July 23, 2013 10:42 AM UTC

"Bernie, we need you!" Who begged Herpin to run against Morse (& Bubis)? And are they ok with his position on TABOR?

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE: El Paso County conservative activist Sarah Arnold weighs in:

When will the El Paso County Republican Party learn to stop meddling in primaries (which, for all intents and purposes, this is)? Just because you make it public knowledge doesn’t make it any less “backroom” and “smoke-filled”. Those who collected the recall petitions picked a crappy district because they were blinded by the title, and didn’t bother to look at the newly-reapportioned district numbers–a far cry from what it looked like in 2010. That’s on them. That doesn’t mean the EPCO GOP gets to play kingmaker because the recallers screwed up.

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In her Facebook post, first reported by ColoradoPols, explaining why she dropped her campaign to run in a recall election against Sen. John Morse, Jaxine Bubis cited pressure from “high-ranking legislators” and “the Party.” She said she was sorry for caving.

Ironically, just a couple days before Bubis’ apology yesterday, her Republican opponent, Bernie Herpin, was on the Jeff Crank show bragging about how the Republican muckety-mucks were essentially begging him to run against Morse, even after Bubis was in the race.

Herpin was happily in California, he said, with his wife and grandkids. He was slowing down, even took the train out to the Sunshine State.

Then, Herpin responded to a phone call:

Herpin: “…I get a call from a person I know and respect saying, Bernie, we need you. I came back into town, met with the Republican leadership and some folks. This issue was too important for me to say no and sit on the sidelines.”

Herpin on the KVOR Crank Show July 20 2013

Who called Bernie? Crank didn’t ask, but I’m sure a lot of people would like to know.

But the internal party politics here can distract from issues near and dear to the GOP heart, and TABOR is certainly close to the left Republican ventricle, including, you'd think, the left ventricle of GOP stalwart Jeff Crank, who sat down with Bubis “over a glass of iced tea” and pressured her to get out of the Morse race.

So I was surprised that Crank, who told listeners he's a "long-time friend" of Herpin's, Crank said nothing when Herpin told him “there are some issues with TABOR that even folks who support TABOR will stand up and say, like the ratchet-down effect, those kinds of things, but TABOR has helped Colorado survive.”

So maybe there’s more that divides Republicans in El Paso County than just gossipy details like the name of the person who phoned Herpin, after he’d “hopped the train” to California, and told him how much the Republican Party needed him back in the Springs.

Herpin on the KVOR Crank Show July 20 2013

Follow Jason Salzman on Twitter @bigmediablog