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June 17, 2009 11:53 PM UTC

Ritter Campaign Returns Coffman Fire Over "Terrorist Sympathizer" Dig

  • 21 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

The reelection campaign for Governor Bill Ritter just sent a sharply-worded blast mail to supporters, asking them to contact Rep. Mike Coffman and tell him “to stop using taxpayer dollars to smear Governor Ritter.” We’re pretty sure this marks the first direct intervention by the Governor’s campaign so far, responding to Coffman’s remarks earlier this month branding Ritter a ‘terrorist sympathizer’ for his opposition to expanding the Army’s Pinon Canyon training area.

We’ve reprinted the mailing after the jump–says surrogate Mack Louden, a rancher from southeast Colorado, “Mike Coffman wants to inject partisan politics into an issue that has always had broad bi-partisan support, putting him at odds not only with Coloradans, but also his own party. For years, both Democrats and Republicans have supported our efforts to block overly-aggressive expansion plans by the Army. Most of our elected leaders, like Governor Ritter, know that we can strike the right balance between safeguarding our national security and protecting Southern Colorado’s economic vitality.”

Dear XXXX,

Bill Ritter has helped save my ranch, and hundreds like mine, from the Army’s initial proposal to expand its Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in Southeastern Colorado.

So when Congressman Mike Coffman issued a congressional statement smearing the Governor as “sympathetic” to terrorist organizations for siding with Colorado ranchers, he crossed the line.

I’m a lifelong Republican, but these comments embarass me — and I’m not afraid to let him know it. They show just how far some politicians will go to undermine the good work Governor Ritter is doing for so many Coloradans, like me.

Join me in telling Rep. Mike Coffman to stop using taxpayer dollars to smear Governor Ritter.

My family has been tied to the land around Pi񯮠Canyon for four generations. The Army’s initial plan to seize over 400,000 additional acres to expand its facility here threatened to wipe out $20 million a year in agricultural production and eliminate hundreds of ranches that have been here for generations. Simply put, it would have devastated our economy and decimated our uniquely Colorado way of life.

When families like mine with deep roots in Southern Colorado banded together to oppose this particular plan by the Army to take our land, Governor Ritter listened.

That’s not all. After hearing our stories, Governor Ritter signed legislation to protect our private property rights — twice. He has remained true to his word since the very beginning, and we are tremendously grateful.

Join me in telling Rep. Mike Coffman to stop using taxpayer dollars to smear Governor Ritter.

Unfortunately, Mike Coffman wants to inject partisan politics into an issue that has always had broad bi-partisan support, putting him at odds not only with Coloradans, but also his own party. For years, both Democrats and Republicans have supported our efforts to block overly-aggressive expansion plans by the Army. Most of our elected leaders, like Governor Ritter, know that we can strike the right balance between safeguarding our national security and protecting Southern Colorado’s economic vitality.

But Rep. Coffman’s fringe attacks show that some folks will say or do anything for political gain — even questioning the patriotism of our Governor. We cannot let these attacks go unchecked.

Join me in telling Rep. Mike Coffman to stop using taxpayer dollars to smear Governor Ritter.

Thank you joining me to send a message to Rep. Mike Coffman, and for standing up for the thousands of Coloradans — like me — who would be devastated by the Army’s excessive initial expansion proposal.

Sincerely,

Mack Louden

Colorado Rancher

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21 thoughts on “Ritter Campaign Returns Coffman Fire Over “Terrorist Sympathizer” Dig”

  1. I just scrolled back and found that Pols ran the Coffman/Terrorist story on June 4, meaning that Coffman issued his statement on June 3.

    Today’s the 17th.

    Two weeks for the Governor to respond to a partisan political attack?

    Politically inept.  In politics, if you leave a lie laying around longer than 2 days it becomes the truth.

    Ritter needs to be firing somebody, anybody.

    Or maybe the problem comes from the top.

        1. My impression is that Coffman’s remarks did infinitely more to damage Coffman than they did Ritter — made Coffman sound hysterical and wildly out of touch with Colorado, without tainting Ritter one bit. “Charges” like that, you let fester until people have nearly forgotten them and then revive them for another hit.

        2. even the people who are political activists might not have been aware of this story. Two weeks passing doesn’t really matter if nobody’s heard about it.

          I tend to agree with RG’s comment above, Coffman sounds like a lunatic, and it lets the Governor reinforce the fact that he’s in the mainstream–and leading the way on an issue that has wide bi-partisan support (including Josh Penry.)

          I agree he could have acted sooner, but I don’t think waiting this long to launch a counter-attack is that devastating.

          1. And after a couple weeks of getting his ass kicked on labor issues, it makes sense for the campaign to try and remind folks who’s on whose side.  

    2. I agree that the campaign is going to have to respond a whole lot faster than this in the future.  But I agree with those below that this particular attack was so lame that letting it sit and bringing it up later did more good than harm.

