Former Colorado State Treasurer and 2018 Republican Candidate for Governor, Walker Stapleton, got a win…in court that is.
Make sure you read through to the “So What?” section of the article, we’d like to start a conversation about petitions.
For those of you that follow Colorado Politics, in the Spring of 2018 an employee of a subcontractor for Kennedy Enterprises was caught not being eligible for gathering signatures in Colorado. We’re not going into the minutiae of this with residence requirements and such, but needless to say it was bad enough to have signatures thrown out.
Congressman Doug Lamborn and other candidates used Kennedy last election cycle as well. This petition gatherer and Kennedy Enterprises truly jeopardized many candidates’ chances of making the ballot by having signatures invalidated for not following the law.
Now, if you’ve spent top dollar and hired who was considered the best signature-gathering company (for mostly conservatives and causes), you expect to be on the ballot. So when things hit the fan, Walker was forced to go through the State Assembly to get on the ballot for governor.
Now, say what you will about petitions, but it IS a valid way to get on the ballot – albeit expensive.
So Stapleton sued for breach of contract, and he had a good case. The judge ruled in his favor. Here is a summary of the ruling from our “friends” at The Denver Post:
He ruled that Stapleton failed to prove civil theft — that Kennedy knew about the illegal signature gatherer and withheld that information. However, Hoffman also ruled that Kennedy should have done more than make a phone call to his subcontractor and therefore breached his contract with the campaign.
Anna Staver, The Denver Post, August 9, 2019
Stapleton was awarded his $235,821 plus costs and interest. But in reality, Stapleton was vindicated, and we’re sure it was little consolation. In fact, after what we’ve seen from our current Boulder Liberal Governor, we wish that Stapleton would have won in 2018.
Here is the “SO WHAT?” Section:
Here is why this matters. Signature gathering can be a shady business, especially in Colorado, when there is an alleged labor shortage. Laws are necessary to ensure the integrity of the signature-gathering process, including signature verification, and not lying about the petitions gathered.
Stapleton had this to say about gathering signatures:
“We need a level playing field. It shouldn’t just be candidates who can write a check for a quarter of a million dollars,” Stapleton said, adding that the increased costs and complexity encourages people to “skirt the law and to cut corners.”
Walker Stapleton, The Denver Post, August 9, 2019
We sort of disagree with part of that statement. The laws are pretty clear and understandable on this issue. We believe the corner cutting is a lack of oversight by the company, especially knowing that Kennedy Enterprises (at least we’ve heard) has charged as much as $20 per valid signature. That’s a lot of money, so without a labor shortage, we think that should be enough to do a little compliance.
We really disagree about how expensive the process is and how it benefits wealthy or well-financed candidates. Here’s why: it is bad public policy for wealthy candidates or well-financed candidates to skirt the much more INEXPENSIVE GRASSROOTS way to earn a spot on the ballot.
Colorado is unique because we have a caucus and assembly/convention system. It’s a great way to test your competitive mettle before you’re a failed candidate who bought your way on to the ballot. If you can’t organize well enough to convince 30% of informed grassroots activists at a State Assembly, how can you be expected to run a robust and successful campaign?
We’re trying to think of a REPUBLICAN candidate who petitioned on and won a top of the ticket campaign (Governor or US Senate). Stapleton did it successfully for State Treasurer in 2010, but that wasn’t a top of the ticket race. Polis did it last year, but he got lucky with it being the worst year for Republicans EVER. The $22 million-plus he spent helped as well. Pete Coors did it in 2004 and lost.
Needless to say, we’re a little skeptical that the laws need to be changed. We want non-wealthy, and non-big money backed candidates to have a chance. We celebrate wealth and success, and these candidates have the right to run for office. However, Government should be about the citizens, AKA WE THE PEOPLE. It is not about We The People Who have financial means and wealthy financial backers.
We’re not anti-petition, and we’re going to throw out another kudos to the Repeal The National Popular Vote Law folks here on their successful grassroots effort.
What do you think? A liberty argument could be made FOR easier ballot access. Please comment below!
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