September 22, 2023 01:07 PM UTC

Two Lincoln Day Dinner Stars Who Need To Talk

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• by: Colorado Pols

Tomorrow, the La Plata County Republican Party will hold their annual Lincoln Day fundraising dinner at a casino near Durango with headlining scheduled speakers Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and her closest of congressional friends Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florabama. Gaetz’s leading role in the red-on-red standoff in Washington that threatens to shut down the government at the end of the month makes Gaetz a big “get” for inquiring media who might be in the vicinity, but the county party recently made clear that the local newspaper the Durango Herald would not be allowed to attend.

Although Gaetz would have some timely things to say about the impending shutdown in Washington, the upcoming Lincoln Day Dinner hosted by the neighboring Archuleta County Republican Party on October 21 in Pagosa Springs could feature a more direct intraparty conflict based on its keynote speakers:

What’s the problem, you ask? Last weekend, a Libertarian candidate named James Wiley announced his run for Boebert’s CD-3 seat on the specific grounds that Boebert refused to sign the Libertarian Party’s multi-point pledge to avoid a third-party spoiler. Wiley’s candidacy was announced by the state Libertarian party, suggesting their support. After Boebert’s 546-vote squeaker of a victory in 2022, a strong Libertarian in the race is just one of any number of factors that could easily flip this race.

surely ends Boebart’s hopes for reelection.

According Wiley’s campaign announcement, in full below, “…Lauren Boebart, aka Beetlejuice, has publicly denounced our pledge and defamed the principles we cherish as unworthy.”

— LPofColorado (Board of Directors) (@LPofColorado) September 16, 2023

Boebert’s race represents the first real test of the deal brokered by Colorado Republican Party chairman Dave Williams with the Colorado Libertarian Party to help clear a path in 2024 for Republican candidates willing to commit to the Libertarians’ far-flung set of demands. Keep in mind that even before Boebert declined to sign the Libertarian purity pledge, LPCO chair Hannah Goodman suggested strongly that Boebert wouldn’t meet their standards.

On October 21st, Boebert and Williams will be in the same room to hash this all out! Will Dave Williams apologize to Boebert for unleashing this third-party peril on the most vulnerable Republican in his charge? Will Williams make another attempt to persuade Boebert to sign the Libertarian Party’s wacky pledge after all? Or will Williams agree with Libertarians that Boebert has ideological and/or (pregnant pause) other shortcomings?

Williams can’t stay silent about this. It was his mistake to give Libertarian “whacktivists” the power to undermine the few remaining Republican strongholds in this solidifying blue state. If the ideological standards of the Colorado Republican Party are now so exacting that not even Lauren Boebert can meet them…perhaps no one will ever again.