Open Letter to Conservatives and Tom Tancredo

(Forwarding from a Colorado Patriot. American Cafe neither endorses nor supports any candidate or party. See full disclaimer.)

September 20, 2010

An open letter to all Colorado Conservative voters and conservative candidate Mr. Tancredo,

While catching up in my e-mails I discovered my last open letter, which called Dan Maes to account, being used in several instances as an endorsement of Tom Tancredo. This could not be farther from the truth. It was simply a call to accounting. As I stated in my previous open letter, I embarked on this political awakening because of disenchantment in my own Political Party. After participating in the Primary and watching the events unfold before and after, I am more disenchanted than ever. I wonder if the Republican Party can be fixed from within - or is the rusty canker of corruption too pervasive and deep?

To my fellow conservative voters, I am a member of a 912 Project because I believe that only through principles and values can we regain our country. In this quagmire of a gubernatorial race it is difficult to find those principles and values. In answer to those who would use my previous letter as an endorsement of Tom Tancredo, I have done my duty in vetting Mr. Maes. I stated in that letter "I have rationalized our candidate's foibles with the need to support the people's choice and the need to unite behind one candidate in order to win in November. But in these well worded and reasoned political strategies have we not neglected our own responsibility and sold our own honor?" Mr. Maes has issued a statement in the form of a video as requested and I personally am satisfied with the answers. http://www.danmaes.com/ I was also contacted by many people, supporters of Maes and supporters of Tancredo, and was given additional information regarding these allegations of dishonesty. I have personally concluded that once you dig through all the cow manure (strangely piled on mostly by professed conservatives) there really isn't anything to the stories that hasn't been adequately addressed. I have watched in dismay the circus surrounding this race and have concluded that the lack of principles and values being openly displayed by GOP leadership, GOP Representatives, Mr. Tancredo and his entire campaign far outreach the he-said, she-said allegations against Mr. Maes. The beauty of this negative campaign is that one need not prove the allegations; one need only plant the seed of doubt. Taking responsibility of my candidate has lead me to conclude that support for Dan Maes may very well be a positive step toward "Restoring Honor."

In addition to vetting Mr. Maes, I have spent time talking to friends who support Tom Tancredo, and found they know more about the pitfalls laid for Mr. Maes than they do about their own candidate. This is very distressing. Some of these same people applauded my letter calling Mr. Maes to account, but have done very little in respect to vetting their own candidate, Mr. Tancredo. "In these well worded and reasoned political strategies have we not neglected our own responsibility and sold our own honor?" I am sending this letter advocating Conservative voters take more time to vet their own candidate rather than continuing to participate in divisive mudslinging.

Mr. Tancredo, although the Primary is over, you continue to spend a disproportionate amount of time attacking a fellow conservative. I find the continued negative ads and propaganda against Mr. Maes distasteful and unbecoming. In your campaign, you have consistently claimed to be "the most conservative candidate" and the "only candidate of integrity." As a registered Colorado voter I am now calling you to account and will use your own standards to judge you as a gubernatorial candidate for the following:

1. Term Limits - I personally waiver back and forth on this issue, usually siding with the People's responsibility to enforce term limits with the power of their vote. However, when you ran for Congress in 1998 you were the head of a term limit coalition and swore you would abide by a 3 term limit. In a 2001 interview with the Rocky Mountain News, you again appeared to continue to champion for term limits and swore to keep your promise to the voters: "For me, the issue of giving one's word and promising to do something like this is more important than the rest of it... The overriding motivation for me today to adhere to the term limits pledge is that I made a pledge... I took the pledge. I will live up to the pledge. That's it. That's the overriding issue."Š. Unfortunately you did not keep your promise, but ran for a 4th and 5th term going against your own words that government service should be a temporary endeavor and not a career. Sir, in your own words you "made a pledge." How do you rationalize your words with your behavior? Is this integrity? Is going against a pledge honest? At what point did the pledge cease to become the "overriding issue?"

2. Voting for TARP - You claim to be for smaller government which is a very conservative ideal, yet, you went against your congressional Republican colleagues and joined Diane DeGette and Ed Perlmutter to support this bill which continues to plague us today. Even John Salazar and Mark Udall voted against it. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2008-681 The free market upon which our government is based is self correcting. Most conservatives understand this. Another conservative ideal is that people and companies should be allowed to fail. It's a learning experience.

