Just about the least thankful job in Colorado politics these days is Chairman of the Larimer County GOP. In the Fort Collins Coloradoan yesterday, Bob Moore continued his exposé on the alleged crimes of the previous Larimer GOP Chairman, Larry Carillo, but never once mentioned the man cleaning up the mess left by Carillo.
That would be Tom Lucero, a former CU Regent and candidate for the 4th Congressional district in 2010. We praised his election to head the post-Carillo Larimer GOP in March, saying:
"Lucero is savvy, smart, very political and puts an unassuming and kind face on a brass tacks partisan style. Not only will he balance the books, he will also kick the living shiz-nit out of the Democrats."
Thus far, Lucero has lived up to the high praise, moving quickly to institute multiple layers of financial oversight and raise the funds needed to cover all outstanding debts.
Lucero's leadership has given the Larimer GOP a direly needed boost of credibility, helping lure both freshman Congressman Cory Gardner and conservative talk radio rock star Hugh Hewitt to fundraisers for the county party.
Already, Lucero has spearheaded fundraising that has wiped out the Party's $13,000 in debt, and put $3,000 in the bank. He has also hired a professional campaign finance company, Polifi, to handle future reporting, ensuring egregious mistakes made under Larry Carillo will not happen again.
While a warrant has been issued for Larry Carillo's arrest for his alleged felony theft from the Party, Lucero has the thankless task of cleaning up the mess. Carillo has set up the Larimer Republicans to potentially owe over $200,000 in fines. It marks him as the worst county Chairman in modern Colorado political history.
Thankfully, Lucero has stepped up the plate and dealt with the situation with both eyes wide open. In an email to Larimer Republicans he acknowledges the damage Carillo has inflicted on the "Larimer GOP brand," and hopes the continued efforts at cleaning up the mess in a transparent and open manner will help undue some of that damage.
As Larimer has proved to be a pivotal swing county in statewide races in the last few cycles, Republicans can be thankful that this tale of two chairman is moving forward on a positive note.
But things aren’t so cut and dried and you don’t need to put quite so much party spin on it. For example, do you actually think Gardner had to be “lured” to do a fundraiser? It’s CD4 on the line, for crying out loud. Also, there is still the question of the other party officers who are still attempting to evade responsibility for their like of oversight, and the party insiders who are doing their darndest to cover for them.
When a GOP county chairman is charged with stealing a large sum of money from the party and it turns out there was no oversight in place to keep it from happening, that’s not news. (Apparently it’s just par for the GOP course?) But when a different GOP county chairman conducts party business in a normal fashion without stealing any money, that’s a huge story because it’s so out of the ordinary and unexpected!
Are you guys sure you wanna stick with these talking points?
I wouldn’t call these talking points. Nor would I consider the conditions in which Lucero is working “normal” by any stretch. It’s a pretty troubling story that no one was checking the finances, especially since many larger counties like that have treasurers or finance committees.
That said, I do not live in Larimar and know a fairly rudimentary amount about how their party has operated (both the good and the bad). My comment was a question about who’s liable for the fines, and that it’s good news to hear they’re turning it around. But if you want to make counterproductive and crude remarks, that is your perogative.
Do you not notice that this blog is one big crude-fest every day? Tell me, for instance, how does the defaced photo of Nancy Pelosi foster a “productive” discourse? The truth is you kids can dish it out, but you can’t take it.
By the way, Carillo was acting in a capacity as a party official, so of course the party is responsible for the money. You wouldn’t want your party to shirk its responsibilities, would you? If you put your money in a bank and the bank president stole it, wouldn’t you hold the bank responsible as an institution to pay you back the money? Or is your argument that the Republican Party should be above the law?
This post was never intended to be about Carillo’s crimes. It was intended to shine light on the good job Lucero has done since his election. I see why you think it’s glossing over Carillo, but if you’d taken the time to actually read the post–you would see what its purpose is. There are no “talking points.” I for one have never met Carillo and know Lucero only in passing. It’s a bad situation all the way around.
was a breaking news report about the previous Larimer GOP chair being sought on a felony warrant alleging the theft of $17,000 from the party. Of course Bob’s not going to lard the breaking story up with the fluffy pro-GOP talking points that the “Peak” thinks should have been trumpeted. Bob does real journalism, not partisan propaganda. The Peak’s criticism of Bob’s story is childish, ignorant, and disingenuous.
Bob has actually written several other stories that included details about what Tom Lucero and Steve Miller have been doing to try to fix the financial mess and PR disaster that the Larimer Republican Party officials created. Have you bothered to read any of those stories?
There are definitely talking points. Lucero is doing what the party wants, which is to blame everything on Larry, raise money, move on, and try to protect anybody else who was on the board for any scrutiny whatsoever. I’m just not going to adopt that “fall into line” mentality. Those who were not doing their job should step aside and let others take the reins. I should note that this is not just about the fines. Back during the campaign when I tried to contact the board for advice and support regarding the Buck campaign after he won the primary, I got no response. (I was Larimer County chair for the campaign.) I never saw anyone but Larry around the office, although Arlene was at parades, etc. I think that once Norton lost the primary, the establishment decided to tune out. In fact, when I met with Lucero after the central committee meeting he agreed with me that they were not as involved as they should have been. So I wish he would stop covering for them publicly.
it seems like debts incurred b/c of a criminal or crime would seem to fall on Carillo’s shoulder’s not the party? At least it’s good to know they’ve begun to dig themselves out of this hole.
There is supposed to be no personal liability – but if a crime was committed maybe that changes things. I think Carillo is probably responsible for any money he embezzled (although he contributed money too, so I’m not sure how that works out). The party is probably responsible for the fines from lack of filing – and this is where the oversight of the vice chair who had the other debit card and perhaps the other officers or even the whole board becomes an issue. I don’t think they are personally responsible, but it does make the party as a whole responsible. Now, there are several possibilities:
1) Gessler substantially reduces the fine so the Larimer GOP can raise enough money to pay them off. Of course, this is what Republicans would like to happen. However, since Carillo admitted that he knew he was supposed to file but didn’t, the violations are “willful” and Gessler will have a hard time justifying the reductions.
2) The fines aren’t reduced, and the GOP finds the money to pay them somehow (unlikely).
3) The local party structure is dissolved and reconstituted in the fall. Sort of like chapter 11 bankruptcy for a company, but I don’t know if there is something similar for a political party. Personally, I wouldn’t really mind this option, although you can imagine how that makes me pretty unpopular with the establishment. Just clear everything out and start over. If that happens, it’s better to do it ASAP so it will be old news by the time 2012 rolls around.
Don’t try to change the subject. The cops are chasing Carillo with a felony warrant. Where are you Republican Party hacks hiding him? Fess up. … Is he in Black Hawk? … Vegas? … Or holed up with his mentor Andrew Boucher in South Carolina somewhere?
Bigger question: How could this have happened? These irregularities were going on for months and months and months. Why was there no oversight of these finances? How could one man do this with party money for so long without anyone else noticing? Why should anyone in Larimer County now trust Republicans to handle public treasury dollars?
Don’t care if you’re a Dem; you’re right on this one.
Not a left-winger, either, by any stretch. Mostly, I believe in good democratic (small “d”) governance and abhor corruption.
You’re completely right on this one. And so far I haven’t seen any bias from Bob Moore either, whatever the party would like to claim.