Walker Stapleton Clams Up About Great-Grandfather Ben Stapleton

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by: Madeleine Schmidt

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

When he first ran for statewide political office in Colorado, Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton touted his “proud family tradition of community leadership,” which included the “great” accomplishments of Benjamin Stapleton, his great-grandfather who was a former Mayor of Denver and a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

But now, about nine years later, it’s hard to find Walker Stapleton saying anything about Benjamin Stapleton, much less praising his “public service.”

Benjamin Stapleton was a high-ranking member of the KKK when he was first elected Mayor of Denver in 1923, during which time the KKK had elected a handful of members and allies to government offices. The following year, while fighting a recall election, Mayor Stapleton pledged to “work with the Klan and for the Klan in the coming election, heart and soul,” and said he’d “give the Klan the kind of administration it wants.”

In an ad for his successful 2010 campaign for Colorado treasurer, Walker Stapleton bragged about his great-grandfather’s legacy as “Denver’s longest-serving mayor” and praised his “accomplishments,” which included the construction of parks as well as Stapleton Airfield, Colorado’s first municipal airport.

“I’m really proud of my family’s public service here in Colorado and beyond,” said Stapleton.

6 thoughts on “Walker Stapleton Clams Up About Great-Grandfather Ben Stapleton”

SixPointBull says:

April 20, 2018 at 3:23 pm

Does anyone have a decent bio of Walker Stapleton? How long has he lived in Colorado? Any specifics about his business career and how he became wealthy? For someone in statewide office, he seems little known.

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1. Colorado Pols says:
  
  April 20, 2018 at 3:50 pm
  
  Stapleton moved to Colorado not long before his first run for Treasurer.
  
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2. mamajama55 says:
  
  April 20, 2018 at 4:45 pm
  
  He's an investment banker with an MBA from Harvard He was born in CT, (son of diplomat Craig Roberts Stapleton),then went to school in London and at Harvard, moved to Cali and worked as an investment banker. He moved to CO in 2003. He did a lot of investing in mining and minerals. Hence the gold buggery. If you search for
  
  Walker Stapleton + Sonomawest Holdings (his own investment company, which he moonlighted for WHILE HE WAS TREASURER of CO!!!)😱
  
  or
  
  his name plus Cerberus Capital (money laundering scandal), Janus, Brightline Capital, Calais Resources, Anglogols, Ashanti (last 3 are all gold mining / mineral companies) Carlyle Strategic partners
  
  you'll come up with all kinds of strange money+ politics skullduggery.
  
  Walker was also an integral part of the Bush Crime Family. As an investment banker who specialized in minerals, Walker may have helped advise his cousin Neil Bush who ripped off Coloradans with the Silverado fraud.
  
  Stapleton also "worked" for US Term Limits, aka "Term Limits America"which advertised itself as the largest grass roots organization in America. TLA collected almost 300 grand in 2016, and spent (drumroll) $5000. What happened to the rest? Who knows? But it was Walker's hobbyhorse for a while.
  
  Plus there's the 1999 DUI, in which two people were injured, Walker tried to leave the scene of the accident, and only ever served one night in jail. And the family Klan connection, his spotty work attendance, and so much more.
  
  Stapleton is a walking scandal monkey.
  
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  1. SixPointBull says:
    
    April 20, 2018 at 5:11 pm
    
    Tx, mama. How is this not generally known? He has lived here only 14 years, had an iffy business career, and is now the Republican frontrunner for governor? This just seems too weird.
    
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    1. unnamed says:
      
      April 20, 2018 at 5:34 pm
      
      But it is typical Republican MO.
      
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davebarnes says:

April 20, 2018 at 3:34 pm

Oh, Walker, be proud.

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