( – promoted by Colorado Pols)
With the resignation of State Rep. Don Marostica after he accepted Gov. Ritter’s appointment to be the state’s economic development guy, Larimer Republicans will go 3 for 3 in state legislative seats emptied and then filled by vacancy committees. Kevin “Gift-that-keeps-on-giving” Lundberg was elevated from HD-49 to replace Steve Johnson in SD-15, and former Musgrave staffer B.J. “Gun safety first!” Nikkel took Lundberg’s spot in HD-49. And now the deck chairs are to be shuffled once more.
Since the Larimer County GOP leadership is the last redoubt of the Musgrave/Welker/Lundberg political base, it will be interesting to see who they pick to fill the HD-51 slot. Since Marostica defeated this faction in the 2006 primary by out-spending Religious Right favorite Kevan McKnaught, many think this vacancy appointment will boil down to a little payback for that stinging defeat. At least, that’s what I think informs Larimer County Commish and former State Sen. Steve Johnson’s hand-wringing comments to Lynn Bartels:
“I’m not happy about this,” Johnson said. “Don was a problem-solver who took tough, difficult stands to solve problems. I am afraid we won’t see an appointee with that kind of political courage.”
Activist disillusion with Marostica wasn’t hard for Lynn to find — she only had to call the county chair:
In Larimer County, some people called Marostica “Benedict Arnold” and talked of voting him out of office, though opponents never materialized.
“I think the conventional wisdom was, he would be primaried,” said Larry Carillo, chairman of the Larimer County GOP.
No wonder the Larimer Democrats took the opportunity to be magnanimous while highlighting their counterparts’ ideological schism in a release:
“Unlike the extreme wing of the Republican Party,
Don Marostica has been a voice of pragmatism in the face of Colorado’s
revenue nightmare,” said Adam Bowen, chair of the Larimer County Democratic Party. “We applaud Governor Ritter’s willingness to look for partners across
the aisle to find solutions that help our state.”
So it will be curious to see if Kevan McKnaught at last receives the vindication Republican primary voters denied him in ’06, or who else emerges as a clear favorite.
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As long as we don’t have a multi-millionaire like Don M, the Dems can run a respectable race against the right wingers the GOP will put up to run.
…seems to be the name of the game up here, especially when you look at the Repub blogs in response to this resignation. Sad to see a man who’s given a measure of his life (savings) to the public trust flushed out so readily as a traitor.
But in politics, like poker, a “full house” still beats “three of a kind.” The Larimer Repubs can stack the deck all they want with those willing to take their “oath” (yeah, seriously, an oath!), but come election day 2010, I don’t think there’s much doubt the Larimer Dems will have the more open-minded candidates, the deeper field organization, and thus the wider margin at the polls.