November 04, 2016 01:14 PM UTC

Elbert County Commissioner Leaves GOP and Sees Impending "Exodus"

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

In what could presage the upending of the Republican Party after next week’s election, Elbert County Commissioner Robert Rowland left the GOP this week with a blazing Facebook post alleging corruption, weakness, disorganization, and cluelessness.

Rowland wrote, in part:

Rowland: “I am leaving the once Grand Ole’ Party and am now going to where I feel I belong, unaffiliated (Independent).

The Party has become fractured, but worse, it has become corrupted, at every level, and it has lost its way. At the national level…we see the ‘leaders’ of the party only serve those who will protect and maintain the status quo, and who will preserve the self-serving favors that are now the motivator for most.

At the state level…we have seen this powerful inner establishment circumvent the will of the base time and time again. I still see a party that ignores accountability for the failed conservatives that it blindly supports and elects. We see the Cory Gardner’s, Mike Coffman’s protected and adored by the establishment, even though they prove time and time again that they are not the conservatives the claim to be during the campaign….

I believe our nation, this state, and our counties, cities and towns are in for a long hard fight to save our nation from the radical left and from a weak, corrupt, and disorganized conservative party controlled by the powerful who only care about their power and preserving the status quo.”

Asked why he didn’t wait until after the election to resign, Rowland said he didn’t want his departure from the GOP to be “about the election.” As Trump’s campaign manager for Elbert County, he didn’t want his action to appear as “sour grapes.”

But he thinks the anger he has toward the GOP, including the failure of party leaders to rally around Trump, is shared by many others.

“My gut tells me the party is going to go through a dramatic revolution after the election,” said Rowland, who identifies with the Tea Party wing of the GOP and emphasizes that he still sees himslef as a conservative.

“I think you’re going to see an exodus,” said Rowland. “I really do.”

Here are Rowland’s Facebook posts on the topic: