April 07, 2006 08:00 AM UTC

From Weird to Weirder in Mesa County

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• by: Colorado Pols

The controversy within the Mesa County Republican Party just gets weirder and weirder. From the Grand Junction Sentinel:

The same mystery group that recently chastised Republicans who supported a Grand Junction Democrat?s 2004 legislative bid is now calling for the resignation of Mesa County?s GOP chief.The Colorado Republican Caucus mailed a letter Thursday demanding Mesa County Republican Party Chairwoman Lois Dunn step down for ?dereliction of duty.?

Dan Green, the caucus? so-called grass-roots coordinator whose real identity remains a mystery, in the letter accuses Dunn of lobbying Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger, a Republican who formerly headed up the Mesa County Democratic Party, to investigate the caucus.

Hautzinger called for an investigation into whether the caucus? first letter attacking Republican activists on the eve of the party?s precinct caucuses might have broken state law regulating political campaigns. The first letter, distributed in anticipation of the GOP caucus last month, vilified Republicans who supported Democrat Bernie Buescher two years ago when he defeated Republican Shari Bjorklund for the District 55 seat.

Green in the second letter charges Dunn with conducting ?her own political vendetta against our members.”

“Draw your own conclusions about whether she has a pattern of attacking Republicans and defending Democrats,? he writes.

Hautzinger said Dunn never asked or suggested his office probe the caucus. The fact Hautzinger?s name appears in the caucus? second letter ?could be inferred as an attempt to create a conflict of interest, which is very artful,? Hautzinger said.

Dunn said the timing of the letter wasn?t lost on her. Mesa County Republicans on Saturday hold their assembly, a county-level convention that can affect elections by determining which candidates can appear on a primary ballot and the order in which they appear. ?They?re probably doing it to cause all the trouble they can right now,? said Dunn, who added her accusers didn?t merit a response. ?I don?t even care,? Dunn said. ?We don?t even know who Dan Green is. I don?t believe in responding to anonymous stuff.?

Attorneys for the Colorado Republican Party filed a cease-and-desist order Thursday demanding the Colorado Republican Caucus stop affiliating itself with the Republican Party, terminate its name and any other use of ?Republican? and shut down its Web site. The group?s Web site, http://www.cogopcaucus.com/, is registered through a Chesterbrook, Pa., subsidiary of a company in Karlsruhe, Germany, that for a fee masks domain owners? identity.

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h/t to Soapblox Colorado for the link