      But an attack that does actual damage needs a much quicker response.  I think they were luckier than they were smart this time.

      1. Half of that was my point.  

        The other half, that there was somehow some kind of upside to doing nothing, doesn’t compute.  There is never an upside to leaving accusations unchallenged.  If it made the opposition look like crazies this week, it would have made them look even more like crazies two weeks ago.

        If these guys were being paid as consultants to the campaign, they would have been fired by now.  Or at least they should have.

        Sometimes, giving the best possible advice involves NOT kissing ass.  There’s a place for fanboys in a political campaign, but it has nothing to do with advising the candidate.

        Sometimes you have to tell the candidate that he or she is/was wrong.  I think that leaving an accusation on the table for two weeks is wrong.  While telling the candidate that he or she is wrong isn’t going to win you any popularity contests, it’s how you sleep at night as a consultant.

        And any candidate who resents that kind of advice deserves to lose.

        1. Who says Ritter’s advisors were “kissing ass” by managing the timing of their response? Your rant about telling the candidate he’s wrong makes no sense in this context.

          Look back to when Coffman issued his crazy statement. Ritter was rather busy fending off angry firefighters at that time. Blasting Coffman with this then would have either gotten lost in the din or sounded like a lame attempt to distract from the message Ritter hoped to convey, that he was willing to piss off his friends.

          You can rip Ritter for late responses when the charges are actually damaging — in this case, they weren’t.

            1. As someone who praised the timing of Ritter’s return fire (which is a different thing than defending Ritter), I’d have to say if he left Coffman’s statement alone entirely, that would have been a missed opportunity but hardly a big problem. There’s a virtue in keeping your powder dry until the right time, and I think that’s what Ritter’s people did this time. We’ll have to see if they respond swiftly when it matters.

          2. Ritter’s been under fire from so many different constituencies since the election, it’s been hard to notice when he’s actually doing something not totally horrible.

  2. Remember that both Rep Coffman and Rep Lamborn both blasted the Gov over the Land Grab bill by saying that it would prevent the Army from deploying more units to Fort Carson?

    Well, while both should’ve know better before postulating such a stupid theory, the Army ignored their dumb asses and is moving more units to Carson ANYWAY…

    At Fort Carson, a ‘big surge’ is on the way

    “The Texas crowd will start rolling in next week.

    “But they’re just part of the green-clad phalanx flowing into Fort Carson this summer.

    “Soldiers from posts, camps and stations all over the globe have started moving in as Fort Carson grows by 6,500 soldiers in addition to a massive turnover in its ranks.

    “Lynthia Washington, whose office handles all the paperwork for newly arrived troops, expects to see as many as 300 new soldiers a day in coming weeks.”

    http://www.gazette.com/news/so…

    THAT article was posted June 6th. Which means Ritter let Lamborn and Coffman bask in the light of their own stupidity until he released this letter.  

    1. .

      The Army, with the consent of Congress, decided in 2004 to move additional troops to Fort Carson.  

      In the last 5 years, the Army has spent $2 billion upgrading Fort Carson infrastructure and building new facilities to accommodate the incoming units.  

      Part of the big Army Restationing Plan was setting aside about $1 billion (the actual figure is classified; this is my guess) to purchase land in SE Colorado from willing sellers at an average of over $7,000 per acre (calculation based on the preceding guess,) a pretty high price compared to past sales.

      No honest person has ever suggested that the Army had even a fall-back contingency plan of condemning and taking through eminent domain, though hundreds of dishonest folks have alleged that.  

      Think about it:  $7,000 offered per acre for land that normally sells for less than $1,000 per acre.  

      Then, a couple of weeks/ months ago, the Governor declares soldiers persona non grata in the state of Colorado.

      He declares that, if they are going to go to war from bases in Colorado, they will have to deploy without proper training, because we don’t want no more stinkin’ GI’s dirtying up the place.  

      Or, maybe draft-dodging Governor Ritter (Peace Corps deferment) wants more soldiers coming here, he just doesn’t want them to be able to defend themselves if they come under attack.  While not much of a distinction, maybe that’s his point.  

      .

      There is definitely a “taking” of property going on.  Owning land means the owner has the right to use, abuse, and sell it.  

      Governor Ritter took away that last right, slashing the value to a fraction of what it was worth.  

      But I don’t think that was his intent.  

      I think he just wanted to undermine Congressman Coffman as a rival by weakening the military.  Not very logical, but makes perfect emotional sense.  

      .

      So how is it, Staff Sergeant Dan,

      that you think the Army can stop the flow of troops on a dime ?  They were already en route when Governor Ritter made it state policy to hate on soldiers.  

      Their barracks are now here; we’ve returned their old barracks back to the Germans and Koreans and they can’t go back there.  

      Back when I said that we could pull out of Iraq in 60 days, if that’s what the President ordered, a lot of folks here with zero knowledge of Army logistics said I was wrong, that it would take years.  

