Re: July 21 editorial, and July 13 editorial.
My candidacy and experience is not a traditional one. For the record, I have never claimed to be a Fortune 500 CEO, nor have I implied that I have earned great wealth. I have been forthright about my entrepreneurial background and bootstraps candidacy.
My family finances are those of the average Coloradan: honest and adequate. Is that a liability or an asset to me in leading the state government? You judge. Our campaign finances have been equally spartan and transparent. Not one dime was incorrectly spent. Advances by my wife and me to the campaign are still yet to be fully repaid.
Politics can be dirty and allegations do not translate into fact, nor do fines assessed reveal fairness or guilt. In our case, they represent honest mistakes caught up in a campaign finance world ripe for the novice to be tripped up and then caught by those with not-so-pure intentions.
Rasmussen polling recently reported that 66 percent of Republicans associate with the Tea Party and 33 percent of all Coloradans associate with it. The emergence of these groups, a peaceful revolution, occurred simultaneously with my campaign. I was a candidate with a message and no base. They were a base with a message and no candidate. I do not claim the title of Tea Party candidate. These “patriot groups” are giving the cold shoulder to career politicians and those they think will not honor fiscally and constitutionally focused policy.
The conservative revolution’s criterion for public servants is not the same as in the past. They do not seek millionaires or incumbents, though they would not disqualify one. They seek candidates who will serve them instead of the other way around, and they want someone who honors the Constitution before anything else. They want honesty, integrity, character and accountability.
My victory at the state assembly was historic because that Republican base made their voices heard like never before. My supporters do not seek to support someone who created the situation we are now in. They seek someone just like them, someone who has lived in the real world, run a small business, pinched pennies, and achieved some level of success. The conservative revolution will redefine the right candidates and they will decide who will win on the Aug. 10 primary ballot, not the media nor the political machinery.
As far as the criterion of political experience goes, let’s not forget Gov. John Love of Colorado, Gov. Ronald Reagan of California, and several sitting governors today who never held office before becoming governor. Voters are more informed and issue-driven than ever before, yet the qualifications they seek first are honesty, integrity, character and accountability. We all are fallible. It’s how we respond to the mistakes that defines us.
Dan Maes will face Scott McInnis in the Aug. 10 Republican primary.
