Even in defeat, Tom Tancredo continues to roil Colorado’s political waters — although this time unintentionally.
Tancredo’s take of 36 percent of the vote in the governor’s race has elevated the once-unknown American Constitution Party that he represented to major-party status in Colorado.
The sudden rise of the ACP — and the near collapse of the Republican Party — exposed disparities in state laws that govern political parties. (Had the GOP’s Dan Maes not topped 10 percent of the gubernatorial vote, the party would have lost its major-party status.)
Earlier, we wrote an editorial calling on lawmakers to address some of the disparities. For example, minor-party candidates aren’t allowed to collect campaign donations in the same manner as their big league peers.
However, ACP officials, who are now faced with myriad new challenges as a major party, are trying to take advantage of their newfound status in ways we think are unfair.
Despite the new clout that comes from state law — the governor must appoint ACP members to state boards, for example — the ACP is a major party in name only.
Its tiny membership — some 30 dues-paying members and 2,700 affiliates who register as voters — makes the party completely ill-prepared to handle its new obligations. Those include holding caucuses in the state’s 3,215 precincts, holding party primaries that the ACP doesn’t even support, and fielding enough appointees to serve on nearly 20 state boards, as The Associated Press recently reported.
The ACP wants to be exempted from its newfound caucus and primary responsibilities for philosophical reasons. Party officials don’t believe taxpayers ought to pay for primaries.
But the party still wants to take full advantage of its other perks, such as being included alongside Democrats and Republicans at the top of the ballot, as well as sitting on state boards.
It would be understandable if ACP sought a one-time waiver for those next-to-impossible tasks, such as hosting thousands of precinct caucuses. But we don’t think the ACP should be allowed to enjoy its new perks while sidestepping its duties.
The party can’t have it both ways.
If ACP officials want to reform the system here in Colorado, it would be a welcome effort because, as we noted, there are disparities. However, they should follow the rules as they exist, which is only fair to all of the other parties.
