With a circulation of 12 13 people, PeakNation™, you may not have heard of a little paper called The Colorado Springs Independent, but the shorthand on them is that they try extremely hard to be left of Boulder—so much so that rumor has it some of their more prominent political endorsements in the past included Chairman Mao, Stalin (pre-purges of course), and Jerry Garcia (though we can’t track down if the Grateful Dead lead singer actually ran for anything). Which makes their endorsement of Wayne Williams for Secretary of State that much more puzzling. It’d be like Red Wing fans voting for Patrick Roy as the greatest player ever. Of their 14 endorsements only Williams and one other Republican got the nod from The Independent—and the other Republican only received his endorsement as a default, (like, literally, no one has heard from the Democrat since he declared… should someone swing by his house?).
Here’s what The Independent had to say about Williams:
The Colorado secretary of state’s principal duty is to oversee elections — to ensure that they’re fair, and to facilitate participation. It’s exceedingly important.
…We’ve been on the receiving end of Williams’ office’s efficiency and its professionalism, both of which have been impressive.
Unlike Neguse, Williams has experience running elections, including two very challenging ones: the 2012 primary that happened during the Waldo Canyon Fire (and forced his workers to evacuate for their safety), and the John Morse recall election last year. Also, in a measure of his ability to be nonpartisan, Democratic commissioners in Saguache County selected him to run a recall election of their own clerk and recorder.
…we are reassured by Williams’ experience. And we believe it would be Williams’ duty to faithfully execute electoral reforms… [the Peak’s]
The Independent’s glowing praise of Williams’ non-partisan ways—which they’ve experienced firsthand— only heighten what a joke other Colorado papers’ “editorial boards” are. Their endorsements become not much more than a chance for the liberals at papers to throw-off their (thinly-veiled) charade of “neutrality” and write how they truly feel for once. Watch The Durango Herald embarrass itself, trying to scrape together a partisan attack against Williams:
On paper, Williams has better qualifications. As El Paso County clerk, he has run elections. He also served for eight years as county commissioner. [BUT… we don’t care]
Williams proudly points to his successful oversight of the 2013 election… Fox News, however, referred to that election as “chaotic and controversial.” [You know liberals be reaching when they cite Fox News]
Perhaps what Williams means by success was the ouster of a top Democrat [Brandon Rittiman Truth Test™ says this statement is purely opinion]. If so, it would fit in with his critics’ fears. Gessler has a reputation as being partisan, and the concern is Williams would follow along. [Nothing about this paragraph is factual. And is basically one big hatchet job]
…Turnout was significantly lower than in another recall vote in Pueblo where voter accessibility was better. [the Peak’s]
Yes, you heard that right, The Herald tried to say Pueblo’s Board of Elections (are we sure they it isn’t still counting its recall votes?) ran a better recall election than Williams. But it’s easy to see through The Herald’s thin-skinned liberal ways, as the paragraph on Gessler make it quite apparent this endorsement has nothing to do with Williams, and everything to do with The Herald‘s Ed. Board being sad they don’t get to vote against Gessler.
At least papers back in the day had the decency to call themselves The Democrat.