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December 03, 2015 03:19 PM UTC

With or Without You: Windholz Faceplant Stymies Colorado GOP

  • 13 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Democratic CD-6 candidate Morgan Carroll slams JoAnn Windholz and pressures Rep. Mike Coffman to, you know, say something:

State Senator Morgan Carroll released the following statement condemning Rep. JoAnn Windholz’s statement and calling on Congressman Coffman to walk his talk and do the same.

“It’s deeply disturbing and dangerous for Rep. JoAnn Windholz to blame Planned Parenthood and the victims of this attack for this atrocity,” said State Senator Morgan Carroll. “She needs to retract her statement with a sincere apology to the victims of this violence or else step down.”

“As an elected leader in this community, if Congressman Coffman meant what he said in his statement, he should join me in condemning the statement of Rep. Windholz and ask for her to retract it with an apology or step down.”

Moral: when you’ve become the stick Democrats use to beat up your fellow Republicans with, you’ve screwed the proverbial pooch.

—–

GOP Rep. JoAnn Windholz (center).
GOP Rep. JoAnn Windholz (center).

As the Aurora Sentinel reports today, GOP freshman Rep. JoAnn Windholz’s unfiltered moment this week, in which she explicitly blamed Planned Parenthood for the actions of a domestic terrorist who attacked the organization’s clinic in Colorado Springs is causing major headaches for local Republican strategists. Windholz’s extremely narrow margin of victory in 2014 makes her highly vulnerable to begin with in the upcoming presidential election year, and with this messaging disaster piled on…well, it doesn’t look real good for her.

And that’s assuming she lasts that long:

Critics have begun an effort to recall Adams County state Rep. JoAnn Windholz following comments she made this week about Planned Parenthood being responsible for a deadly shooting at one of their clinics in Colorado Springs.

Two people both critical of Windholz’ comments became acquainted on social media this week and decided to begin the recall effort, using Facebook themselves to make the recall happen. Leading the process is Steve Cohn of Longmont, and Naomi Bigwood of Adams County, who lives in House District 3o, represented by Windholz…

“…Windholz has NO BUSINESS governing Colorado in any capacity,” Cohn and Bigwood said on a Facebook site dedicated to her recall . “Irresponsible rhetoric like hers is what caused the shooting.”

For its part, the Colorado Republican Party has issued a statement distancing itself from Windholz’s remarks, but according to the Sentinel has no plans to ask Windholz to resign her highly competitive seat:

Steve House, Colorado’s GOP chairman, said the comments Windholz made do not reflect the view of the Colorado Republican Party. He said the party will not ask Windholz to resign because of the comments.

“We have and will continue to condemn acts of violence, regardless of the motivations behind them,” he said in a statement. “Violence, under any circumstance, is never acceptable.”

It should be noted that the statement from the Colorado GOP doesn’t specifically name Rep. Windholz, simply noting that “some” officials have made statements since last week’s shooting that “do not reflect the views of the Colorado Republican Party.” That’s the same boilerplate language that GOP chairman Steve House and his predecessor Ryan Call have repeatedly cut and pasted to respond to grossly impolitic statements from GOP lawmakers like Sen. Vicki Marble and Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt.

Who, we are obliged to note, both remain in office.

What we’ve heard, at least initially, is that there isn’t much appetite on the Democratic side to carry out a recall election against Windholz–since they felt confident after her razor-thin margin of victory in a strong “GOP wave” election that 2016 would be a pickup opportunity. With the addition of this major message disaster to Windholz’s baggage train, it’s reasonable to assume that a defeat in 2016 is even more likely. On the other side, sources tell us Republicans are highly reticent to do anything that might damage Windholz, operating on the hope that she can live this “gaffe” down and retain the advantage of incumbency.

We’d say they’re probably both making the best possible choice from their respective points of view–but Windholz, or even a “generic” Republican candidate (in case the GOP was considering finding one), was most likely going down in 2016 anyway.

For all of these reasons, re-arranging the Titanic’s proverbial deck chairs may not be worth the effort.

Comments

13 thoughts on “With or Without You: Windholz Faceplant Stymies Colorado GOP

  1. The recall seems like a dumb move to me. According to Ballotpedia (can anyone confirm if its accurate?), the recall would take almost as long as the upcoming legislative session. 

    https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_recall_in_Colorado

    Am I reading any of that wrong, it seems like it would put us in April or even May for the actual special election date. So what would the point be?

    I don't really care that much. I live in Denver and don't tend to get up in a huff about people saying things they probably shouldn't. 

    If I had a vote in the recall election, I would want to know what about her actual work as a legislator they have a problem with. Don't show me a facebook post, show me a voting record (or a criminal record) and I'll consider a recall. If you are just whining about being offended cuz they said something mean, I will refer you to a poem about sticks and stones. 

    Do I agree with what she said? Absolutely not. Do I think it's worth the effort of a recall? Nope. Address it in the fall with all the other elections. Throw her out then. 

    That's what I think. 

      1. I do live in Windholz's district (the little bit of Aurora in Adams County — so I get the double whammy of Coffman too 🙁 ).  But I agree with Indy — Nov 2016 is soon enough, and I don't want to overuse the recall process for this particularly stupid comment of hers.

        1. Hey, Davie, You and my mom are neighbors. She lives north of Sand Creek and just east of Peoria. I agree about the recall, it's a wasted effort. Better to put your muscle into finding someone who can take that nasty ol' heifer out of there next year.

    1. The recall would be a waste. Remember Scott Walker? It would have been easier to have tried to remove him in '14 election. By running the recall, unaffiliated voters saw him as unfairly targeted and that may have helped him win in '14.

      This woman will be out of office a year from now. Besides, maybe some of her pet bills and floor debate comments will provide the Dems with some nice sound bites for this October.  🙂

  2. I agree that Windholz has "no business governing Colorado in any capacity" …

    … many, many GOPers don't.  Spread the word, and why, so that the numbskulls aren't elected next cycle.

    Laughing, however, at apparently no elected Colorado Republican speaking for or reflecting the views of Colorado Republicans anymore, except for Moderatus's mentor and good buddy, Steve House. 

      1. Is" worse" compared to that company even possible? I mean politically of course. Not accusing them of being worse than, say, mass murderers or anything.  But I don't think all that many of her constituents would be particularly interested in recall on the grounds that she says mean stupid rightie things. What else is new?

  3. I am pretty sure the only thing Coffman could say is that he made a statement, and that was his reply. Over and over.

     

    He cannot lead on this, partly for the same reason he cannot lead on so many other things- he cannot lead.  But he's going to need the PP endorsement again.

  4. I presume that is Windholz' husband in the photo with her. If you crop out the flag and bird, I swear that photo looks like it belongs on a Quaker Oats box.

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