LAKEWOOD, Colo.—The vice-chair for membership of the American Constitution Party says he’s fine with former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo using the same platform as his GOP rival in the Colorado governor’s race.
Executive board member Phillip Hendrix said the platform Tancredo plans to use is one Tancredo helped develop and it is now being used by Republican opponent Scott McInnis. He said the GOP-based strategy doesn’t conflict with the American Constitution Party’s 43 platform planks, which Tancredo also supports.
“We’re delighted to have him adopt it and run with it. It’s on our website,” McInnis spokesman Sean Duffy said.
Tancredo, who announced his candidacy Thursday, said he helped write the GOP Platform for Prosperity and it represents his political beliefs.
“I looked at the party platform and there is no conflict,” he said.
Tancredo said he jumped into the race because he doesn’t believe McInnis or Republican candidate Dan Maes can defeat Democrat John Hickenlooper in November. He said families and employers are scared about their future and he wants to put them on the path to recovery by making Colorado business-friendly. He also said he would crack down on illegal immigration, one of his top priorities.
Tancredo said he won a five-way primary for his congressional seat in 1998 with only 26 percent of the vote and he believes he can win the governor’s office.
“Strange things happen when you have more than two candidates,” he said.
The GOP platform was drawn up by Republican advisers including Tancredo about a year ago when McInnis wanted to put his promises in writing. He vowed to keep Colorado a low-tax state, oppose unreasonable fees and support portable health care and end early release programs for criminals.
Hendrix said the American Constitution Party believes it will benefit Colorado and “to implement it in any form would be a good thing.”
The American Constitution Party platform requires candidates to seek to abolish federal pay and pensions for members of Congress, but state party chairman Clyde Harkins said that won’t apply to Tancredo, who spent four terms in Congress. Harkins said it only applies to candidates for national office before they get elected, not to the pensions they collect after they retire.
Other American Constitution Party tenets include opposition of illegal immigration and gun control: “The only acceptable gun control is one’s ability to hit the target with the first shot, every time!” the platform states emphatically.
Hendrix said Tancredo has been a friend of the party for years and the party elders trust him.
