Why am I Doing This? The Case for Conservative Principles and Integrity over Partisanship in the Governor's Race
“Why are you doing this?” That is the question I receive more often than any other as I travel the state as a candidate for Governor. My answer is somewhat lengthy because the decision I made to run did not come easily and was based on a number of revelations that confirmed my first impressions of Dan Maes based on our initial meeting.
This is, as I am sure you will agree, the most bizarre political year we have ever experienced. Thanks to Obama and Ritter, Republicans were set to have a banner year in Colorado. We had, what appeared to be qualified and competent candidates for the major offices in the state and the wind was at our backs for a change. As I have done for years, I spent many hours stumping for Republican candidates all over the state. In the Governor’s race I first supported Josh Penry.
When Josh withdrew, I supported Scott McInnis. I agreed to every request made of me to help. Just two weeks before allegations of plagiarism sent his campaign into a tailspin, I was helping to “rally the troops” at his campaign headquarters.
Almost a year earlier I met with Dan Maes at his request. He told me he wanted to run for Governor. When I asked him about his background, he told me he was a successful businessman who was now looking for new challenges. Of course, I had no reason to doubt his claims, but also no reason to think much about it because he was on the wrong side of so many of the critical issues facing our state – a problem he has tried to rectify in the months since with numerous flip-flops.
On Immigration, first Dan said he would grant illegal aliens “probationary citizenship [so they] can be naturalized after one year”-- a far more liberal plan than existing law or even the proposed Kennedy-Reid amnesty bill. (
http://replay.waybackmachine.org/200...://www.danmaes....). And again, later, when called on it, Maes changed his tune, saying he would arrest illegal aliens, “put them in jail and [call] Immigration [and Customs Enforcement].”
On Abortion, first Dan said that “Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, and people tend to forget that. I would not try to undo that.” (GOP-tea party favorite Maes wants it both ways on abortion Colorado Independent). Later Maes said “I am pro-life and disagree with Roe vs. Wade.”
On the Second Amendment, first Dan said “no to a Vermont style conceal carry law and no on the repeal of the Brady background check.” (Peoples Press Collective | Colorado Politics | Rocky Mountain Gun Owners vs. Dan Maes :...). Later Maes said he “will support a conceal carry law similar to Vermont’s if the people of Colorado ask for it.”
In addition to these disconcerting reversals and troubling statements on important policy issues, other distressing facts have come to light that raise serious questions about Dan’s integrity.
Dan has promoted himself as a successful businessman who turned around failing companies, but the record tells a different story.
Dan’s tax records show his annual income was around $20,000 in 2005 and 2006, and just $11,000 in 2008. (
http://www.coloradostatesman.com/con...lican-maes-def...), and Dan has so far refused to release his 2009 records. In addition, his business has been deemed “delinquent” since March 2007 in filing annual reports with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office (
http://www.coloradostatesman.com/con...lican-maes-def...).
Maes also backed off claims of undercover police work in a recent Denver Post story. The story noted: Maes said, “I was fired as a police officer in Liberal, Kansas…, after working undercover with the KBI in a gambling and drug probe. Later, a statement he wrote on his campaign website that was later removed said, “At one point in my 2 years there I was placed (sic) undercover by the Kansas Bureau of Investigations (sic) to gather information inside a bookmaking ring that was also allegedly selling drugs. I got too close to some significant people in the community who were involved in these activities and abruptly was dismissed from my position. I was blindsided and stunned to say the least.” Law enforcement sources in Kansas disputed the claim in interviews with The Denver Post. Maes later said, “Some people are probably taking that a little too literally...”
But the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said it has no record of Maes working with the agency during his stint as a police officer from 1983 to 1985. “We've checked our records. We've talked to people working in that area (southwest Kansas) at the time,” said Bob Blecha, director of the law enforcement agency. “He (Maes) refers to a gambling case and possible drugs. They (agents) don't recall him working with them on any case like that.” ...[and] he stressed, “He (Maes) did not work for us or with us on an investigation.”
