August 05, 2021 02:17 PM UTC

Patience Wearing Thin For "Raging" Ron Hanks?

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• by: Colorado Pols

Marianne Goodland of the Colorado Springs Gazette’s political blog reports on some backlash brewing in Fremont County against the area’s freshman GOP state Rep. Ron Hanks–whose unfounded conspiracy theorizing about the 2020 presidential election combined with a brusque and arrogant personality in general has made him a lightning rod for criticism in less than a year in office.

Fremont County’s Republican Clerk Justin Grantham, Son Number One of former Colorado Senate President Kevin Grantham, is clapping back hard at Hanks’ wild election claims, which Clerk Grantham says are putting public servants in House District 60 at physical risk:

Grantham said in the letter he had been watching Hanks since the November 2020 election, and had invited him and Rep. Stephanie Luck, R-Penrose, for a tour of his office and to give them an opportunity to ask questions. Hanks has never responded to that invitation, Grantham indicated.

“If election integrity as important to you as you have been fighting it would have been a priority. I am truly surprised you never made the time to have a conversation with the chief election official of the county that you reside in and represent.

“The misinformation being spread has led to multiple threats on Clerks including myself. Serious threats have happened in your own district due to the misinformation. [Pols emphasis] This has forced a remodel of the Chaffee County Clerk’s Office to protect her and her staff from threats of violence,” Grantham wrote.

Clerk Grantham taking his grievances with Rep. Hanks public is consistent with what we’re hearing about a substantial amount of discontent with Hanks’ performance in office, after succeeding the far more affable term-limited GOP Rep. Jim Wilson of Salida to represent HD-60 in January. Hanks has few bonafide ties to HD-60 other than his Republican registration, having run for Congress unsuccessfully a decade ago under his real name Loren Hanks in northern California. Since taking office, Hanks has done basically nothing besides gifting embarrassing headlines to Democrats and undermining the duly elected leadership of the House GOP Minority.

Are we looking at the beginnings of a move to oust Hanks in a primary before he does more damage to the Republican brand? As with all such questions, the new legislative district maps coming in the fall will define the battleground. But like Rep. Lauren Boebert in CD-3, there’s a possibility depending on the results of redistricting that these high-outrage low-performance freshmen will have to be taken out in Republican primaries, not general elections. For Republicans interested in their party’s long-term future, these seats are both opportunities and moral responsibilities.

Have fun convincing Ron Hanks he lost, though. That could be the exciting part.