GOP to Holtzman: Withdraw

Following the lead of state party chairman Bob Martinez, 31 sitting Republican state legislators and 9 Republican candidates for state legislative office sent a letter today to Marc Holtzman asking him for the sake of party unity (about which he spoke eloquently at the Assembly) to withdraw from the race.

While these kind of things don’t happen every day, at least
Republican leaders from Routt County agree.

And so does a first-time delegate from Boulder County, who has brought up an excellent point about the Holtzman campaign’s earlier spin, which frankly disappoints me to see in retrospect:

Holtzman estimated that more than 2,500 Holtzman delegates were elected to state and county assemblies in the statewide caucus proceedings Tuesday night. “We will clearly reach our stated goal of sending at least 30 percent of the delegates to the Republican State Assembly in Colorado Springs on May 20th, assuming we receive fair treatment,” said Dick Leggitt, Holtzman’s Campaign Manager.

I have yet to see any real evidence to show Holtzman received anything but “fair treatment” at the Assembly – I was there. And let me tell you, 902 is nowhere near 2,500.

I hope it isn’t true, but with each recalcitrant response to voices of reason from all over the state party it appears the Holtzman campaign is becoming more about Marc Holtzman than anything else. He can prove otherwise, doing the party and its principles, platform, and policy priorities a favor by stepping down and running in the future.

This recent Holtzman-delegate blogger was one of the very first to ask him to do just that.

Cross posted at Holtzman v Beauprez.

Update: The Denver Post reports that another key Holtzman supporter – one of the state’s leading grassroots GOP activists – has left his campaign:

Lynne Cottrell, Holtzman’s field director for Arapahoe County and that county’s former GOP party chair, left the campaign “very reluctantly” on Monday.

“I respect Marc Holtzman and think he would make a very good governor,” she said. “But I also understand the need to keep unity in the party.”

Over the past few months, Holtzman has lost his treasurer, Meyer Saltzman; finance chairman, Blair Richardson; and campaign manager, Dick Leggitt.

Each day digs the hole a little deeper.

Meanwhile, the Post‘s editors also are right to say that state party chairman Bob Martinez overstepped his bounds in publicly urging Holtzman to withdraw.