Dan Maes has Teabagged ColoradoDan Maes: From Hero to Zero
Dan Maes was the tea party favorite. But then came the record fine he paid for breaking campaign finance rules (This guy is supposed to be a successful businessman?) Next came the messy income tax questions he "answered" by turning records over to a friendly local paper who read over them and told us what they wanted to tell us about them. He billed himself as Meg Whitman without the skirt, but was revealed to be just another small (and not very successful) businessman and realtor.
The latest in his string of serial embellishments had him claiming he had done undercover work for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Actually, he was a policeman in Liberal, where he eventually got fired. This on the heels of the Freda Poundstone check controversy.
If he were to handle himself this way as governor, our state would be in big trouble.
How Did This Happen?
The Colorado GOP millionaire machine gets the most blame. They put their millions on shifty Scott McInnis, driving every experienced and credible candidate out of the race. Give Maes credit for guts: He fought the system and beat it, with the help of McInnis's plagiarism and subsequent weaseling when caught.
What Have We Learned?
First, big money thwarts the will of the people by narrowing our choices. Dan Maes (and Ken Buck) showed that the will of the people can overcome the will of the Anschutz and the Coors. We, and they, should keep this in mind in the future.
Due diligence and proper vetting must be done before investing time and money into a candidate. Unless the person is a prominent businessperson or a former Army general with a known track record, this needs to be done.
A championship title fight is no place for an inexperienced amateur. Dan Maes has not even been a school board member, and he wants to run for governor? Is he crazy? Are we crazy? This is what happens when people with no experience enter the system too high up and we the people fail to provide a sanity check.
5 comments:
There is much you say here that is true but does not necessarily apply in all cases across the nation.
I agree whole heartedly on researching the candidates but just because someone has not been on a school board does not in any way suggest that they are not capable of being governor or any office for that matter. Hell, I know and am sure you and your readers do as well some people on school boards who have no place being even there.
It sounds as though in your state the GOP is run by Newt Gingrich, Here in MI the people saw through the GOP and Rick Snyder the 'outsider' businessman won the primary, this was over 4 current career politicians ; U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R), MI AG Mike Cox (R), MI State Sen. Tom George (R) and Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard (R).
Again, all 4 are perennial pols running their entire adult lives with no, repeat no practical private sector expirience while Snyder has nothing but that along with a real plan.
As of right now Snyder is in a double-digit lead over another career pol albeit from the democrat side.
I assume Snyder has a well-known background. This guy came out of nowhere, nobody knew anything about him After the sale is when all the dirt started coming out.
Hey, if a community organizer can become president, then your guy can surely become Governor!
Rick Snyder formerly ran Gateway Computers.
OK, so Snyder has a record.
I am not slamming all tea party candidates or non-politicians. Far from it. I think this particular case can teach us some lessons so we don't get fooled again.
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