This Calls for Bob Schaffer

The State Central Committee Meeting of the Colorado Republican Party is fast approaching: on March 19 delegates from across the state will decide on a new party chairman and a new national committeeman. Bob Martinez, completing a successful stint as Colorado’s national committeeman, has already stepped forward to fill the role of party chairman.

Unfortunately, current state party chair Ted Halaby wants to swap roles with Martinez, having declared his candidacy for the committeeman position. In a letter he recently mailed out to delegates, Halaby cited among his accomplishments a couple of gems:

“Outraised the Colorado Democratic Party by a ratio of nearly 30 to 1”: That fundraising certainly didn’t translate into electoral success, as Democrats much more shrewdly made use of fundraising organs outside the party structure to win a nationally-touted US Senate race, a Republican-held Congressional seat, and both houses of the state legislature.

“Out polled the Democrats statewide in the state house races by 36,000 votes”: Someone should have told the chairman that it’s not the aggregate amount of votes you win statewide that determines control of the legislature, but victories in individual races. The Democrats control both houses of the Colorado General Assembly for the first time in more than 40 years.

In control of the committees and the floor, the Democrats are pushing their agenda forward, not the Republicans’. This should never have happened, and it happened on Halaby’s watch.

At first, the chairman suggested he might run for another term in office, but dissuaded from that he decided to throw his hat into the ring for the national committeeman position. But now is the time to elect someone to the office who can do the most to help bring the state party off the mat and renew its electoral successes of recent years – all on a platform of broadly conservative principles.

Halaby needs to be dissuaded again. Former Congressman Bob Schaffer should run in his place. Schaffer is eminently qualified for the position of national committeeman and would make a tremendous candidate. Not only does he have clout and connections back in Washington among conservative circles – enabling him to bring vital political resources to Colorado – he also has a well-thought analysis of what went wrong for Republicans statewide in 2004 and how to turn that around. He could also bring deep integrity and a commitment to the GOP’s grassroots to the job.

I enthusiastically supported Schaffer for the Senate last year. I enthusiastically urge him now to run against Halaby and bring his knowledge, skills, and experience to the table to ensure future success for the Colorado Republican Party.

Update: A reader has responded… If you’re a Colorado Republican voter and you think Bob Schaffer should run for the position of national committeeman, send an e-mail to Schaffer.Bob@gmail.com and tell him you support him for the job.

Always with an ear to the political insiders, Rocky columnist Peter Blake is reporting that Schaffer is “getting a lot of encouragement” from party leaders to run for the position of national committeeman.

But [Schaffer] hasn’t decided yet and says there’s no hurry.

“It’s a decision you can make on the floor,” he noted.