Bill Tucker, Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party, is trying to push back against claims by Dudley Brown and his Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) that County Party Officials are hostile to volunteers for RMGO-backed candidates (and a host of other charges). At least, that's what we thought Tucker was doing until…well, let's just say this whole mini-drama continues to get weirder.
After the original Colorado Pols post on the story (posted by user IndyNinja), Tucker was quoted by Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post about the RMGO claims; "That's not true at all," he told Bartels.
In a front-page message on the Jefferson County Republican Party website posted sometime in the last few days, Tucker sort of (kind of) tries to clarify the situation by not really refuting much and actually admitting to a particular error:
There have been recent letters and postings on the internet that imply that the Jefferson County Republican Party is turning away volunteers that openly support conservative candidates and issues in our County. It is disingenuous to suggest that Jeffco Republicans are picking any one candidate over another candidate. [Pols emphasis] Our aim is to fairly support all our candidates during the selection process and then stand behind those candidates that are selected in the primary so that they emerge victorious during the election this fall.
Following the caucus meetings of March 4, we are tasked with our biggest volunteer efforts to produce and tabulate countywide data, which we are obligated to conduct by state statute. We have been made aware there have apparently been instances where some of our valuable volunteers were told they could not enter caucus data because it might be perceived that this could give one candidate an advantage over another candidate. For that we apologize and have rectified the situation. There was not any intent to allow volunteers working on behalf of some candidates and exclude volunteers working on behalf of others. [Pols emphasis]
The most important issue to keep in mind is that after verification of eligibility and completion of data entry – all candidates will receive, at the same time, complete lists of delegations that were elected to the County, Congressional, and State Assemblies. Candidates can then use this information as appropriate for their campaigns. Our mission is and has always been to help elect republicans at all levels of government and advance the cause of liberty.
Bill Tucker, Chairman
WTF? This is a strange public response. Tucker doesn't really firmly deny anything — saying claims of bias are "disingenuous" is different than saying, "that's not true." He eventually settles on the old' "there was no intent…" line, which nobody ever uses unless they are admitting that something untoward happened in the first place. Which Tucker…didn't. Or did he?
In the midst of this nonpology scramble, Tucker actually apologizes for something that may or may not have happened, and then says that the Party has "rectified the situation." How so? Did you hold a replacement caucus?
We haven't seen anything from RMGO in response [ie, we haven’t bothered to look], but we'd be surprised if Tucker's letter will satisfy them. After all, the accusations on Saturday were much stronger than whether or not someone was allowed to perform a specific caucus task. Here's a sample from the RMGO Facebook page on Saturday:
The party is allowing campaign operatives for anti-gun State Senate candidates Mario Nicolais and Lang Sias to not only work in this office, but have exclusive access to key data that could help give them an unfair advantage in the upcoming primary election…
…The party is giving preferential treatment to the candidates who refused to fill out our survey.
Are certain candidates allowed exclusive access to "key data" that other candidates are not? That's a pretty important question…and it's still a question.
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Looks like Dudley Brown told the truth… for the first time in his life. All claims of the GOP being grassroots is laughable. Ryan Call has the GOP under his thumb from the top down.