Delusional GOP: News Miner 96
Republican conspiracy mongering, Republican threats to election security, the call to censure Epps, Caldara on election reform, Somin on Trump's disqualification, and more.
The Delusional GOP
Erik Maulbetsch’s introduction to his December 5 article indicates the current state of the Colorado Republican Party:
The Colorado GOP’s new point man on election integrity, notorious election denier Ron Hanks, who kicked off his efforts by telling the Republican members of local election boards to refuse to sign off on certifying their county election results, escalated his rhetoric recently by calling Secretary of State Jena Griswold Hitler. He also convinced five local party chairs, four of whom represent some of the largest counties in the state, to refuse to certify the election results.
But wait, there’s more! Krista Kafer has a column out about the antics of legislators Elisabeth Epps, who hates Israel (the Democrats have their own problems), and Hanks. Kafer has another column about Republican lunacy:
Dave Williams, chair of the state’s GOP, [recorded a video with] Laura Loomer, a self-described white nationalist and islamophobe, her words, not mine. Loomer routinely spreads loony conspiracy theories about mass shootings and election. . . . A couple days after tweeting about the Loomer-Williams interview, the Colorado Republican Party welcomed Kari Lake, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate, as the party’s annual fundraising dinner speaker. Lake, an election conspiracy theorist, has yet to concede her loss to Katie Hobbs in 2022 blaming election fraud sans evidence.
Republicans Threaten Election Security
Ironically, it is Republicans who are threatening election security. Not only did some Republicans assault the U.S. Capitol in an effort to interfere with the election, not only are some Republicans threatening not to certify valid results, but some Republicans are the ones creating security breaches, as former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters allegedly did. The AP has out an article on the broader problem:
An effort to access voting system software in several states and provide it to allies of former President Donald Trump as they sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election has raised “serious threats” ahead of next year's presidential contest, according to a group of experts who urged federal agencies to investigate.
The letter sent by nearly two dozen computer scientists, election security experts and voter advocacy organizations asks for a federal probe and a risk assessment of voting machines used throughout the country, saying the software breaches have “urgent implications for the 2024 election and beyond.” The breaches affected voting equipment made by two companies that together count over 70% of the votes cast across the country, according to the letter.
I suspect the claims of the letter in question are overblown. Regardless, the letter illustrates that the fundamental threat to election integrity are Trumpist Republicans. To the extent that our elections are in trouble, certain Republicans are the ones causing the trouble.
Sharf: Censure Epps
Joshua Sharf offers a convincing case that the legislature should censure Elisabeth Epps:
Epps’s behavior included falsely accusing Israel of genocide multiple times, using profanity both on the floor of the House and from the gallery, and interrupting Rep. Ron Weinberg, who is Jewish, repeatedly while he spoke from the House floor, with both Republicans and Democrats standing with him.
Her remarks came as she monopolized debate time on a proposed amendment that would have barred Coloradans from using food stamps to pay for products from the West Bank. . . .
After her peroration, she retired to the gallery to heckle and insult Rep. Weinberg, argue with the Speaker Pro Tempore, and generally disrupt the business of the House as might a spoiled child being denied dessert for the first time in her life.
Epps previously apologized, prior to winning her seat, for Tweeting “From the River to the Sea,” an expression calling for the annihilation of the state of Israel.
Caldara on Election Reform
Jon Caldara, who runs the Independence Institute (which publishes Complete Colorado, where I write a column), partly agrees with me about election reform. For my most complete case on this, with links, see my recent post, “Election Reform Now.”
Caldara, like me, favors a genuinely open primary. He writes of Kent Thiry’s ballot proposal, which would accomplish this:
He’s backing a citizen’s initiative that would replace our party-driven primaries completely with what’s known as a “jungle” primary and then completely replace our general elections with ranked-choice voting.
I think Colorado is ready for the first part but should and will reject the second part.
Colorado’s primary system is broken. It often results in the extreme of a party making it to the general election. The current evolution of it has given us a legislature full of members of Democratic Socialists of America and their sympathizers out of step with their constituents.
A jungle primary allows as many people as wish to petition on from all parties, or no party at all, make it to the primary ballot. Thiry’s proposal calls it an “All- Candidate Primary Election.”
Caldara dislikes ranked choice voting, which Thiry favors, even more than I do: “Ranked-choice voting is a cumbersome, confusing, klutzy and chaotic voting system that was tried in many large municipalities in the 1920s before being tossed in all of them.” He doesn’t mention what he thinks of approval voting (vote for as many candidates as you want), which I favor.
Somin on Trump’s Disqualification
This is a national issue but also one of direct relevance to Colorado, where the state Supreme Court will hear the case of whether Trump should be excluded from the ballot. Ila Somin writes for the Cato Institute:
Liberal democracies often have good reason to bar from positions of vast power people whose track record shows them to be a threat to democracy itself, or to basic liberal values. Section 3—originally enacted to bar former Confederates in the aftermath of the Civil War—is a useful tool towards that end. And Trump epitomizes the sort of person who should be barred, for both legal and pragmatic reasons.
Somin argues that the Colorado judge who said Trump is not an “officer of the United States” under the law is wrong on that point. I have speculated before that the judge knew she was wrong, but she (understandably!) did not want to face the wrath of the Trumpists, so she kicked the can. Notably, Dave Williams, the chair of the state Republican Party, has warned of a “civil war” “if they’re able to successfully remove Donald Trump from the ballot.” Here is what Somin writes:
While [the judge in question] ruled that Trump engaged in insurrection, she ultimately let him off the hook based on a much weaker theory: that the president is not an “officer of the United States,” and therefore is not covered by Section 3 at all. This argument has a number of other notable defenders. But it is still badly wrong.
It would be absurd for Section 3 to cover all other elected and appointed officials—including low‐level bureaucrats—while excluding the president—the official with the greatest power, and thus the one whose involvement in insurrection poses the greatest potential threat. Such an exclusion violates the longstanding rule that courts should avoid interpretations of law that lead to absurd results.
The reason we got Trump the first time around is that many people who knew better chose not to do the right thing. That’s the same reason that Trump continues to threaten our country as a viable republican democracy.
See also a related article from CPR.
Photo of January 6: Tyler Merbler
Quick Takes
Commercial Property Tax: “Small businesses can expect to be severely affected by these increased commercial property taxes,” summarizes the Common Sense Institute.
Details, Details: Scott Wasserman writes about my idea for getting rid of property taxes, “You forgot about one other obstacle your plan. TABOR expressly prohibits local income tax.” I responded, “The Obstacle Is the Way.” I.e., amend it. Of course, Democrats would use this an a pretext to try to obliterate spending restraints.
Recycling: Some people are abusing the recycling collection center in Vail. The reality of recycling rarely lives up to the hype.
Clean Energy: Xcel Energy wants a $15 billion clean energy program. It should go without saying that rate payers (or taxpayers) pick up the tab.
Migrant Students: Jenny Brundin: Colorado schools are struggling to meet their needs.
Groceries: Nate Scherer: “Grocery stores Kroger and Albertsons are still eagerly waiting to find out if the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will allow their proposed merger to proceed. After years of excessive inflation, the merger would unlock significant benefits for consumers: more product options, lower prices, and better customer service. Unfortunately, the FTC already appears to have made up its mind.” Let no one pretend we have anything like free markets.