May 11, 2010 12:22 AM UTC

Dogpile on Kay Rendleman?

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Colorado Springs Gazette reports:

Kay Rendleman’s decision to leave her El Paso County Republican Party post for a campaign job has left her ecstatic, but some of her former Colorado Springs compatriots are seething.

Rendleman, who will end her tenure as chairwoman of the local GOP on Sunday, is the new manager of Senate hopeful Ken Buck’s campaign. She said the job was too good to pass up because of Buck’s stance on the issues…

Norton supporters are howling about Rendleman’s move.

“I am extremely disappointed,” said Chuck Broerman, a Colorado Springs Republican activist and former party chairman.  “We elected Kay to serve Republicans.”

Broerman said he’s disappointed that Rendleman picked sides in a primary race, something that’s taboo for party officials who are supposed to sit on the sidelines until party members pick a nominee.

“It puts Ken Buck and his campaign above any of the other campaigns,” Broerman said…

Buck, the Weld County prosecutor, has gathered steam since a strong showing in March’s GOP straw poll, conducted at precinct caucuses.

Norton, once considered the front-runner for the Senate nomination, recently cut her campaign staff to save money and won’t be considered by the state assembly because of her petition drive.

This story is one of the more classic revenge pieces we’ve read lately: some El Paso County GOP stalwarts say chairwoman Rendleman “abandoned” them ahead of serious legislative and county-level fights with Democrats this fall, while others are “happy” to see her go–suddenly realizing that Rendleman was always a terrible leader and fundraiser. Always.

Whose real misdeed, of course, was putting another dent in Jane Norton’s “inevitability.”