I wish I could have gotten here earlier, I see the Pols are already all over this weekend’s big McInnis story–the candidate who thinks he can run for office without paperwork.
It’s not surprising to see the Pols pick up this story, since they are accused all the time of “partisanship” (don’t let their criticism of Ritter or Bennet fool you).
But since the Pols are talking about GOP “party elites” falling in behind Penry and against McInnis, I thought I should add what may be the best evidence of all that is exactly what’s happening: today’s post from the Republican blog Face the State.
WHAT EXACTLY COUNTS AS AN ‘OFFICIAL’ ANNOUNCEMENT?
http://facethestate.com/articl…
Former Congressman Scott McInnis is unofficially running for governor in 2010 and has been doing so for nearly two months. He maintains campaign finance rules don’t require his compliance because he, well, isn’t official yet. So what exactly makes a candidate official?
According to Colorado law: “A person is a candidate for election if the person has publicly announced an intention to seek election to public office…”
But based on news reports of McInnis’s behavior at public events over the last two months, it is hard to consider his candidacy “unofficial” any longer.
Exhibit A:
In March, The Denver Post reported McInnis was telling his friends at the state GOP committee meeting he’s “in” for the governor’s race.
Exhibit B:
Last month, a voice-mail message left on an unidentified machine has raised questions about whether McInnis is inappropriately coordinating with a 527 political group. His defense? McInnis told the Post that because he has not officially announced or formed a candidate committee the rules do not yet apply to him. But isn’t acknowledging he’s an unofficial candidate to The Denver Post still a public announcement?
Exhibit C:
As of Saturday, The Steamboat Pilot reported:
“McInnis said [at a Lincoln Day Dinner] Colorado campaign laws prevent him from formally announcing his candidacy but promised the local audience, ‘I’m ready for a little fight.’ When local party Chairman Jack Taylor said McInnis was ‘seriously considering’ running for governor, McInnis replied, ‘That would be an understatement.’If it talks like a candidate, sounds like a candidate, and raises money like a candidate, there is only one thing it can be.
We rest our case.
For starters, I completely agree with Face the State’s post. McInnis has clearly met the legal test of a candidate, and should be filing campaign disclosures. The fact that he is not is a major problem that the Secretary of State needs to investigate.
BUT WHY IS FACE THE STATE TALKING ABOUT THIS?
If you don’t know, FTS is probably the most credible Republican blog in Colorado. They have funders and a staff, a lot like the Colorado Independent. FTS was started by Brad Jones, a well-placed Republican activist best known for the controversy surrounding his work on the Colorado Senate Minority–now led by Josh Penry (!)–website.
Jones is closely tied to Republican “elites” that Pols mentioned in their latest post about the governor’s race. They pay him to run FTS. FTS, in turn, is loaded with fluff pieces lavishing praise on Penry–“the man who saved the death penalty” ran the headline of one recent FTS opinion piece–as well as other Republican party favorites.
Now, do a search for McInnis on Face the State. Notice a distinct difference in the coverage? As in all negative? That’s unheard for FTS, whose only job up until now has been to shill for Republicans. I mean it–find me negative coverage of Republicans on this blog except McInnis, and Marostica doesn’t count…
What’s the point? Only that Face the State is speaking volumes. They didn’t have to write what they wrote today, they CHOSE to. FTS is as close to the Republican “party elites” as you will ever find in a blog. They would not be attacking McInnis if it wasn’t part of the plan.
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They must really, really, really not want to win. McInnis is the only candidate who even moderate worries Democrats, and it looks like the GOP machine is in the process of tearing him down. Will he even be able to declare officially, or will FTS and
Drudge Report ColoradoComplete Colorado decimate him before he gets the chance?All this fun Republican circular firing squad stuff has almost made me forget how unenthusiastic I am about Ritter.
Anyway, it’s pretty obvious the the Colorado GOP is officially far more worried about ideological purity than putting up the candidate with the best shot at winning.
It looks like things may be shifting in a particular direction. If that is the judgment of party leaders we should all be content with that and support our eventual nominee. No one should be immune to rightful criticism. In a few months this will all be forgotten either way.
Your “circular firing squad” is bullshit, but will soon be aimed straight at Democrats anyway.
That’s the first non-pointless asshole post I think we’ve seen from your, GOPipsqueak. Finally realized you can’t keep your people from bleeding each other and decided to go with Penry, huh? I don’t think McLobbyist is quite out of this one.
And dumbass, the point of a circular firing squad is…nobody’s left to aim at the enemy.
Flanked again, soldier.
Why are you against an actual democracy?
Apparently voters cannot be trusted to decide.
You know, sometimes it’s too easy! When Republican talking heads start quoting Lenin, I think it’s pretty clear who the real “Red Menace” is in American politics these days.
Check your history, GOPWarrior, before someone starts calling you a “socialist”: “The principles of democratic centralism were adopted by the 10th Congress in the form of a resolution written by Lenin, “On Party Unity.” At the 10th Congress of the All-Russian Communist Party (1921), the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Ilich Lenin declared that the party was not a debating society in which all opinions were tolerated and freely expressed; it was a “vanguard” party whose role as leader of the revolution demanded extreme discipline and a high level of organization. Unrestrained discussion, he insisted, would produce intraparty disagreements and factions and prevent the party from acting effectively. On the other hand, absolute control by a centralized leadership would discourage new ideas from lower-level party members. Therefore, Lenin argued, free discussion within the party should be tolerated and even encouraged up to a point, but, once a vote was taken, all discussion had to end. The decision of the majority should constitute the current party “line” and be binding upon all members.”
“democratic centralism.” EncyclopГ¦dia Britannica. 2009. EncyclopГ¦dia Britannica Online. 19 May. 2009
.
That is, unless you read the law, which you cite in your post.
In that case, he looks like someone who wants to look like he will likely become a candidate, in order to help him gauge what support he might get in an actual bid.
He may simply be upping his public profile in hopes that the Obama Administration offers him a job in the
CommerceAgriculture Department..
but he might think he is.
I agree with Barron, though. Prospective candidates do crap like that until the day they announce and form a committee. This is silly.
Nobody’s saying it’s the Watergate break-in. Republicans driving the bus on him know it’s “silly,” but they’re still talking about it aren’t they? Why?
But who thought FTS was anything but solidly in Penry’s corner even before this? Your diary is absolutely right — they worship Penry and dismiss McInnis.
Just about every Democrat I know (and that’s a lot of Democrats) considers McInnis to be the greater general election threat. Have the Rs simply come to a different conclusion, or is this really just an ideological thing? I worry about presuming they’re this stupid.
Given an echo, not a choice, voters will stick with Ritter. The Republicans’ only chance is to run someone very different from Ritter — young, energetic, a little cocky. I don’t think Penry will hold up as well as they think he will, but he’s got a better chance than McInnis.