FW: Tea Party Stuns GOP in Pueblo County

Tea Party flexes muscle in county

A Republican state Senate candidate is forced into an August primary.

By PETER ROPER

The Southern Colorado Tea Party showed its strength at the Pueblo County Republican Assembly by giving strong support Saturday to a 26-year-old college student who will face City Councilwoman Vera Ortegon in an August primary election.

   Ortegon and Alex Lucero Mugatu are contending for the GOP nomination to run for the state Senate District 3 seat being vacated by retiring state Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo. Democrat Angela Giron is running for the seat as well.

   At the GOP assembly at East High School, Ortegon got 88 votes in the delegate balloting. However, Mugatu was right behind with a startling 86 votes — support clearly fueled by tea-party activists elected as delegates to the county GOP assembly during the March 16 precinct caucuses.

   Mugatu, a Pueblo native and student at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, has been a regular at tea party rallies and has worked for their support, pledging to repeal newly approved state taxes and oppose others.

   "I'm ready to take it to the next level," he said Saturday, clearly pleased at having made the Aug. 10 primary ballot. "I knew I'd done well in the precinct caucuses. But I understand (Ortegon) will have the support of the Republican machine."

   Ortegon appeared headed for easy nomination by county GOP delegates after four years serving on City Council and having led the successful campaign to defeat Pueblo's "strong-mayor" ballot measure last November. But she appeared to run up against the preference of tea party activists for newcomer candidates who have courted their support.

   "I have a record to run on, but that almost seems to be working against me," an emotional Ortegon said after the balloting. "So now I focus on winning the primary."

   It seemed  to  help  Mugatu's   cause   Saturday   that there was a rush to close off nominations in the District 3 race right after Ortegon was nominated. The tea party members in the crowd bristled at that and by a voice vote,  delegates reopened the nominations to include Mugatu.

   "Alex Mugatu has been participating at the grass-roots level and he's heard our voice," Jerry Denney, a tea party activist told the assembly in nominating the young man, and getting an ovation from supporters.

   Troy Sammons, of Pueblo West, then endorsed Mugatu as well, saying he hadn't planned to, but the sudden call to close off nominations smacked of the politics-as-usual that activists rallied against.

   "But you wouldn't allow that," Sammons said, getting a cheer from many in the crowd.

    The Ortegon-Mugatu drama was compounded by a surprise floor nomination by delegate Sean McCarthy, who called on former City Councilwoman Barbara Vidmar to be a third candidate in the state Senate contest. McCarthy argued that Vidmar is also well-known like Ortegon, but more electable, he claimed. He said some of Ortegon's accomplishments on council, such as obtaining $7.5 million in advance tax payments from Black Hills Energy, could backfire when the utility builds its new power plant and local ratepayers see steep increases.

   Vidmar went to the microphone and declined the nomination, but she didn't endorse either Ortegon, her former council colleague, or Mugatu, the newcomer.

   The tea party sentiment made itself known early in Saturday's assembly. Josh Penry, state Senate minority leader, came to speak on behalf of gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, and got a polite reception. Penry declared McInnis the most electable Republican and was given respectful applause.

   But Randy Scott, a local supporter of Evergreen businessman Dan Maes, got a more rousing reception while he championed Maes as a conservative first and Republican second. Scott's endorsement of Maes was interrupted by delegate applause several times. In fact, Maes edged McInnis in the Pueblo County GOP precinct caucuses on March 16, largely on the strength of his endorsement by the Southern Colorado Tea Party and like-minded groups.

   Similarly, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton was given a polite, but low-key reception when she spoke of her U.S. Senate bid. Yet when Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck took the stage, he was given a louder and more enthusiastic greeting. Buck, who defeated Norton in the Pueblo County caucus straw poll, has received several tea party endorsements.

   It happened again when Sheldon Bloedorn, chairman of the Southern Colorado Tea Party, endorsed retired Army lawyer Bob McConnell for the 3rd Congressional District. McConnell has the group's endorsement and Bloedorn received several ovations as he recounted McConnell's combat experience in Vietnam and pledge never to raise taxes.

   That left state Rep. Scott Tipton, the other Republican in the 3rd District chase, to woo the audience by blasting incumbent U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., as a near-100 percent follower of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Tipton, who lost to Salazar in 2006, promised to work towards cutting federal spending, capital gains taxes and shrinking the federal government if elected.

   Tipton has received endorsements from Western Slope conservative groups, but McConnell clearly has support among the Pueblo County tea party activists. Whether McConnell is popular enough to force Tipton into a primary election will be determined at the 3rd District Convention in May.

   Perhaps the biggest ovation Saturday was given to Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, who is up for re-election this year. Suthers got a standing ovation for having joined with 12 other Republican attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new health care overhaul legislation signed by President Barack Obama last week.

   After such thunderous approval, Suthers said he couldn't predict the outcome of the lawsuit, but said he joined it in order to protect "states’ rights and your constitutional rights" — words that put the delegates on their feet.

 Also during the assembly:

·         Pueblo West Director Jerry Martin was endorsed to be the GOP candidate against Pueblo County Commissioner Jeff Chostner.

·         Martin accused Chostner and the other Democratic commissioners of spending the county into a financial hole, forcing county employees to take mandatory furloughs.

 "They chose to outspend the county's revenues and now other people are paying the price," Martin said.

·         Randy Wills was nominated as Republican candidate for sheriff.

·         Steve Rodriguez is the GOP nominee in state House District 46 and retired businessman Keith Swerdfeger is the Republican candidate in House District 47.

·         Robert Leverington was nominated to be the new county surveyor, but no Republican candidates were offered to run for clerk and recorder, assessor, or treasurer.