Author Archives: Jason Salzman

Even if you’re running for coroner–or especially if you’re running for coroner–Trump is the most import topic of the election.

Yet, some Colorado Republicans running for office this election won’t say if they support Trump, apparently believing that if they do so, they will scare away voters in competitive districts.

Since our first report exposing Republican candidates who won’t say where they stand on Trump, we’ve heard the voice of GOP candidate for CU regent, Richard Murray, in a tape recording to donors, saying he’ll cast his vote for the president. Murray won’t talk to reporters at all about Trump.

Other Republicans running for important seats won’t come clean about Trump.

State Sen. Kevin Priola of Adams County did not return another call today asking for his stance on Trump. State Senate candidate Suzanne Staiert of Arapahoe County won’t talk to the Colorado Times Recorder. Both seats could determine which party controls the Colorado Senate.

State House candidate Don Rosier won’t return our calls about Trump, even though he acknowledged this week to ColoradoPolitics, “There are times, I’ll be quite honest with you, where individuals want to… talk more about national politics, whether it be the president of the Senate race. I try to bring it back and say, ‘OK, let’s talk about the district, let’s talk about local, that’s why I’m out here talking with you,'” he told ColoradoPolitics.

Overall, not a single Republican elected to a state office in Colorado has said they oppose Trump.

Below is an updated list of Republicans in key races—and where they stand on Trump, if their position is known.

Candidates in Key Races Who Won’t Say if They Back Trump

Vanessa Warren-DeMott (House District 25, suburbs west of Denver). DeMott didn’t return a call seeking to know her stance on Trump.

Caroline Cornell (House District 37, Centennial area). Asked by CTR if she supports Trump, Cornell hung up the phone after saying, “I’m—I don’t—I’m afraid I have to get on another call right now. I’ll have to call you back.”

Lynn Gerber (Senate District 19, Jefferson County). Gerber didn’t return a call seeking to know her stance on Trump.

Vicki Pyne (House District 27, Arvada). Pyne didn’t return a call seeking to know her stance on Trump.

Kevin Priola (Senate District 25, Adams County). Priola did not return calls from the Colorado Times Recorder seeking his position on Trump. He “doesn’t want to talk about Trump,” according to The Denver Post.

Don Rosier (House District 37, Littleton/Evergreen). Rosier didn’t return calls seeking to know his stance on Trump.

Suzanne Staiert (Senate District 27, Arapahoe County). Staiert declined to tell the Colorado Times Recorder if she supports Trump, saying she’s “never been asked” the question by people during current the campaign.

Candidates Who Refuse to Say Publicly if They Support Trump, But Told Donors They Will Vote for the Prez

Richard Murray (University of Colorado Regent, Aurora area). “I don’t want to comment on the president,” Murray has said. Later he was caught on an audio recording telling GOP donors he would vote for the president.

GOP Office Holders in Key Races Backing Trump

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner. (Gardner once called Trump a “buffoon” and then said in 2016 he’d vote for him (after being asked seven times). Gardner eventually said he wouldn’t cast a ballot for Trump and voted for Pence. Now, he’s endorsed Trump.)

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck. (Buck led the “Never Trump” opposition at the 2016 Republican National Convention, before eventually accepting Trump as the nominee. He’s since become a fervent supporter.)

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn. Co-chair of Trump’s Colorado re-election campaign.

State Sen. Bob Rankin (Senate District 8, Northwestern Colorado). Rankin was an early Trump supporter, endorsing him at a time when many Colorado Republicans were uncertain about the mogul. He affirmed his support this week.

State Rep. Richard Champion (House District 38, Arapahoe County). Promoted his support of Trump during the campaign.

Republican Legislative or Congressional Candidates Backing Trump

Congressional candidate Lauren Boebert (facing Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush)

Congressional candidate Steve House (challenging U.S. Rep. Jason Crow)

Congressional candidate Casper Stockham (challenging U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter)

Robert Blanken (House District 17, Colorado Springs). “As a Republican, I strongly support Donald Trump,” Blanken told the Colorado Times Recorder, adding that the president “has made some errors in the ways he communicates” and Trump may have wanted rephrase or refrain from even discussing certain issues.” “I think he’s done a wonderful job,” he said.

Marilyn Harris (House District 59, southern Colorado). Considered it a “great honor” to vote for Trump.

Bob Roth (Senate District 26, Arapahoe County). Says he supports the president.

Select Former GOP Officials Opposing Trump

Former leader of the Colorado Republican Party Ryan Call.

Former state House GOP Minority Leader Rep. Cole Wist.

Former state Rep. Victor Mitchell. “Donald Trump is a despicable human being,” Mitchell told the Colorado Times Recorder.

Former Elected Officials Backing Trump

Former CO Secretary of State Wayne Williams

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner will address a large gathering of conservative activists “via video” on Saturday, according to a spokeswoman for the event.

Normally, the Western Conservative Summit is billed as the largest gathering of conservatives outside of Washington DC and has attracted speakers ranging from Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to Sarah Palin and Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator.

This year, the event, sponsored by Colorado Christian University, is being broadcast online, where it will be available for free to those who register. It runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The lineup of speakers and workshops has been pared down considerably from past years but still boasts some of the leading far-right conservative in the country, including Trump cabinet member and former GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson; another former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert, and Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative advocacy group.

Last year Gardner said at the event, “There’s no place I’d rather be than here with the largest gathering of conservatives in the Western U.S.”

In 2018, he took a shot at the media, saying, the “media is afraid” and “want us to fail.”

Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, who died of COVID, is featured in a film to be unveiled at the event. It’s among the last interviews he conducted, according to event organizers.

The Denver Post’s Justin Wingerter first reported in July that tax liens totaling about $20,000 have been filed against congressional candidate Lauren Boebert’s restaurant, Shooters Grill, in the past four years–and that the “Boebert campaign said it is unaware of any past-due taxes or outstanding liens” against her diner.

But documents from the Garfield County Clerk and Recorder’s online files show that, while a portion of Boebert’s debts have indeed been paid, the Rifle Republican still owes about $19,000 for unemployment insurance, interest, and penalties.

The public record does not necessarily mean the leans are still outstanding, however. The state may not yet have posted “release” documents showing that the debts were paid.

Boebert’s campaign didn’t respond a request for receipts or other proof that the candidate has actually paid off the liens.

Boebert’s restaurant was hit with 8 liens since 2016 totally $21,841.33, according to public records. She paid $583.18, leaving $21,258.15, of which $18,999.36 is owed to the State of Colorado for unemployment insurance premiums, interest, and penalties. She owes another creditor the remaining money.

The $583.18 was paid in February, according to public records.

The information about the liens adds more details to a picture of Boebert’s struggles to keep her businesses above water. The Post reported that Shooters Grill lost $242,347 in 2018.

Rural Colorado United, a Political Action Committee formed by Pueblo residents Stephen Varela and George Autobee to educate voters about Boebert, referenced the liens in a news release today.

Rural Colorado United distributed a tweet in which Boebert wrote, “When are they releasing Nancy Pelosi’s taxes? We want to see all the itemized ice cream!”

The group called on Boebert to release her tax returns.

Correction: Boebert accumulated 8, not 18, liens since 2016.

In response to her stance against public health orders and her campaign events that do not follow social distancing recommendations, Colorado congressional candidate Lauren Boebert is being called a COVID-backlash candidate. And she’s embracing the label, calling it “Trump-esque,” in a good way.

But a Colorado public health expert says Boebert’s response to COVID is “stoking mistrust” of public health workers, who should be considered “heroes” for “grinding it out, trying to help their communities get through this pandemic.”

“The worst of it is stoking mistrust of public health authorities, who are just doing their best to try to come to grips with a pandemic,” says Matthew Wynia, a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, referring to Boebert’s response to COVID-19. “The people in public health departments around the state and around the country are suffering terribly right now. They are working enormous long hours at little pay with no glory. They are getting threatened by people now from campaigns like hers, her supporters, who are calling them Nazis. And that’s the worst of it. These are heroes, who are grinding it out, trying to help their communities get through this pandemic.”

“She may not like the rules,” said Wynia. “But we have ways to change the rules, right? That’s what makes us a democracy, is that we actually have ways to say, ‘I disagree with this rule.’ And she, by the way, is pursuing that by running for office. Great. She should do that. But in the meantime, she should not encourage people to disobey the rule, when it puts other people at risk.”

Multiple events by Boebert over the past month appear to violate statewide public health recommendations.

And one indoor event, an Aug. 31 fundraiser in Aspen, with U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, violated state rules, resulting in the Pitkin County health department issuing a warning to Boebert’s campaign.

Wynia said events like the Aspen fundraiser could be putting public health at risk.

“To the extent that these are rules that make sense from a public health standpoint, and she is flouting them, she is putting pubic health at risk,” said Wynia. “Now, will there be an outbreak as a result of her doing this? That’s a lot harder to say. Someone will have to come to one of her events who is infected, probably without knowing it, and we may never find that out, because there is enough transmission going on in our community right now that someone who went to one of her events wouldn’t necessarily know that that’s where they got infected.”

Other outdoor events show little respect for social distancing.

For example, Boebert appeared at an Aug. 29 meet-and-greet in Montrose, with U.S. Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ), with a large crowd of people, mostly without masks.

An outdoor event in Mesa County Sept. 6 shows a similar lack of concern for distancing.

“The role of government is to inform us of the risk, and then let us decide; let us choose what we are going to do,” said Boebert in a speech at a Sept. 14 campaign stop. “For instance, I know darn well, I’ve been told my whole life, the risks of eating raw cookie dough. I never want the government to come in and tell me what to do with my cookie dough. That is not the proper role. I know the risk and I’ll take it.”

RELATED: “Flattening the Curve Turned into Communism Very Quickly”: How a Congressional Candidate Wowed CO Talk Radio

In the bigger picture, Wynia says Boebert’s stance against public health orders shows a misunderstanding of Boebert’s own “belief system.”

Wynia explains: “What’s she’s saying is, ‘I’m a libertarian. Freedom is very important, and the government shouldn’t force us to do things for our own good.’ That’s fine, but this is not a nanny-state activity.

“You can take every risk you want. But you’re not taking a risk when you are not wearing a mask. You are imposing a risk on others.”

“Libertarians presumably believe in stop signs and speed limits,” says Wynia. “They are considered legitimate under libertarian philosophy because they prevent harm to others.”

“Libertarians believe there should be rules. But thoughtless libertarians think the rules don’t apply to them.”

But Boebert, whose campaign didn’t return an email seeking comment, says the virus is being used to seize control.

“As the virus has shown us, they want to take away small businesses, the lifeline of our country, the heartbeat of America,” said Boebert at the Sept. 14 campaign stop. “They want to tell you where you can shop, when you can shop there, what time of day, how old you have to be at that time to be there, and certainly what you have to wear.”