August 19, 2010 06:58 PM UTC

Dick Wadhams Continues to Undermine Party, Nominee

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• by: Colorado Pols

FRIDAY UPDATE: The Durango Herald’s editorial board pointedly adds:

Why should he? As Strauch said, Maes won the nomination fair and square. His only offense appears to be the regrettably correct perception that he is a weak candidate likely to lose in November.

But if that is the case, why did Republican voters nominate him? And more to the point, why do Tancredo and Wadhams think it is their role to play kingmakers?

The first question, of course, has to do with late-breaking allegations against McInnis, which he failed to counter. But that is the nature of politics, and raises a further question: If Maes is a threat to the party, why did not more Republican big-wigs oppose him earlier?

The second part is more irksome. Wadhams is the GOP’s state chairman, presumably hired for his political acumen – a quality noticeably absent in this scenario. Tancredo is a former congressman whose only quality demonstrably linked to the governor’s race is a love of the limelight. Maes would be well within his rights to tell both of them to jump in the nearest lake.

The Democrats are the party known for circular firing squads, but this is shaping up as a particularly strange case of Republican fratricide…

Tom Tancredo is a liability to the GOP, pure and simple. The better question for Colorado Republicans is what to do about Dick Wadhams. [Pols emphasis] This mess was badly handled from the start.

Original post follows, while Dick Wadhams ponders when he’ll be able to sit down without pain.

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Yesterday, as most of you know, word spread of yet another attempt by leading Republicans to force GOP gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes out of the race. As the Huffington Post reported:

In a statement (below), Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams said he personally delivered the proposal (which originated with Tancredo) to Maes Tuesday night. Maes spokesman Nate Strauch told the Denver Post “He [Maes] won the nomination fair and square and never engaged in backroom dealings before, and he certainly is not going to start now especially for a third-party candidate.”

Maes won the Republican nomination last Tuesday after a primary season in which he and his Republican opponent were both dogged by ethical questions. Before the primary, former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo followed up on an threat to enter the race as a third party candidate unless both Republicans ended their bids…

“Tom Tancredo contacted me late Monday to indicate he would withdraw from the race for governor if Dan Maes did so as well.  I asked Tom for the opportunity to present this offer to Dan Maes, which I did do this morning.  I felt it was my responsibility as state chairman to inform Dan of this offer since it held open the possibility of eliminating the current three-way race that gives the Democratic candidate a huge advantage.  Dan indicated he would remain in the race.  I respect and appreciate both Tom’s offer and Dan’s response.  I continue to support Dan Maes for governor of Colorado.”

Colorado Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams’ willing conveyance of Tom Tancredo’s ‘offer’ to withdraw from the gubernatorial race, with the proviso that Maes also withdraw–coming after the same offer has been repeatedly declined–is the surest sign yet that GOP leadership has completely lost control of the situation. Wadhams’ offer comes after many of the state’s most respected Republican statesman, such as Hank Brown, have endorsed Maes. Naturally, Brown didn’t endorse Maes out of any realistic belief he can win, but to stabilize the situation as the GOP attempts to assemble something resembling a plan for the November elections. No matter the outcome of Wadhams’ ‘diplomacy,’ the fact that it is continuing at all is tremendously harmful–to the Republican brand in Colorado as a whole.

It’s not that we don’t understand why Wadhams would jump at the chance to push the reset button on the gubernatorial race. Republicans in Denver and D.C. are as painfully aware as anyone that the gubernatorial race in Colorado is basically over two and a half months out. It’s too late now, but eliminating Tancredo and whichever damaged candidate won the primary would have been a help–if not to recover hope of victory then at least enough to convince national donors to fund the field programs Republicans up and down the ticket are counting on. That’s why the departure of the Republican Governor’s Association from Colorado is a problem for more than this race.

Unfortunately, the window to pull a switch like this off without further chaos within the party closed a day or two after the primary. Certainly it has closed with the selection of Maes’ less-laughable running mate. What the GOP needs now is damage control, and enough semblance of unity to minimize the effect of a fait accompli gubernatorial race on the rest of the ticket.

With all this in view, it’s really too bad that any attempt at damage control is now undone by Dick Wadhams, the chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, willfully shuttling offers from a third-party candidate to flout the will of Colorado GOP voters and ‘negotiate’ the withdrawal of the Republican gubernatorial nominee from the race. Days after that nominee publicly declared he would never do so. With the fact of his victory having already sunk in, and elder GOP statesmen moving to put the best possible face on it. And now, the party chairman is the guy who still wants to argue after everybody else wants to kiss and make up? Is that the job of a leader?

At this point, Wadhams is exhibiting pretty much the opposite of leadership. He is actively doing more harm than good, either spitefully or out of hopelessness. Either way, what this amounts to is a party leader incapable of leading his party: in fact he seems to be leading it over the cliff.