When Republicans are demanding strict scrutiny of election systems to prevent cheating and ensure fairness, it is critical to keep their own houses tidy and in proper working order lest they make a mockery of the entire party.
There’s an old proverb that goes something like: Republicans who live in glass houses should stop firing guns at each other in El Paso County and play by party election process rules.
Allegations of irregularities in the 5th Congressional District Assembly are unseemly, especially when candidates are running on platforms of election integrity.
When U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn complained of a lack of transparency and the handling of the delegate and alternative list for the assembly before bowing out of the assembly, the chairman fired back with a nasty, personal attack on Lamborn that read like a Democrat ad.
El Paso County GOP Chairwoman Vickie Tonkins made it clear she has taken sides in the congressional race and strongly opposes the incumbent.
The battle of emails between her and Lamborn prompted an intervention by Colorado Republican Party Chair Kristi Burton Brown, who umpired that, “No county party officer should be opposing any candidate in the CD5 primary by sending negative emails to delegates or by refusing to provide the same lists to all candidates.”
Lamborn isn’t the only candidate who complained about the process and skipped the Saturday assembly.
Businessman Andrew Heaton and Navy veteran Rebecca Keltie also questioned the delegate selection process and said they couldn’t get delegate contact lists in spite of repeated requests, in order to communicate their campaign messages with delegates before Saturday’s assembly.
State Rep. Dave Williams was the only candidate to win in the assembly process, beating two other challengers with the support of 422 delegates that made up 74% of the vote.
Christopher Mitchell came in second with 133 delegates and Bradon Mimiaga received 15 delegate votes.
Colorado Politics reported from the Assembly:
Keltie, who attended the assembly as a delegate but didn’t have her name placed in nomination, told Colorado Politics that she isn’t surprised Williams swept the vote against a pair of political newcomers.
“It’s hard to have a dance with a party of one,” she said, adding that she felt sorry for the delegates who were “robbed of their free choice of better-qualified candidates” because she and the other petitioners didn’t participate in what she termed the county GOP’s “twisted games.”
Keltie and Lamborn had already petitioned their way onto the Republican primary ballot, and Heaton is still awaiting word on signatures he submitted in March.