Just a few days ago Chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party Rick Palacio told Colorado political mensch Lynn Bartels that Colorado Democrats broke the Republican wave (from The Denver Post):
“The untold story is Colorado didn’t get swept away in a GOP wave,” said Rick Palacio, chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party, pointing to what happened in other states.
Yet, as reported by The Durango Herald’s Peter Marcus, it didn’t take long after Tuesday’s Elections for Palacio to fire his executive director:
Frustration is building within the Colorado Democratic Party among some women who feel they should have more of a leadership voice.
The party lost one woman in a leadership role after chairman Rick Palacio fired executive director Jennifer Koch shortly after the election last Tuesday. [the Peak’s emphasis]
Nothing says “we didn’t just get our asses handed to us, no, really, we swear” like a quick firing. Everyone knows that after a big win, the next logical thing to do is fire the people that brought you that win.
But, failing epically trying to spin the 2014 Colorado elections might be the least of Palacio’s worries, as some Colorado Democratic women feel the true “war on women” is coming from within the Democrats own house. As Marcus reports:
At least four well-known Colorado Democratic women have been asked by their supporters to challenge Palacio following a lackluster election that saw several key losses for Democrats.
…All the Democratic women, however, said they would like to see more listening within the state and national party to women’s voices.
…“Women should be having more of a voice as to what’s going on and what effects them,” Boller said. “But I don’t want to get into a pissing match on this whole thing.” [the Peak’s emphasis]
Remember PeakNation™, all this internal turmoil is because of how well Palacio and Colorado Democrats did last Tuesday… according to Palacio.
Now, these allegations that the Colorado Democratic Party is in some ways anti-woman is nothing new, but rather, this is just the latest chapter. No one has forgotten how the “Dean of Colorado’s Democratic delegation” Rep. Dianne Degette got passed over for the open Senate seat that was appointed to a relatively unknown guy at the time, Michael Bennet, certainly not Dean Degette.
Even with rumblings of a women revolt from within his ranks, Palacio is still focusing on spinning the results of last Tueday. But, even Marcus can’t buy into his false spin of breaking the Republican wave, as Marcus himself writes:
The effort to replace Palacio comes following an election in which Democrats lost many key races. One of the only bright spots for Democrats was the re-election of Gov. John Hickenlooper. [the Peak’s emphasis]
We hope Colorado Democrats keep Palacio around for a long time, as his definition of victory for Colorado Democrats is very much something we here at the Peak could get behind.