Maes backs off claim of 'undercover' work in Kansas - The Denver Post
Dan also suggested that access to his campaign was for sale. In an interview with Jeff Crank this past Saturday, while discussing the Freda Poundstone check scandal, Dan told Crank, “If people want a seat at the table (referring to his campaign advisory panel which Freda was already a part of), what’s the first thing they’ve got to do? Write a check.”
http://www.completecolorado.com/audi...0410Crank1.mp3
Finally, Dan’s actions have been in direct conflict with his message of clean, open and transparent government.
Dan has already agreed to pay a fine $17,500 for numerous campaign violations, the largest such penalty imposed in Colorado’s history. The violations included failure to report in-kind donations, failure to disclose expenditures in a timely manner, and improperly paying himself out of his campaign account. (
http://www.coloradostatesman.com/con...says-complaint...)
On that last point, Dan has reimbursed himself more than $43,000 directly out of his campaign account -- at least one-quarter of all his campaign funds -- for vehicle mileage in a 12-month period, which would put him in his car roughly eight hours a day, every day. (
http://www.coloradostatesman.com/con...says-complaint...)
That’s nearly four times his total income for the most recent year for he has produced financial records!
I have never been in a campaign that required me to focus on issues of integrity but this situation is absolutely beyond the pale. I have never seen a political party have to beg a candidate to get off the ballot in order to avoid the embarrassment his candidacy would create. I’ve never seen a political party disown a candidate and tell their members they have no obligation to support him.
I never imagined I would be asking you to vote for me for Governor of Colorado but that is exactly what I am doing. I tried everything I could do to get Mr. Maes to drop out and let the Republican Party fill the vacancy with a credible candidate. Eventually it became impossible because of statutory time lines, for me to enter the race as a Republican.
Let me be clear: while I have always stood up to the Republican Party when my principles required it, my candidacy in the Governor's race isn't an assault on the Republican Party itself. It is a challenge to the flukish nomination of an unqualified and unethical man in a single race at the top of the ticket.
As this election unfolds, I expect hosts of conservatives and freedom-loving men and women in other parties to cast their vote for Tom Tancredo – as well as Cory Gardner, Ryan Frazier, and Scott Tipton. I expect to see Tom Tancredo bumper stickers next to Ken Buck bumper stickers on pickup trucks across this state – along with those carrying the names of Republicans running for the statehouse and senate.
Like you, I support many of these Republican candidates, and hope to see them prevail in November.
Believe me, as your next governor, nothing would make me happier than to see Republican Frank McNulty as Speaker of the House, and my friend Mike Kopp as President of the Colorado Senate when I take the oath of office in January.
And I firmly believe that my candidacy will give otherwise disgruntled conservatives a reason to vote this November, helping buoy these down ticket prospects of Congressional and statehouse Republicans in their own critical bids.
I know with your support, I can win this race. And now that the Republican Party has disavowed Mr. Maes, I am the only candidate that can stop the Denver Mayor from doing to the state what he has done to the city – increasing taxes and killing jobs.
We all know there is a reason Mayor Hickenlooper was asked by Obama to run for Governor – and it isn’t because Obama thinks the Mayor is a “moderate.” Hickenlooper is progressive with radical tendencies – and we all know that's exactly how he will govern.
My friend, you know who I am. And you know what I stand for. I have a lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union of 97%. You know you can trust me to appoint conservative judges and to veto liberal bills. With your support, I can win this race.
I will push for tax cuts – not increases – as the best way to create jobs. I will use my experience serving in the State Legislature and as a member the Joint Budget Committee to wrestle with the bloated budget created by too many years of Democrat control of the Capitol and the Governor’s office.
I will make sure that solid Republican and conservative leaders are appointed to fill key positions in my administration and especially any vacancy on the State Supreme Court. I will strive to lead a Tenth Amendment revolution with my like-minded Governors around the country. I will work toward making Colorado a friendly place for business and industry and an unfriendly place for illegal aliens.
Let’s not squander this opportunity to beat Mayor Hickenlooper just because the Republican Party is saddled with an unfit and accidental nominee.
There is a conservative alternative.
Let’s stand shoulder to shoulder once again in this fight for our shared values.
I know that we can win this race if we hang together.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Tom Tancredo
