If anyone knows the ins and outs of the Secretary of State’s purview, it’s former Deputy Suzanne Staiert, who served in her capacity since January 2012, first under Scott Gessler and then under Wayne Williams, until newly-elected and “champion of women” saw her to the door this year. That’s why when she talks, Colorado should listen, and, boy, did she have a lot to say about some of the legislation Democrats are ramming through the legislature this year.
Take the lede in her op-ed in Colorado Politics:
“Democrats won big in 2018 in “The Blue Wave,” and the election bills they’ve introduced this legislative session are designed to make sure they never relinquish control. “
But it gets better:
- Democrats are (further) disenfranchising Colorado independents by forcing them to get 10,500 signatures to get on the ballot under House Bill 1278, instead of the 1,000 they do now.
- Democrats are moving “campaign finance under the full control of the secretary of state: audits, investigations, hearings, enforcement — all of it. With no independence and no oversight.” That’s downright scary (especially under the juvenile Secretary Griswold).
- Democrats’ stakeholder process is a sham (where have we heard that before). In fact, she notes: “getting in a room with Democratic attorneys and their special-interest groups is not a stakeholder process — but rather a political strategy meeting.”
She’s right about all of this. Democrats are rigging the process to disenfranchise anyone who is not a Democrat. Republicans and Independents should be appalled at Staiert’s (true) claims.
This is just another example of Democrats’ vast overreach this legislative session. Will it come back to bite them in the a$$? Only time will tell, but these bills are not good for Democracy no matter which way you lean.