Gun control

All right, guys. We've pretty much reached the end of the road. We're a little more than 3 weeks away from election day, we're still pushing for ads, helping to get voters to polling sites now that the Libertarian's lawsuit saved us from mail-in only - there's not much more we can do. I'm not going to blow the bridge just yet but only because I want a lawyer to look at what I'm going to say so the petty, spiteful little assholes don't have any grounds for libel. But I can at least take some of the varnish off.

No surprise but most of you were right in guessing that the Republican party was the biggest "worthless ally". Before I dig into that, though, I should credit the folks that stepped up. The NRA finally came through in a big way, helping us immensely with a ridiculously large (think "five-digit"- and then probably double the number you think) legal bill. The statewide NSSF also helped out by providing office space for us to use as an HQ and Americans for Prosperity are helping by running the phone bank and handling the walking effort. However, none of this happened until after we won all our court cases and it became Helen Keller obvious that we were going to have an election. Better late than never? Hell, yes. Would it have been appreciated more when we were on the verge of failing - each time we were on the verge of failing? Um. Not to be an ingrate but yeah. Aside from donations from here, almost outside help arrived after the hardest work had been done.

The real irony here is that there was an ally who kicked this off with us in a big way. They did a fade toward the end - understandable since no one is made of money - but they started with us and were instrumental to our initial successes, as much by the doors they opened as the dollars they spent. Why is that ironic? Because they want to remain anonymous, even now. And I have to respect that. It probably wouldn't be too hard to figure out who they are (especially if I'm ragging on those who failed to show) but I will respect them and remain in neither confirm nor deny mode.

Now, back to the Republican party. They made a lot of nice noises at the very start of the Morse recall, assuming we were "with them". However, once they started discussing details with us, they found that we weren't business as usual. We didn't want to have one of our members replace Morse. We didn't want one of our members to take any type of public office. We weren't acting out of ambition. We didn't want anything except our goddamned rights and state back and that scared the crap out of them. I literally heard it said that "they couldn't figure out our angle". Our "angle". Think about that. The men running the "conservative right" were confused and alarmed by the notion that citizens would want to hold a politician accountable for his violation of their rights - and not want any payoff beyond that. The idea of justice and insisting that they govern only with our consent was alien, foreign and frightening to these men and women.

At that point, the state leadership started letting people know that we were not to be dealt with. Sometimes that was in the form of trash-talking the recall effort, sometimes it was passive - people aligned with the conservative viewpoint would see the Republicans keeping their distance and would do the same, assuming they had good reason. After we started gaining ground but while we were still in desperate need of help, we learned of this and let specific Republican lawmakers know about it. We were encouraged when they responded with outrage that they had been misled by their leadership on this and that we'd been hung out to dry because of it. Surely things would turn around now!

Crickets. Fucking crickets. In some instances, certain allies that had been helpful stopped returning calls and backed away. Communications dried up. The phrase blacklisting comes to mind. More than once, I said that I got the distinct feeling the Republicans resented us for putting them in the uncomfortable position of having no choice but to win an election.

But then the signatures were certified and we were all one big happy fucking family (notable props here: SecState Gessler, for whatever faults he may have, did his job honorably - he's about the only person in the party that was required to stay out of the fray because of his position so I can't fault him for it). The guy we had running the committee in the Springs was feted at the local Lincoln Day dinner. He was treated like a conquering hero - which suited his ego just fine (if you ever want to know how wonderful and instrumental he was, just ask him) - but was sent away empty-handed beyond that. FaucetFace, myself and my family were invited to the Lincoln Day dinner in Loveland, ostensibly to acknowledge our work and secure more support. It was a giant Republican circle jerk, everyone rah-rahing about how they're going to win in 2014 - without any mention of helping us. They pretended to be impressed to hell with us, but only because they felt that we were handing them an extra seat in the Senate. The fact that we were still struggling to even get it through the courts was lost on them, didn't make the radar and didn't get any checkbooks to open (for our cause, at least - plenty of pleas for the Republican general fund). It was a meeting of the political FSA - all they could see was the free seat and didn't think about us paying the bill for them. They'd had no part in anything we'd achieved but were happy to glom on and start using "the r-word" in their pulpit-thumping requests for their personal war chests.

We bitched loudly in certain circles and, as you know if you've followed this thread, were promised a considerable donation towards the get-out-the-vote effort. I still have a copy of a very tough-sounding press release from Ryan Call, bullshitting about how the ?Colorado Republican Committee is ready to mobilize resources and work with the people of Pueblo and El Paso counties to defeat both Giron and Morse in the upcoming recall elections.? Mobilizing resources must be code for "beg for money but ignore the guys doing the fighting" because nothing ever materialized. Not one fucking dime. Even now, I keep getting emails from various Republicans, talking about how they need "just five, ten or twenty dollars to help this expensive recall fight". What a load of horseshit. They are filling their own coffers, supporting their own candidates and not once did they give us anything intimated - or anything at all. I forwarded one of these notes back to a senator just the other day, asking why they weren't directing people to the BFDF donation page instead of their own war chest if they really wanted to help. I got back a classic politician's write-seven-sentences-but-say-nothing answer. Translation: "That's nice, peon. Anyway...."

No one. Helped us. Not. One. Dime. And even now they are ignoring us, focusing on getting their candidates installed, still forgetting that there will be no vacancy unless people vote YES to the recall question. But what do they care? We've done such a good job so far, they're sure we'll continue to deliver so they can profit. And if we fail, they can blame us and play the "we tried, poor victims that we are" card - and then hit you up for more money for "next time". Fucking right-wing FSA. The Republican party was useless to us and indeed did more harm to our effort than did the Democrats. It was absolutely disgusting.

For all their tough talk about individual rights and supporting the people of this state, the Republican leadership found other places to be when opportunity knocked and asked them to put up or shut up. And, with the exception of a few brave and honorable souls in Pueblo who have been supportive of the Giron recall despite the danger of political fallout to their careers, individual party members have been no better. There has been ample opportunity for any member of the Assembly or Senate to write us a check, to stand with us, to donate time. No one has. They're happy to ask how they can help (and then not do what's suggested) or, now that the election is real, to make photo op appearances with people in the district - but where were they during the entire uphill battle? Why aren't we getting TV or radio air time? Why aren't we getting financial donations to let us launch a real effort at keeping district voters engaged? Using our coattails to push your own people and agenda is not the same as "supporting the recall".

So that's the short version. Since we're still effectively broke (though at least not in hock anymore), we're not going to be able to do much electioneering aside from a few billboards we've got going up. We're back to letting the locals - now including the NSSF and AFP - run the show down there but will volunteer our time like anyone else that wants to be part of the fight. The problem is, of course, each of these little local groups is autonomous which means they really aren't "our" resources and don't take direction from us. We'll help anyway because it's a common goal - at least on the face of it - but we fear that they aren't listening to our warnings, we know they're not delivering our message and we are absolutely certain that NO ONE will be providing us with the finances needed to run a parallel effort to do it right. If things fall apart now, it will be heartbreaking (except, apparently, to the Colorado Republican party which can resume its comfortable role of collecting donations for the next election they'll throw) - but we've done everything we can do and have achieved more than thought possible. Especially by the people stabbing us in the back every step of the way.

I don't know what else to say, folks. It is what it is but it's disheartening to know how screwed up things are. I won't delve further into it, mostly because I'm beat up and depressed enough. Just don't believe for a second that people in power - regardless of party - will do the right thing unless they are forced to. And if you are brave - or stupid - enough to act on your own, expect to have to fight on all fronts and plan your strategies accordingly.

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