      We were talking about tactical units that had no permanent facilities and were frequently required to move with only a few minutes’ notice.  My approach would have required us to abandon washing machines, wrecked vehicles and the buildings they had commandeered to the Iraqis.  

      What was your response to my assertion ?

      How do you propose we move a $35 million motor pool that consists mostly of concrete poured in place ?  

      .

      1. …..in varying posts. Let me go thru all of your post as briefly as I can…

        1)Your first two paragraphs borders on LIbertad-like hyperbole. Yes, DoD/FORSCOM/TRADOC made all the decisions about moving units to Fort Carson. Extra training land to support Battalion/Brigade Ops was part of the plan, but it’s NEVER the single actionable element of the plan. Units were moved to Fort Carson because there’s no where else to shoehorn them in. Also, there was no other Army installation that could provide the additional Family Support and services.

        Folks are being moved out of Fort Hood NOT because of the training land available (largest  outside of Fort Irwin) or new military facilities (largest post in the US) but because Killeen/Copperas Cove/Harker Heights can’t support the families. Colorado Springs/Fountain CAN.

        As far as the $$$ spent upgrading Fort Carson, it’s no different than the Cold War years in Germany and Korea – the bucks were in the budget, and Post Commanders acted like US mayors and grabbed everything they can. That money would’ve been poured into Carson regardless of planned moves.

        2) Ritter vs the Troops – another Libertad comment.  He never said anything like that – he wants to stop the land grab by the Feds. If he encourages the Army land grab, he’s just another Big Guvmit Democrat, and he’s evil. If he opposes it, he wants the terrorists to win.

        Seems like the troops are training pretty damn well at Fort Carson for the Urban Warfare mission  they’ve been fighting. Only the Stryker guys have more Iraq time than Carson Soldiers. All of that training happens either downrange, at Fort Irwin, or at Fort Polk.

        None of that training will ever happen at Pinon Canyon. The Army thinks they’ll build another Fort Irwin across the highway from Carson, and that ain’t happening. $1 Billion wouldn’t even cover the MILES gear and VISMODs, and the communications infrastructure, and the computer facilities, and the evaluator staff, and the OPFOR units…get the idea?

        3) “Taking” of property – don’t treat the area around Pinon Canyon like a Fountain subdivision. The ranchers and farmers there don’t want to sell to anyone – they want to KEEP it for (surprise) farming and ranching. Hooting and screeching about the implied gain or loss in value is a bogus point.

        This wasn’t an executive order – I do believe this action went thru the State Legislature. Or are you saying that Ritter used the Dark Side of the Force to get eveyone in the building to vote for it?

        4) Troops Movements – you’re right about this. Units were en route to Fort Carson, regardless if the land at Pinon Canyon was purchased or not. That means it had no impact on their movement. They came from Fort Hood, not some closing Kaserne in Germany or a Camp in Korea, so stop with the diversionary bullshit.

        And stop with the “state policy to hate on soldiers” bullshit. Ritter didn’t start it – this cheap-ass state has always been on the bottom of the list for being military and vet friendly.

        I had a response to your 60 day Iraq pullout fantasy – but since you forgot, I’ll remind you again. FOBs and the like are not sandbagged temporary emplacements, they’re gigantic firebases almost the size of Camp Liberty Bell. There’s stuff in them that we don’t want to give the Iraqi Army/Gov’t or the insurgents. (Have you been in a TOC/TAC lately? It looks like the Bridge of the Enterprise! I never seen so many routers, switches, servers and printers in my life!)

        Plus, there’s all this contractor bullshit that the Deserter President and his pals stuck the Military with, and we’re obligated to pull it out with us. And it wouldn’t be cheaper to blow it in place and pay whatever hyper-expensive price that KBR/Halliburton would charge us.

        5) You don’t move a $35 million dollar motor pool. You  move the units to it and use it. That alone proves that the units were going to Carson, regardless of how much or how little Pinon Canyon was expanded!

  4. What a nice article! It is so interesting! I feel so overwhelmed with that.  That is the indication of a good outcome. Some people spend a lot of time perfecting their golf game.  A successful golf game takes time to practice, and a lot of money as golf is terrifically expensive, though some people devote their time to things like paying off credit card debt, or curing their arachnophobia or sleepwalking.  Not to disparage the game – it’s a fine sport indeed, and a lot of people spend their lives just trying to make it to Q School, or the qualifying rounds of amateur tournaments that qualify (what the Q stands for) a person to try and make the PGA Tour, which few are able to do.  Many would get enormous personal loans to take part in a professional golf game.

          1. Wanna hear about the deer fly that bit me on the leg while I was up on a ladder picking my cherries this morning, causing injury and ruining my day when I fell trying to swat it?  Geesh.  Give me his ISP/email, I’ll send him many emails about it.

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