Denver7 reports that Craig Steiner has taken over as chair of the Colorado Republican Party after Brita Horn resigned early, citing a “tremendous divide,” legal attacks, and escalating internal conflict. Steiner steps into the job with the party facing infighting, about $9,812 in the bank as of June 1 compared with more than $424,000 for the Colorado Democratic Party, and more than $200,000 in debt that he says is mostly legal debt.
That is not a leadership transition. That is a man being handed a garden hose while the house is on fire and half the room is arguing over whether water is RINO propaganda. Colorado Democrats are running the state into the ditch, and the opposition party is standing in the parking lot stepping on rakes, checking the bylaws, and asking who authorized the rake.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Steiner says he wants to elect more Republicans and unite the party. Good. That should not be a revolutionary platform, but in the Colorado GOP, basic functionality now qualifies as a moonshot.
- The state party had less than $10,000 in the bank and more than $200,000 in debt, according to the article. Politics runs on money, organization, trust, and turnout. Not just Facebook rage and county-meeting thunder.
- Steiner described the party’s financial condition as “very dire” and “pretty desperate.” That is refreshingly honest. It is also the kind of phrase that makes donors grab their wallets and hide behind furniture.
- He said some Republicans are more interested in intraparty conflict than electing Republicans. There it is. The circular firing squad has become less of a tactic and more of a lifestyle brand.
- Steiner identifies as a Reagan Republican and says the party should focus on Colorado’s high cost of living and Democratic control of the state. That is the correct battlefield. Now the party has to prove it can find the battlefield without stopping for another knife fight on the way.
My Bottom Line
Normal right-of-center Coloradans are watching this mess with clenched teeth. They see taxes rising, fees multiplying, crime concerns getting brushed aside, housing costs exploding, schools going sideways, energy getting more expensive, and Denver-Boulder politics treating the rest of the state like an administrative inconvenience.
That should be prime territory for a serious opposition party. The Colorado GOP should be feasting on Democratic overreach. Instead, too often, it has been too busy making itself the main character in a low-budget family feud with worse catering.
This is not about beating up Steiner personally. He appears to understand the assignment: unify the party, raise money, professionalize operations, support counties, elect Republicans, and stop mistaking factional performance art for political strategy. The question is whether enough people in the party are willing to work, or whether they would rather keep losing loudly and calling it principle.
Colorado deserves a functioning opposition. Taxpayers deserve one. Small businesses deserve one. Parents deserve one. Rural communities deserve one. When the ruling party is this arrogant and the opposition is this broke and divided, regular Coloradans are the ones who get screwed. Democrats break things with policy. The GOP too often fails by being too consumed with itself to stop them.
Source: Denver 7
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