Do Republican leaders in Colorado want a presidential primary or don’t they? It’s hard to tell. And the unfortunate result is that hundreds of thousands of Coloradans will be deprived for another four years of a convenient way to help nominate presidential candidates. Officially, GOP leaders are on board, with party chairman Steve House favoring a primary and a number of GOP lawmakers, including the Senate president, co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill creating a presidential primary. But four Republican senators killed that bill in committee Monday over the votes of three Democrats, with one of the Republicans citing mixed signals from the party chairman.
“Until they can all get all their ducks in the row, we are not going to do anything major like this at the 11th hour of the session,” declared Appropriations Committee Chairman Kevin Grantham, R-Cañon City.
What? Grantham was a sponsor of the bill. If he thought the bill made enough sense to put his name on it, why wouldn’t he think it should be passed out of committee?
Why the need to have his hand held by the party chairman? A spokesman for the party tells us House did express concern in a text message to one senator regarding the cost of holding a primary, but that was all. “He never pulled back his support” for the bill’s objective, Owen Loftus said.
Full Article: Colorado GOP flubs chance for 2016 presidential primary – The Denver Post.