Republican Don Suppes
A 47-year-old Castle Rock woman sobbed today when she outed herself as the person who posted a tweet from state Senate candidate Don Suppes’ account that linked to a neo-confederate website critical of women, blacks and others.
Anna Jolly could barely speak she was so distraught, saying she blames herself that Suppes, a Republican, is being called a racist and she fears she is going to cost him the election on Nov 4. Ballots go out this week.
“He is not a racist; I’m Hispanic,” Jolly said. “I can’t apologize enough. It was just stupid. It was a stupid, stupid mistake.”
The inconsolable Jolly said she came forward today because a friend forwarded her a campaign mailer attacking Suppes that asked, “Did Don Suppes promote a white supremacist website?” The mailer, from a Democratic-funded group, includes a confederate flag, the tweet she wrote under the twitter handle @DonSuppes2014 and unflattering reports about Suppes from two liberal outfits, and .
“Don Suppes has told multiple stories about how this happened, first saying his Twitter account was hacked, then saying that an un-named employee did it. If he can’t keep his story straight on promoting a hateful site, how can we trust him to be honest in the State Senate?” the mailer says.
Suppes said he would have preferred Jolly stay behind the scenes because he fears she will be attacked.
“It’s done. The left is not going to change its campaign tactics,” he said. “My concern is I’m the candidate. I signed up for this. She didn’t.”
The May 21 tweet from @DonSuppes2014 says “Interesting read” and links to SuthenBoy.com, a website featuring a confederate flag and blogs that cover topics from “black privilege” to the “radical feminist movement.” Jolly said she didn’t thoroughly read the website, where the gave examples of political correctness: “Homosexuals are now gay or folks with an alternative life style. Using the ‘N’ word uttered by a White is a societal taboo. Thug is considered offensive to blacks, regardless of how appropriate.”
Suppes, the mayor of Orchard City in Delta County, is running against Vail educator and rancher Kerry Donovan for the state Senate seat now held by Democratic Sen. Gail Schwartz, who is term limited. With Democrats holding only an 18-17 majority in the Senate, is considered a must win for both parties.
Jolly said she had been a stay-at-home mom for 14 years when she went to work as a contract employee for Suppes’ campaign. She said she helped fundraise for the candidate and tweeted out items posted on his campaign Facebook account. She said Suppes rightly fired her in September when the tweet she posted in May came to light.
