varmint defense, and yes, sometimes self defense. Sometimes they're sporting equipment. It's the fetishizing and politicization of weapons, the constant pumping up of a coming culture war by right wing propaganda outlets, that are the problem.

      Under a Democratic administration, maybe we can have resources dedicated to peace and fellowship and mutual self interest. Maybe.

      1. .., "coming to take their stuff."…Kwtree, most of them don't have any stuff and never will. They brand educated people as "libtards", mock "suits", and blame "those people" for there circumstances. All they have is their insults and their outrage. 

  3. “…..the party’s still very powerful, hard right faction.”  Yep, don’t forget that the hard core, right wing, anti-women, religious zealots are still riding high in the party. 

    1. perhaps, if they recognize the "no compromise" position on 2nd Amendment issues isn't a winning one, there will be an opportunity for consideration of compromise on, say, taxation, environmental protections [the ORIGINAL conservative movement], and vaccinations.

      1. I wish I could say I have any confidence something like that recognition is possible, JID, but I don't think so. We are on the brink of civil war…we need to wake up…it gets ugly very fast. The Right will not back down. 

        When I was a kid, one of the most common phrases I heard was, "Save your Confederate money, boys…the South is going to rise again". These people are not right in the head. Compromise is not in their vocabulary…it is three syllables, after all.

  4. Colorado Pols has had ample opportunities to help Republicans field better candidates, but that's not what this blog really wants. No matter what happens Colorado Pols twists the story to hurt Republicans most. You don't want moderation, moderation is a fig leaf for Democrat socialist dominance.

    We will clean house without you!

    2. Do you have a shortened work-week or are you posting on taxpayer time?

      We will clean hHouse without you!

      You mean Steve?  

       

      I thought your team was bringing the economy back from the dead on Easter Sunday??? 

    3. Oh christsakes, Fluffy, . . .

      . . . Alva and the gang just spent months working here to hand you John fuckin’ Hickenlooper on a platter, already, didn’t they???  That’s not enough??? 

      Put on your big boy bootstraps now, huh? . . .

    4. Colorado Pols has had ample opportunities to help Republicans field better candidates, but that's not what this blog really wants.

      Wrong again, Fluffy.

      Just before the primary, I was rooting for Colin Larson to win in HD 22.  Although it wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement.

      If I recall correctly, I said that I would probably vote for Mary Parker over Larson, but I would definitely vote for (and donate money to) Parker if Justin "Sleepy" Everett was the GOP candidate.

      Looks like the HD 22 Republicans are doing your house cleaning.

    5. Hey nutlid, this blog does not claim to be pro-Republican by any stretch.  But if they want to discuss the folly of Republican pols and operatives like Gardner, Dudley DoWrong, the nEVILles, or President Biff, they can do so.  And they do, because there is stuff to talk about in those regards.  If you don't like it, clean up your own damn house.

      And are you going to reimburse the taxpayers the money for the time you waste posting your insipid drivel?

    9. I don't recall Colorado Pols claiming a desire to have Republicans field better candidates.  Seems to me, Colorado Pols as a board is an open forum, allowing people to post their ideas.  Personally written material from Colorado Pols about  individuals in the Republican party is most often an assault — but does so from a point of view outside Republicans' ethos.

      1. Do bear in mind that anything that comes from our lil’ Fluffy one will prolly not make sense. Having said that, I have said some kind things about Republicans in times past and I do wish they would support candidates like Dan Thurlow over tweetybirds like Lauren Qbert.

        Generally speaking, though, helping Republicans do anything besides lose would be way out of character for this cowboy. My old neighbor, Perry Will, is now a GOP rep. I don’t honestly know Perrys’ politics, but I know his character. He is a good, honest, moral man. I would never attack his integrity until he gives me a reason and he has not done so.

        The same cannot be said of the current leadership of the Republican party. Like realist said the other day, “it isn’t an ideology, it’s a criminal enterprise”.

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