While Laura Bradford Laughs Hysterically (Jared Wright Update)

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by: Colorado Pols

The Grand Junction Sentinel’s Gary Harmon continues the story of embattled GOP HD-54 candidate Jared Wright, and the increasingly desperate Mesa County Republicans trying to nudge him out of a race he is virtually certain to win:

With the Mesa County Republican Party leadership paralyzed by the candidacy of Jared Wright, party members have embarked on a frenzied, but so far unsuccessful, search for an alternative to his candidacy.

One Republican even considered dropping out of the GOP, joining a minor party and mounting a ballot challenge that way.

“Everybody’s trying to figure out some way to get him out of the race,” said Kathy Hall, a former Mesa County commissioner and longtime party activist, “so we can have a candidate who lives up to the basic principles of our party: personal responsibility and integrity.” [Pols emphasis]

…Wright’s path to the Legislature seemed clear until revelations about his departure from the Fruita Police Department and then about his 2011 bankruptcy raised questions in the GOP.

Mesa County Commissioner Steve Acquafresca called the series of events “an oddball deal” that could have legislative implications.

“All that any legislator has to sell over there (in the capitol) is his credibility,” said Acquafresca, who served in the Legislature representing parts of Delta County. “I’m not saying this in judgment of Jared Wright, but credibility is all important. You can gain the confidence of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and that’s especially important for the West Slope counties.”

As Harmon reports, and we’ve known from the moment Wright’s controversies surfaced in local press, it’s too late–for Democrats to field a candidate in a race they couldn’t win other than in a situation like this one, and also for Republicans to replace Wright with either another Republican or a “third party” Tom Tancredo-style alternative. All of the applicable deadlines had already passed when the story of Wright’s departure from the Fruita Police Department, then his questionable personal bankruptcy a year prior, damaged his candidacy to the point that prominent local Republicans began funding a campaign to get him out of the race.

We can’t predict how things will end here–we’ve still heard nothing from former boss and Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, Wright’s mentor under whom he served as a legislative aide. Will Wright be able to outlast the red-on-red campaign to get rid of him? Will Wright emerge from this battle for his political future as a pariah, or a “rehabilitated” comeback kid?

Like Todd Akin can tell you, sometimes stubborn is just as good as “rehabilitated.”

8 thoughts on “While Laura Bradford Laughs Hysterically (Jared Wright Update)”

BlueCat says:

August 26, 2012 at 11:37 pm

could get elected there so why should he drop out? Embarrassed or not, what leverage do his fellow county Rs have? Clearly this isn’t a guy spends any time thinking about the welfare of others over his own or one who has one of those moral or ethical compass thingies. And if Arap responds by pulling a Dem name out of the hat as an example that there are rotten apple Dems too, can we please just agree not to humor him with a response?

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1. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  August 27, 2012 at 1:52 am
  
  only if I’m allowed “prespond” in advance of his predictable lunacy:
  
  Bite me, shill. That’s utterly ridiculous, even for a knuckle-dragger apologist like you.
  
  Thanks a lot for that, BC.
  
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  1. parsingreality says:
    
    August 27, 2012 at 10:02 pm
    
    …how bitter some lefties are to others here. I very much respect both you and BC, why is she a shill? “Bite me” should be reserved for Liberturd and his ilk.
    
    This is why David is leaving, and I do understand his decision.
    
    “I’m not a member of any organized political party, I’m a Democrat.” Or, the circular firing squad.
    
    We can’t win if we shoot each other.
    
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    1. Diogenesdemar says:
      
      August 27, 2012 at 10:34 pm
      
      since BC wasn’t allowing us to respond to A-GOP, I wanted to “prespond” to him in advance of his post and honor BC’s wishes . . .
      
      Now, I just feel terrible — my badly misguided attempts at humor are apparently running all of the good ones off this site. Maybe I should have myself voluntarily committed to the penalty box?
      
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      1. parsingreality says:
        
        August 28, 2012 at 4:22 am
        
        …….many of us don’t see the post for what it is. No warning system built in.
        
        As I said, you are one of the best posters here. So is Blue Cat.
        
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JeffcoBlue says:

August 27, 2012 at 7:38 pm

I can’t wait until Jared comes to Denver.

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Muhammad Ali Hasan says:

August 27, 2012 at 11:51 pm

What’s the point now? Jared has nothing to lose (and the GOP has NOTHING to offer him if he does drop out)

This is what happens when “kingmakers” rig the primary and it’s a mistake that the Colorado GOP will continue making

NOTE TO JARED WRIGHT – Don’t drop out. The Colorado GOP has nothing to offer you, if you do. They picked you – time for them to LEARN the value of commitment.

Similarly, SHAME ON US DEMOCRATS for not putting up a candidate. No seat should ever go unchallenged and this event is more disgraceful for us as Democrats, than it is for the Republicans. If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is that our State Party needs to do a better job of cultivating candidates in losing districts – yes, it’s usually a suicide mission, but those candidates are the seeds that lead to new victories, in blazing new trails.

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1. dukeco1 says:
  
  August 28, 2012 at 4:53 am
  
  our State Party needs to do a better job of cultivating candidates in losing districts – yes, it’s usually a suicide mission, but those candidates are the seeds that lead to new victories, in blazing new trails.
  
  and getting beaten up in an election thickens the skin. 🙂
  
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