3. Running a Third Party Candidacy to divide the conservative vote - On this issue we originally agreed. You staunchly opposed grassroots efforts to form a third party and were instrumental in getting grassroots members to join and participate in the Republican Primary process. We both agreed that the party needed to be changed from within. I attended my caucus and was thrilled when grassroots candidate Dan Maes won the State Assembly. Apparently, you were not. You shortly after initiated a campaign not just against Dan Maes and Scott McInnis, but against the entire primary process and the voice of the people who participated in it. You arrogantly threatened the Primary candidates to drop out of the race or you would run a third party against them. You were not threatening the candidates, Mr. Tancredo - you were threatening the people who voted for them. You did what our representatives in Washington D.C. do daily - circumvented the process. You did what you only months ago staunchly opposed - divided the conservative vote. Going against the voice of the people goes against the very core of what it is to be a conservative. I am extremely concerned at your easy ability to turn on principles you champion. This issue is similar to the term limits issue as it points to your integrity.

4. Decriminalization of marijuana - You have advocated the decriminalization of marijuana. I find this an obstacle to parents trying to raise youth of strong character. I brought this concept up to my two teenage daughters, explaining the difference between illegalization and decriminalization, and they both rolled their eyes at the distinction. Each took turns explaining how such actions would increase the use of marijuana among students in their school. To say this has no bearing on our children is ridiculous. This is a clear Overton Window. First we legalize medical marijuana (an idea that is doing so well here in Colorado) then we decriminalize it, then we legalize it completely. To elevate a drug like marijuana to the level of alcohol in our culture and society is detrimental. This action is just another stumbling block to families and parents trying to raise responsible children. There are a few purposes for the spending of Tax dollars by the Government - public safety and law enforcement are two of them. Is your stand on marijuana Conservative? Does it show integrity in respect to the education of our children?

5. Negative ads - From the very beginning you have spearheaded a campaign to personally assassinate Dan Maes. When one looks at the National Republican Primaries and sees the same negative campaign initiated against the other "Tea Party Candidates" one has to wonder. Your continued attacks and rhetoric against Mr. Maes is as unbecoming as your own self aggrandizement. Your attempt to go behind his back to set up debates with Mayor Hickenlooper stating in a press release, "Since Dan Maes is no longer a viable opponent today, I am challenging Mayor Hickenlooper to six one-on-one debates" illustrates this point perfectly. How can Mr. Maes not be a viable opponent when he IS the Republican candidate who was properly chosen by the people in a primary process and continues to have the backing of most of those same supporters? Perhaps you give more weight to the Republican Representatives that went against their own party principles and values to publicly endorse you, a third party candidate? Your assessment of Mr. Maes in respect to yourself smacks of elitism.

6. The Ends Justify the Means - Mr. Tancredo, when you attended a South Denver 912/ Change the Change meeting in Franktown to discuss your endorsement of Scott McInnis, you stated that you were endorsing Scott because, "he had the money to win." You gave no other reason for your endorsement. When asked about the character of Scott McInnis you could not vouch for it but rigidly restated your stance that Scott had the money to win. Your obsession with beating Hickenlooper has clouded your means of going about doing it. You participated in the very vetting process you now call in a recent WND article "a small group of self-appointed Republican kingmakers," http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=204633+ you ultimately endorsed a candidate whose character you could not vouch for, you threatened the Primary candidates duly chosen by voters in a proper process, and went against your own principles to join a third party - all for the sake of beating Hickenlooper. You have embraced the liberal concept of "the ends justify the means." This is not conservatism. This is not integrity.

Who is the most conservative candidate with integrity? It is up to each individual voter to decide. For the third time I ask the Tea Party, 912 Project, Grassroots Coalition, and all Colorado voters, "How do you guarantee that the leadership of a third party won't become as corrupt as the leadership in our own party?" The answer is, you can't, unless you are unyielding in your responsibility to call your candidate to account and keep well worded and reasoned political strategies from persuading you into selling your own honor?

May God Bless Us in Our Endeavors to Seek Truth,


Lisa Mills
Elizabeth, Colorado