Open letter to Dan Maes
[Although I haven’t considered this as something like a petition, please feel free as reader Jeremy did, to add your name via a comment to support of the thrust of my note to Dan Maes.]
I e-mailed the following to Dan Maes this morning…
Dan,
As much as it pains me to say this to a Republican, I want to strongly urge you to accept Tancredo’s offer for you both to exit the governor’s race at the same time.
While I believe your pro-liberty instincts are genuine, your candidacy is hopelessly damaged by one mini-scandal or gaffe after another. I, and I’m sure many others, would be interested in supporting you in a future race, perhaps for the state legislature. But, unfortunately, it is all too clear that this is not an appropriate time for you to be a candidate for the highest elected office in Colorado.
Particularly with redistricting on the horizon, Republicans cannot afford to lose this election. If you and Tom stay in the race, you will be ensuring that outcome.
Again, it gives me no pleasure to urge you to get out of the race but my interest in good government in our once-and-future great state leaves me no choice.
Most sincerely,
Ross Kaminsky
| Print article | This entry was posted by Rossputin on 09/01/10 at 08:38:12 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
Yours truly
-
Following Obama's Economic Policies
Facebook NetworkedBlogs
XML Feeds
09/01/10 @ 08:53:35 am
I concur with Mr Kaminsky. Even though I no longer live in Colorado, I would like to return someday if the economic climate was right. The state has been a vacation spot since childhood, my family has owned property there and I was stationed at the former Lowry Air Force Base.
At this time in our history, the economy is low and the stakes are high. The focus now should be to keep Hickenlooper from being elected. A new, electable candidate needs to be in the run. It is time for Maes to gracefully bow out. There will be other opportunities for Mr Maes.
09/01/10 @ 09:00:17 am
Maes' numbers are the only ones rising in the polls, Hickenlooper hit new lows yesterday as reported on Caplis and Silverman, and Tancredo is down to 9%...
I'm not sure what you are seeing Ross. People can see Tancredo is just a spoiler with no integrity left and in the head to head matchup with just Maes and Hick... Maes wins. That was the conditionality upon which Tancredo insisted he would exit the race (or not enter)...
Tancredo can't raise money like he thought he could...
What makes you think Maes won't win this? other than the puffery of an ex-Republican who thinks Maes can't win?
Well-heeled R's fear Maes WILL win this and their finely balanced apple-cart of goodies will tip over in the State... That's why many of them are running to hedge their bets with support for Hickenlooper.
Since you like to bet on these things here is my offer:
I will give you 100 shares of AXU if Maes loses. You give me 100 shares of AXU if Maes wins.
If it is an exact tie (to the vote) I will give you 1,000 shares of AXU...
If Maes drops out before November 2nd, I will give you 200 shares (total) - 100 when he drops out and 100 when he loses (because he will be on the ballot at that time anyway).
If Tancredo gets less than 9% of the vote you give me an extra 50 shares (regardless of the winner).
Put your money (or shares) on the line!
And don't explain the AXU reference - let people's curiousity get the better of them and they will have to find out about the company at the best possible time to do so; purely as a public service to your readers!
09/01/10 @ 09:11:34 am
Joe,
You seem to have left out the fact that Hick still has a huge lead.
Other internals in the race also don't favor Maes. He barely has the support of Republicans and his supporters are more open to changing their minds than are Hick's supporters.
Other than the fact that it's hard to admit, after your strong support of Maes, that he's not the best candidate, why do you insist on supporting a guy who can't even remember to sign a check?
I'd rather bet something other than AXU...it's way too troublesome to transfer shares of stock.
Let's just bet dinner. But let's make sure we understand the terms of the bet...
Are we betting on whether Maes gets more votes than Hick, regardless of whether Tancredo stays in the race?
I'm not betting anything on any aspect of Tancredo's candidacy. I don't want him in the race even though I like the guy personally.
I do think there is a small chance, but less than 50/50 that Maes could beat Hick one-on-one. But no chance with Tancredo in the race. I don't see Tancredo getting out of the race unless Maes also does. Therefore, I want them both to get out. It's pretty simple and I'm sure there are lots of people who agree with me. (And I'm sure plenty of people who agree with you.)
If the candidates on the ballot are the same candidates we have today, I'll be voting for Libertarian Jaimes Brown.
http://jaimesbrowncoloradogovernor2010.com/
09/01/10 @ 09:18:18 am
Consider me a signatory of that letter. I don't think we've seen the last of the (mini) scandals.
09/01/10 @ 09:51:48 am
Who is running the Maes campaign? Is it Maes himself? I haven't been keeping up with the Govenor's race, but his amatuerism is bordering on a level of incompetance similar to what we are seeing with Obama. He needs to go. Tancredo needs to go (his arrogance is overwhelming too). Get Norton in the race.
09/01/10 @ 10:02:09 am
Dan it's time to step aside. Swallow your pride and look to other, smaller races, in your future. Running for the highest office with these kinds of mistakes doesn't cut it and you're going to hand it to Hick.
Consider this my signature to the "petition". I'm down in Centennial.
09/01/10 @ 02:12:50 pm
Ross - you are on for dinner at the best place I can find in the Front Range!
And we are betting that Maes wins and is sworn in as Governor. No cleverness here...
I will do my damnedest to have "someone", possibly undercover, show up to deliver the check to you!
Joe
09/01/10 @ 02:17:51 pm
Joe,
You're on for the bet, but the "settlement" specifications are not for delivery of a check, but rather for the two of us to have dinner together, with the loser buying.
Unlike liberals, you and I don't take political disagreement as a personal assault.
09/01/10 @ 11:19:40 pm
Who do we replace him with? That's always been the question. I'll vote for Tancredo, on account of the old axiom that in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. See this interview, from an extremely hostile interviewer:
http://www.coloradopols.com/diary/13619/tom-tancredo-interview
Tom Tancredo is an interesting guy. I don't agree with him on much, but I think he comes at his decisions and policies in a thoughtful way and tries to do what is right. He comes at the question of Governor with a very good big picture approach and some very interesting ideas.
09/02/10 @ 01:07:45 pm
Ross, please add me as another signer to your letter.
Dan Maes please get out of this race. I believe many Republicans around the state would support you in a future election for state house and state senate, and even possibly for Congress or state wide office if you are able to prove yourself as a representative.
Ross lays out well some of the reasons you can not win, and although you may view some of your scandals as minor and not important(some of them are) they are seen as very important by the voters of Colorado. Great candidates with huge war chests have been done in by less. You however do not have a war chest, have multiple scandals that call your integrity into question, do not have an organized campaign, are splitting votes with a popular former Republican congressman and are running against perhaps the best candidate the Dems have ever ran in Colorado.
This race is not yet lost, but it will be if you continue your candidacy.
My sincere hope is that you will do the right thing and drop out and I hope that Tom Tancredo drops out with you. If you do not drop out however I will proudly cast my vote for Tom Tancredo.