Category Archives: Gov. Jared Polis

Ganahl is happy to talk to reporters so long as the microphone is unplugged.

Republican Hiedi Heidi Ganahl officially kicked off her campaign for Governor on September 14, 2021. On the day of her campaign launch, Ganahl took questions from reporters representing multiple news outlets — The Denver Post, 9News, The Associated Press, The Colorado Sun, etc. — because getting free earned media coverage is always a smart idea for a campaign.

Most of Ganahl’s interviews that day did not go particularly well for the candidate, but she really can’t blame the media. Ganahl was inexplicably unprepared to answer basic queries such as, “Do you think the 2020 election was legitimate?” She sounded completely ridiculous in one particular interview with 9News reporter Marshall Zelinger, in which Ganahl repeatedly whined, “Why all the divisive questions?”

Ganahl has not agreed to an interview with a mainstream news outlet ever since.

As Jesse Paul of The Colorado Sun wrote in its “Unaffiliated” newsletter on May 31:

Will Heidi Ganahl keep lying low? The Republican gubernatorial candidate turned down our request to debate her primary rival, former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez. She hasn’t done an in-depth interview with a nonpartisan news outlet. [Pols emphasis]

Ganahl hasn’t been completely silent during her campaign, but she’s been very selective. She talks to every right-wing radio show she can find and pretends that writing a column for a new conservative website qualifies as “press” coverage:

From a Ganahl campaign newsletter in March.

We’ve never agreed with the strategic rationale behind NOT TALKING TO REPORTERS, particularly when you are running for statewide office and your name ID is in the toilet. What’s even more ham-handed is ignoring media outlets and then trying to blame the media for not paying attention to whatever it is you refuse to say. Eventually this catches up with you. Here’s Kyle Clark of 9News on Tuesday:

CLARK: The Ganahl campaign has denied or ignored every one of our interview requests since September of last year. Ganahl recently complained to conservative talk radio that her priorities are not being discussed.

She said, quote, ‘I’m talking about all of these issues nonstop, but the mainstream media will not cover it correctly.’

We’d encourage you to watch the entire 90 second segment from “Next with Kyle Clark.” It’s a great lesson for other candidates on what NOT to do when you’re running for a major political office.

Ridiculous rhetoric. This is the best way to win a Republican Primary in Colorado these days, so with mail ballots on the way to voters, candidates are turning up the crazy to maximum volume.

As Colorado Newsline reports from last weekend’s Western Conservative Summit, the Republican candidates for Governor are sounding increasingly unhinged. Here’s topline candidate Greg Lopez talking about the evil incumbent Democrat Jared Polis:

“Colorado has seen some of the most extreme, most harmful and most oppressive legislation and executive orders in recent history. A dark agenda of government overreach and elitist control is destroying our Colorado way of life.”

Say what?

While Lopez may be trying to turn the Governor’s race into a Star Wars plot, fellow Republican Hiedi Heidi Ganahl is making promises that are patently absurd. From Colorado Newsline:

Ganahl said her plans as governor include reducing the state income tax to zero, cutting the gas tax in half and an effort to “reduce bureaucracy” by 40% in her first term. But as she invoked grim visions of Colorado’s rural areas “decimated” and of a Denver “filthy and filled with needles and crime,” Ganahl distilled much of her agenda into a reversal of many of the policies pursued by Polis and Democrats in the General Assembly over the last four years.

“As your governor, the most important thing I can do is undo as much of the damage as possible,” she said. “On day one, I will undo as much I can.”

Anyone who spends even a few moments considering what Ganahl is proposing would understand the sheer impossibility of her ideas. Repealing the income tax and halving the gas tax would likely cost the State of Colorado BILLIONS of dollars. Ganahl would save some money in the budget by completely gutting the state workforce; perhaps that is part of her plan to cut the income tax, since depriving thousands of people of an income altogether would definitely reduce the amount of income tax they are paying.

Ganahl’s not-so-inspiring message appears to be all about the things she won’t do if elected Governor, but maybe she’s reading the room correctly; Ganahl did win a straw poll victory over Lopez.

Colorado Springs Gazette columnist Heidi Ganahl

The Colorado Springs Gazette has endorsed Hiedi Heidi Ganahl over Greg Lopez for Governor in the June 28th Republican Primary.

How very (in) kind of them.

It is not unexpected that the overtly Republican Gazette would back the establishment choice for Governor ahead of the June Primary; just last week the Gazette made a similar calculation in backing Denver businessman Joe O’Dea for U.S. Senate instead of State Rep. Ron Hanks. What is unusual in Ganahl’s case is that the Gazette is endorsing someone who has been a weekly columnist for the newspaper for more than a year.

You might be asking yourself, Why is this legal?

Well, we’d love to answer that question…but we can’t. You could probably argue that all of Ganahl’s columns in the Gazette since she formally became a candidate for Governor should be listed in her campaign finance reports as in-kind contributions. This is one of the many reasons that most respected news outlets in the United States would not give a candidate free press every week and subsequently endorse that same person for elected office.

Notably, the Gazette endorsement NEVER MENTIONS its affiliation with Ganahl, which is quite the glaring omission. And it’s not like they didn’t have enough space to note the potential conflict of interest; the editorial has a hard enough time as it is trying to explain why Ganahl is the best option for Colorado Republicans:

Prominent and respected Republicans — including party patriarch and former CU President and former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown — have lined up in support of Ganahl. But the most important reason for Republicans to stand her up against Democratic Gov. Jared Polis this fall is that she has her feet firmly planted on the ground and understands the meat-and-potatoes issues discussed at the kitchen table in Colorado households. [Pols emphasis]

Ganahl’s lone opponent in the primary, veteran political contender and former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez, just doesn’t offer the lift Ganahl will bring to Republican prospects for the general election ballot. It is lift the party will need to take the battle to Polis.

Support Heidi Ganahl in the June Primary!

Why?

Kitchen table, something, something.

Even a vapid endorsement deserves some sort of acknowledgment of the prior relationship between candidate and news outlet; otherwise it’s difficult to take this endorsement at all seriously. Come to think of it, taking Ganahl seriously as a candidate is also a stretch.

Maybe this is what marketing and business executives mean when they talk about “synergy.”